We landed in Bombay (Mumbai)

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After 27 hrs on planes we arrived in Mumbai (Bombay) at 03:30 AM and met our driver, Amin, who gave us an amazing tour of Mumbai.

A city with a population somewhere between 15 and 20 million on an island about the size of Montreal Island.

As soon as you arrive in Bombay you notice the smell of the city. Here is an excerpt from a book called Shantaram where the authour, Gregory David Roberts, describes that smell that I cannot describe any better than this:

"The first thing I noticed about Bombay, on that first day, was the smell of the different air. I could smell it before I saw or heard anything of India, even as I walked along the umbilical corridor that connected the plane to the airport. I was excited and delighted by it, in that first Bombay minute ... . I know now that it's the sweet, sweating smell of hope, which is the opposite of hate; and it's the sour, stifled smell of greed, which is the opposite of love. It's the smell of gods, demons, empires and civilisations in resurrection and decay. It's the blue-skin smell of the sea, no matter where you are in the Island City, and the blood-metal smell of machines. It smells of the stir and sleep and waste of sixty million animals, more than half of them humans and rats. It smells of heartbreak, and the struggle to live, and of the crucial failures and loves that produce our courage. It smells of ten thousand restaurants, 5000 temples, shrines, churches, and mosques, and of a 100 bazaars devoted exclusively to perfumes, spices, incense, and freshly cut flowers. .l.. "

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Photos

Man in Market
Markets in Mumbai are teeming with goods

Market Shopper
The ladies show off their saris

The Corner Store
Just think of it as your local 7-ll store

Street Warning
Ahhhhhhh, not sure if this sign is heeded.

Bathing in the Holy Waters
Mumbai: Washing their sins away

Young Worshipper
Bathing in the Holy Waters

Worshipper
Near the Holy Waters

Receiving Blessing
Mumbai: Keith receives a blessing

Getting a Shave
Mumbai: Get your morning shave in the street but make sure to save that moustache.

Cricket is a National Obsession
Hundreds of games being contested at the city's cricket grounds

The City's Laundramat
All the hotels and private residences have their laundry washed at this world famous laundramat called "Dhobi Ghat". This is the fascinating place where Mumbai's laundry is done. Clothes are washed by hundreds of Dhobis (laundry men and women) by hand, on concrete sinks and dried in the sun, as it has been done for generations.

Haji ALi Moque
This whitewashed fairytale mosque contains the tomb of the Muslim saint Haji Ali. The saint is believed to have been a wealthy local businessman who renounced the material world and meditated on a nearby headland following a pilgrimage to Mecca. The mosque and tomb were built by devotees in the early 19th century. Alternative versions say Haji Ali died while on a pilgrimage to Mecca and his casket amazingly floated back to Bombay and landed at this spot. The mosque can only be reached at low tide.

Comments

[Mark H]

Did you take all the Pictures?
John, I hope you trip went well. 33 hrs. Did they give you dinner... Did you take all the pictures? Mark

[Paula]

Nice Pics!
These are great .... have given me a little break away from reality!!!

[Jaspreet Singh]

Great Pics
John, Thanks for the update and the nice pics Jaspreet