6th Aug to 13th Aug 2007
We arrived at the Mumbai airport with no hassles, a little tired as it was 1 am. We caught a pre paid taxi which we could choose air-con or non air-con, so seeing it was night time we thought the sun wouldn't be a problem so we chose non air-con. We headed to our hotel which was the Fariyas. The taxi driver zoomed through the streets which we saw people sleeping by the side of the road. We were surprised to see hundreds of other people up walking the streets and thought maybe they where heading to pray or start work at the markets, not to sure by this time 2am. The time difference from Seoul was about 2.5 hours so after a big flight from we where ready for some sleep.
Later in the morning after some sleep we decided to go for a walk after breakfast to get a feel for the city. We had heard that you could do tours of the city to see everything in a full day but as we where staying for a number of days we decided our plan would be to see things each morning and relax in afternoons as Paige would need rest time being on the go.
The first couple of days it poured with rain so even with umbrellas we got very wet. We had never seen rain like this before over such long periods of time. I don't know how anyone keeps dry. We wanted to enjoy ourselves so we did the best we could allowing for the rain.
Getting around town we found easy using the black and yellow cabs that seem to be everywhere. Compared to other cars these cabs sure out number them. It is hard to work out the fares as they have a meter but the driver checks the fare price list so it is easy to be over charged, being really cheap it is really not worth questioning only if they say some crazy price. Most of the cab drivers are quite honest but some did try and over charge us.
Picture: Yellow & Black Cabs
The buildings around the city where very interesting to look at a lot of them need work but I am sure if they could talk they would have a number of stories to tell. Some sites we saw where, The Gateway of India which sits facing out to the Mumbai Harbour, very impressive structure which seems quite a popular place to visit and get hassled from people wanting to take tourists on city tours.
Picture: Gateway Of India
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (Prince of Wales Museum) was interesting to see many items that date back a many years. The hand carved items I found most impressive, the workmanship was just amazing.
Mani Bhavan is the building in which Mahatma Gandhi stayed during his visits to Bombay from 1917 to 1934. It is a small museum and one of the rooms has been preserved as it was when Mahatma Gandhi was there.
Picture: The St Thomas' Cathedral
Picture: Over loaded bus near train station
The Markets in Mumbai where interesting to wonder through, there seems to be a lot of them, never know what you will find. Chor Bazaar (antiques & furniture), Bhuleshwar Market (fruit & veg), Colada Market (a range of items) we visited .
Picture: Ben smelling some spices in one of the markets
Picture: Bernadette given a red dot on her forehead while visiting a temple
The Hanging Gardens sits on top of a hill over looking the city, we had to catch a cab to get there. We where hoping to get a view of the city and weren't disappointed. The gardens were very nice and neat but the name seems to sound better then what we found.
Picture: Paige & Bernadette at the Hanging Gardens
Picture: View from Hanging Gardens of the city
Picture: One of the buildings that line the street in Mumbai
Mumbai was an interesting place to see, I think we over stayed here, four or five days would of been enough. I think one of the most surprising parts was people still call the city Bombay the old name of the city.
It was time to travel to Jaipur, the next city on our holiday.
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