Mumbai - Day 2

This is a link from my blog about my trip to India in 2014
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david63
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Mumbai - Day 2

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Post by david63 »

Today we were back on the excursion trail with a tour of the city. The tour started, obviously, from our hotel from which it was but a short walk to The Gateway of India and also from where we could really get to see our hotel – did I mention that we are staying at the Taj Mahal palace???

From the Gateway of India (which was built in 1911 for the visit of King George V) we went to what is claimed to be the largest laundry in the world where the dhobi wallas wash the clothes. All of this is organised by symbols on the garments and it is claimed that they hardly ever get it wrong. One interesting point is that there is a school within the dhobi wallas district for their children.

Next we called by a small fishing village (which is a village within a city) and it is the point at which the terrorists entered the country in 2008 when they made their attack on several buildings – one of which was the hotel that we are staying in. A short stop was then made to view the very elaborate Victoria Station (from the outside – we have seen enough Indian railway stations to last a life time) before we arrived at Crawford Market – a place where at one time you could buy anything, but today it is more of a wholesale and retail fruit and vegetable market.

Our next stop was at the hanging gardens. This is in a way a bit of a misnomer in that there is no resemblance to those on Babylon but are built over the main reservoir for Mumbai – there were (or would have been had it not been for the mist) some excellent views of Mumbai from there.

The next stop was at the house where Gandhi used to stay in when he was in Mumbai which is now a museum about his life. There is a library there where it is claimed that every article and book that Gandhi wrote and every book that has been written about Gandhi is in there.

Finally we went to see the “tiffin” boxes. These originated about 100 years ago and are a means of sending food from home to those who work in the city. This is a highly organised system that relies of immaculate timing so that everything is in the right place at the right time. These days many of the “tiffins” are not the conventional four stack tins, but insulated bags.

Eventually we arrived back at the hotel for some lunch before [sleeping] around the pool.

Our overall impression of Mumbai is that it is not “typical” India – or at least not we have seen of India. This is a major business centre and it feels like that and it is very cosmopolitan, there are no cows in the middle of the road, no camel carts and a lot less hooting of car horns. Mumbai gives the impression that it wants to be the capital of India – but that is not going to happen any time soon!

As for the hotel – well it is really two hotels in one. There is the old palace hotel and the newer tower hotel (we are, of course, in the Palace wing). Overall this is a very large hotel and at first we were not sure about it, but as time has gone on we are growing to like it. It did not help that last night when we arrived we were weary from the journey and we were rushed through the place. The hotel, or at least what we have seen, is nothing like that portrayed in the TV series – the only thing that I would say is that it is expensive!

Tomorrow is another early start as we have to leave the hotel at 07:00 in order to catch our flight to Madurai, via Chennai.

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Manoverboard
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Re: Mumbai - Day 2

#2

Post by Manoverboard »

No cows, what a pity.

In 2012 we saw two cows during our visit, one wandering along on its own and t'other one tethered and being looked after by a lady who sold bunches of grass to passers by / onlookers to feed it .... needless to say there was poo everywhere :sick:

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GillD46
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Re: Mumbai - Day 2

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Post by GillD46 »

There were definitely cows when we were there in 2010 too.
Gill


Ray Scully
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Re: Mumbai - Day 2

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Post by Ray Scully »

Brings back memories, could still kick ourselves for not having afternoon tea in the Palace :-(

Enjoying your posts or are they musings? ;)

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