Mumbai

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Mumbai and Home 8th to 11th November

An early morning flight from a very nice Aurangabad airport took us back to Mumbai for our last 3 days.
Neither of us was sure what we would make of Mumbai. would it be just another very large , dirty etc Indian city? Well we were meeting up with (very young) Aunt and Uncle, Jim and Hilary, and you can't come all this way and not spend some time in the Financial/ Bollywood capital of India, now can you?? Well we were actually VERY impressed with the place.
Hotel Residency in the Fort area was, very clean and comfortable and well situated for mad people like us who like to walk to the main sites (even in 38C)!! The staff were great, though we were a little concerned that there were 2 armed guards on the stairs outside our room! We knew of the terrorist alert in India but we didn't think we were that important. Turns out that there was a trial going on in the nearby High Court of the only terrorist captured alive after the 2008 massacre and the Chief Prosecutor was staying in the room above us!!!!
Jim and Hil arrived after an incredibly long trip from the airport. Their taxi driver (like ours) had no idea where the hotel was and took one and a half hours to fnd it!!
Tuesday being Ann's birthday, we celebrated with a bottle of Sula Brut and a very nice fish meal at the nearby Manish restaurant. Poor Jim had Delhi Belly' so couldn't drink and was on boiled rice and water. Shame!!! He really wanted to save himself for the next day because we had been invited to the home of his friends Jango and Roda.Jim had worked in Mumbai 13 years ago and he and Hilary almost went there to live.
As it turned out Jango had to be in Pune with his son and wasn't able to get back in time but Roda insisted we all went anyway. They live on 15th floor of a very nice apartment block in a very nice part of Mumbai. Their daughter sent her car to collect us. She is a consultant gynaecologist and was also unable to join us as she was staying with a woman in labour with a baby with multiple heart problems. We had food to die for and our hostess was one of the most interesting, highly intellectual Indian women we could wish to meet. She was a retired University Professor of Physiology and was extremely well read and knowledgeable person. The family are Parsi and she has children and relatives all around the world. What a lovely evening, thank you Roda. What a shame we didn't meet her family too.
Before that we had been to see the sites, India Gate, the Taj and Oberoi etc. Took a boat trip to Elephanta Island to see ......some more cave temples...... and shopped for souvenirs at the government Cottage Industries Shop.
We were really impressed with the beautiful buildings such as the University and the VT Railway Station etc and pavements too. The Brits did leave a few good things behind them.
After Jim and Hil left we did some more walking and sight seeing had another nice meal at Manish, packed for home and that was it!!!

Well 7 weeks have flown by. Many temples and caves have we seen......... (maybe enough to last a lifetime)....stayed in many hotels good and bad (14 in all).... met many nice people.......seen some wierd and wonderful places...... experienced many overwhelming stinks......(mainly 'eau de piss' ) ....heard many a throat clearing and gobbing.....visited 4 different states......travelled by car, auto rickshaw, trains and boats and planes (but declined the clapped out buses) ..... had our photographs taken with a hundred different families......paddled or dunked in the Arabian Sea...and enjoyed every curry eaten and every Kingfisher drunk. Are we glad we went? Definitely, Will we go to India again? Probably but for now home to see the family, friends and our much missed Ollie dog!!!!

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Photos

Elephanta Island
Train Crash