February 24, Friday February 25, Saturday

February 24, Friday      February 25, Saturday

Friday:   Went for breakfast just after 9 am.   Not our usual breakfast buffet, this one is definitely Indian style.   Much too spicy for my stomach in the morning.   I opted for an omelet (made as you wait) and tried a few of their vegetable dishes (I knew it !   Too spicy).  The coffee is mud; I’ll have to remember to ask for tea.    Spent the rest of the day relaxing,  updating my blog from Nairobi and watching TV.   I booked a city tour for all day tomorrow;  private again since they don’t seem to have organized tour buses.   I had dinner at the hotel restaurant  (I’m staying at the Peninsula Grand Hotel, hear the airports).   The rice here is simply delicious!  I had some herbed fish (Mumbai is on the Indian Ocean) and a “ratatouille” of vegetables (egg plant, zucchinis, onions, carrots)  YUM…..And healthy at that !    Too much salt in all dishes and everything in a sauce is spicy.   

Saturday:   Early breakfast at 8 am.  I had cereal and fruit this morning, with my tea.   At 9 am my driver was here to pick me up and off we went to central Mumbai.   The hotel where I am staying is near the construction site of the new elevated metro line, so not the prettiest sites around here.   And it is very poor.   I hadn’t seen much when I arrived at 3 am, but enough to know that it was not an area I would be able to just walk around in.
  Peninsular Hotel

Drove by all the special tourist sites until we got to the downtown core, and then we parked the car and walked around.

  Siddhivinayak Temple (Bhudist)

   Main road into Mumbai.  Lots of polution
  Haji Ali Mosque  (Hindu)
   Mumbai's "Riviera"
  Art Deco on a building
  Downtown Mumbai
 Some nice architectural details

Sign on a church:   “God prefers fruits of the spirit over religious nuts”     LOVED IT !
 In the harbour, ferries and boats going to Elephant Island..... I'll give that one a miss !

   Gateway to India !    It is huge and impressive.
  Details inside the gate.
  Taj Mahal Palace Hotel.  New Taj Mahal Tower Hotel showing on the right

Also walked to visit the Prince of Wales Museum for a few hours.
 
Prince of Wales Museum


  Spectacular relief
 Beautiful carved ivory.   Don't worry, it's all very old carvings, therefore very old elephant horns.
  Another ivory carving, only about 6 inches x 6 inches
  This ivory carving originates from Japan.  Check out the beautiful long bird tail feathers.   A true work of art.
 Lovely Bhudist bronzes
  And weaponry
  This piece doesn't look like much from a few feet away, but check out the detail in the next two photos.
 
The entire piece is made of jewels !

  This huge piece looked like it was made out of ivory,  but it is made out of paper !     Simply amazing art.  
  It is called Solapeh  (Soda plant)
  This piece from a mural dates back to the 8th century.   It is still in amazing shape.

We then went for lunch at a local restaurant.  My driver’s selection.   If I get sick later today I will know why !  But the food was delicious.  I stuck with a vegetarian meal and added some buttered naan as a side dish.  Sprite in a bottle please;  “don’t drink the tap water” or any water served in a glass.
  Some of the buildings that have been well maintained.
  Huge clock tower on the site of the Mumbai University
 Huge tree growing over the cement wall, just beside where the car was parked.
  One of the carriages you can rent for a ride, just like in New York's Central Park, but check out the silver carriage !

From there we walked back to the car, with a mandatory stop at a local shop (whether I wanted to buy or not) where they sell tourist stuff !  (pashmiras, rugs, etc. all overpriced).    My driver asked me how old I was, so I told him.  He was amazed at my level of energy;  he was tired out from the museum visit.  That’s what you get from sitting/driving a car all day.

On the way back to the northern part of the city, we stopped at the Hanging Gardens.   Pretty, but not what I expected.   Nothing was really "hanging" from anything.


 
  Rose garden
  It's Saturday so there are a lot of families in the park.
  Back along the "Riviera" along the waterfront.

View across the Bay, through the haze, looking toward Malabar Hill.

From Malabar Hill, where the Hanging Gardens are located, there was a beautiful view of the bay and the beaches.

 
 
 We drove on the Bandra-Worti Sea Link Bridge on our way back to the northern part of Mumbai.    
Quite impressive.


The only place on my list we did not get to was the Dhobi Ghat.  Anyone who watched Amazing Race, or travel shows, will recognize this as the place where they die the cloths in urine !   I wasn’t that sad about no seeing the place;   my nose smelled enough different “aromas” today to last me awhile.
  Some very poor housing below the highrises on the hill
  Some of the local taxis !
  Traffic on the way back
  Looks like a nice highrise right ?  But if you look closely you can see that it's not in very good shape.

I had a really good laugh at something my driver asked me just before dropping me off at the hotel.   Now before I tell you the story, I have to admit that sometimes a tell white lies about myself for a variety of reasons;  mostly for my own protection.   When my driver asked me earlier in the day if I was married, I told him I was a widow.  "Did I have any children?"  Yes I have two boys, well grown men.  
"Do they live with you?"   No, they are grown men (23 & 25) and live independently.   
"Do you have your son's permission to travel?"    Well that's when I lost it !   I laughed so hard !  
When I asked why I would need my son's permission to travel, he seemed very insulted.  Of course it may have been because I was still laughing !   He explained that women of a certain age (he meant me) would not have the financial means to travel, so obviously my son (or my husband) would have to give their permission first before I could leave.   I explained that I had worked for 38 years and had my own money.  My sons would have absolutely nothing to say about what I did with my money or where I travelled to.    
And on top of it all, this is ME we're talking about.  I haven't asked anyone for permission to do anything since I left home !   It was just hilarious.   (PS  I did apologize to him for laughing !)

Oh, I forgot to mention, there were dogs and cats on the streets here.  Why is that surprising?  Because I realized that I had not seen any on the streets of Nairobi !  NONE AT ALL !  
There are many beggars on the streets here, as well as people sleeping on the sidewalks, parks, etc.   I didn't see many of those in Nairobi either.   O'Seismus had told me that there was a by-law preventing begging in the downtown core.   What a difference with Mumbai.

I’ll just take it easy again tonight and have another nice dinner with wine.  Did you know that India produces wine?  I didn’t.  So I tried a glass of Sauvignon Blanc last night and although I found it a bit too sweet for my taste, it was quite crisp and pleasant on the palate.