We arrived back in Mumbai, were met by our tour company for a drive through Mumbai. Driving in Mumbai could be considered one of the scariest thing you could imagine. Our driver plunged into the craziest traffic you could imagine. How one can ever negotiate this chaos and not be in an accident is a miracle. I wish I could upload a movie to show you - but picture a scene with hundreds of vehicles (lots of cabs) , motorcycles, people on foot, all converging at once in large roundabouts - and all of them honking at one another to let them know they are about to pass you. The stop lights are only a suggestion - we often went through red lights!!!!!
Mumbai is a city of great palpable energy. Millions of people are on the go all the time and although we had all expected lots of beggars and lots of poverty, we were surprised that we only encountered beggars at night - children. The slums are shocking, but one of our friends, Maxine, who toured them, told us they are hives of industry themselves as they are working communities, with recycling and businesses flourishing. Jeff also went into the slums and took some great photos! Overall, we felt very safe here even when we were in crowds.
The literacy rate is 95% in Mumbai and they speak 6 languages. As I mentioned previously, this is now the largest English speaking nation in the world, and everyone speaks the language very well. It is easy to do business here. Mumbai is also surprisingly clean - much cleaner than Agra and Delhi! The streets have no litter which was in contrast to what we had seen in the other cities. Of course there was garbage in some alleyways, but by and large there is evidence of a more modern, city moving into prosperity. Never forget there are 1 million people living in slums - but nonetheless - progress is being made. Everywhere you look there are people and thanks to Jeff, here are the pictures to show it!
First we traveled along Marine Drive which is Mumbai's graceful seaside boulevard and promenade that sweeps from the skyscrapers at Nariman Point to the foot of Malabar Hill. We proceeded to Malabar Hill which is Mumbai's ritziest neighborhood. Its forested slopes, sea Mantrabreeze and panoramic views have made the area popular since the 18th century when merchants and colonial governors built mansions and bungalows on the hillsides. Since then, luxury highrises, home to politicians and movie stars have dominated the scenes.
We went to the Hanging Gardens to see the people of India spending time among the flowers, visiting with friends, and walking the track around the gardens. There were animals made from the hedges!
Where my mom went!!
We then went to the park across the street where you could the Queen's Necklace. You could see Marine Drive with its glittering lights visible from across the bay. We could see the beautiful views of the ocean.
The layout of the city is also quite compact - with the beautiful circular Marine Drive, known as the Queen's Necklace at night, ringing the bay and beach.
Years ago there was a moat here that protected the city - and now there is this wide beautiful boulevard that has these very large colonial buildings on what would have been shoreline of the moat. This is the most expensive real estate of the city, and for those of us used to the pristine condition of western buildings it is a shock to see the condition of these - which again is more often than not, marred with mould. There are impressive buildings from the British era - the Gateway to India, built for King George V''s and Queen Mary's first visit to India, the Victoria Terminal - the railway, the library, - to name a few. There is also a very large, new modern beautiful Safe Hospital built by the Muslims. We continued past Chowpatty Beach and many more old Victorian buildings which were charmingly illuminated at night!
At this point, we tried to gain access to the ship, but we could not get ahold of our yellow cards, so therefore we had to go back out into the city! We headed to the Taj Hotel. Here there was very tight security. Cars are inspected for explosives and barriers are let down to let cars pass, and each guest also goes through metal detectors, and there are security guards crawling all over the premises One used to be able to enter the Taj from the back, but now there is only one entrance. The hotel was amazing with large fountains, beautiful paintings, and fabulous stores.
We stopped to see the fine Victorian Gothic architecture of the Victoria Terminus which is the main railway station of Mumbai and was built during Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee year. The first train began its journey from there in 1853.
We also stopped at the Gateway of India to see at night!
Then we had a wonderful buggy ride around Mumbai at night! The buggy was decorated with flowers, a decorative umbrella, and bright lights.
Then it was time to go back to the ship, well, easier said than done. They would not allow us to enter with the car we had, then we had to switch cars, but then they wouldn't allow to enter with our luggage, so we had to go to a different gate, but then they still wouldn't allow us to enter, but finally they allowed us, but we had to screen our bags, then our car wasn't allowed to go thru the gate, so they put us on a Holland America Bus and drove us to the ship! We got back around 11:30pm, this was a long but GREAT day!
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