Mumbai in a day

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March 4th - The Mumbai arrivals terminal at midnight was like walking into a construction zone of rusty corrugated metal hallways and dirt floors. It was bustling with activity and we were fortunate to find our driver right away. The drive to the hotel only took 30 minutes, but it was a mad dash through various streets weaving in and out of rickshaws and slow moving trucks, dogs and late night pedestrians. Our hotel was close to downtown and very comfortable (even at 1am). Our day would start at 8am.
We had one day for Mumbai and it turned into a very hectic/hot dash around the city with a guide. First we raced over to the Gateway to India were we caught a ferry over to Elephanta island to see the amazing caves that artisans carved in the 7th century BC to honour the Hindu god Shiva. The caves are a UNESCO World Heritage site and we were lucky to be there first thing in the morning with relativly few tourists. By noon we were back at the Gateway to India and off on our tour throough the city. We went to the Taj hotel, Prince of Wales Museum, Hagning Gardens, Choparti Beach, Dobee Ghat(world's largest outdoor laundry) and Victoria train station. At night we met up with Sameer (who moved back to Mumbai 6 months ago). He took us out to an incredible restaurant (Khyber) that had the best Indian food we have ever tasted. The food kept coming and by the end of the appetizers we were totally stuffed. Then we went for Indian ice cream at his favourite road side cafe (they delivered right to our car window). The night ended and we were ready for the next stage of our journey... onto 4 days of relaxing in Kerala (southern India)

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Photos

Mumbai 1
Gateway of India

Mumbai 2
Elephanta Caves