Blogs from Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, Asia

Days 238 – 242 (Sat 4th - Tues 7thMay) Mumbai So the day had come for my Dad to head back home to the Isle of Man. He left around 10am to go catch his flight. I’d like to think he had a good time here, I know he enjoyed the cricket but I am pretty sure he hated India. He definitely won’t be here again but neither will I. Was tempted to go get on a flight myself but I still have 9 days in the country. I have a couple friends to meet in Delhi next week plus the Taj Mahal to see otherwise I’d have gone to the airport and gone back to South East Asia myself. I moved accommodations to a sort of hostel. I was in the dorm room at the ... read more

Today was to be ours official first day of A&K tour. We were scheduled to meet our tour guide Vishtal at 11am. After another wonderful buffet breakfast at the Taj we first wondered around the neighborhood of the hotel and got back by the appointed time. All of the other agents soon assembled and it really looks like a nice group. not surprisingly we soon associated ourselves with another Jewish couple, Robert and Ruth price from Chicago. again I am the only agent with a Y chromosome. Our schedule for today was to do two site visits at the Oberoi and the Taj, with lunch at the OberoI and dinner at the taj. In between we were to take a driving tour of Bombay. We had a big air conditioned (thank G-d) bus for only 20 ... read more

Many of the synagogues in Bombay were built by and/or supported by a family of Bagdadi Jews named the Sasoons. He not only gave freely to Jewish causes but also to children and health care. One of the most beautiful synagogues was one called the Kenneseth Eliyahoo which had beautiful interiors. We also say the oldest synagogue in Mubai, the Shaar Harahamim (Gates of Mercy Synagogue which was built in 1796 by I can't remember his name but he was a Bene Israeli. This was a group of people who lived in India who had strange practices such as Bris Milah, kosher food, shabbos... but were not part of the world Jewish world. More recently the rabbis in Israel now consider them full Jews. Interestingly while living in India for about two thousand years they experienced ... read more

Let me tell you something..... it is very hot here..... 92 F today.... Our plan for today was to forgo a private airconditioned car and driver and to use taxis to get around. Daniel met us at about 10 and we began planning our day. We were to visit a number of temples and historic sites in Mumbai. Much more interesting than we might have imagined. Taxis are quite an experience here.... believe it or not there seem to be more taxis than in NY. Apparently two types the Blue and White are air conditioned (and not very common) and the Yellow and Black not air conditioned and barely driveable. What was interesting is that only about half of them have side view mirrors. One cannot tell if the side view mirror helps or not because ... read more

Before I write about our first day in Bombay, I must tell you all about the Taj Palace Hotel where we are staying. I think that I mentioned that we were upgraded to a suite with butler service. What I did not say (because I did not know) is that everything is done for you. It is impossible to open a door yourself... someone appears from nowhere... and doors are opened. I decided to take a bath this afternoon after our day touring and before I knew it the butler was rubbing my back.... it is really something. In our upgraded package, we not only get a full buffet breakfast but also at 330pm we get high tea... others without this package only get low tea... At 530 we are invited to a reception with drinks ... read more

Today was primarily an airport and travel day. Not much going on in Narita. Pretty misty and the hotel pretty far from anything so we decided to take off to the airport early in the day. Our flight was not until noon so we hung out at the ana lounge with David pretty much gorging himself on both food and drink. Got to Facebook with the Philly kohls and the SB abrams. When we went over to gate 57 for our flight it looked pretty quiet. The flight was held up for about 10 minutes while waiting for a small group of dignitaries who were rushed to the plane. The 737 700 was an interesting experience. It had 6 rows of business class seats and 5 rows of coach. The call this their business jet. It ... read more

Greeting......... has a year gone by since Adventure before Dementia India 2012, it would appear so. Well the dementia is still being held at bay by the adventure so here we go for a quick fix of the drug which is India. My plan for this year was a 5 week stint of Bangladesh but due to some political unrest out there Dhaka and the rest of BD will have to wait for a better time. As luck would have a friend said that he was thinking of going to India for a few weeks and I have managed to piggy back my way into his plans. Oh, that would be Mark by the way. The plan Mumbai (Bombay), Aurangabad (for Ellora and Ajanta). Nagpur (for Pench NP), Jabalpur, Chirakoot,Khajuraho, Orcha,Gwalior and Delhi. Will try to ... read more

A short summary of my three nights in Singapore; it was amazing, spend a night at the airport the first night, went to a gourmet dessert restaurant with an Italian the second and the third was Easter celebration with some wine and my dear friend Irmante from London, who showed me the city through her eyes! So on the first of April Tatiana arrived from Bangkok and we met at the airport in Singapore... ...we arrived pretty late in Mumbai and it resulted in us taking a cab that was by far one of the sickest cabrides of my life and the impressions outside our window made this a head spinning journey. For almost one hour we raced along speople masses of people, noises, car honking, beautifully dressed women and more life in some streets than ... read more