India - Mumbia (7)

We decided to go back to the Hanging Gardens today as we had only had a brief photo stop on our first day "hotel tour"

Our taxi driver this morning has restored our faith in humanity - a reasonable fare plus of IR 110  from the Taj President to the Hanging Gardens. He was very chatty and pointed out all the sights  on the way to Malabar Hill. An uneducated man who admits that he received no formal schooling - his schooling was "on the streets" He adopted 2 girls and also has 2 sons. All his children have been educated and he is paying off his taxi. The mileage these taxi's do daily is huge so by the time the taxi is paid off, it's just about on it's last legs, one would imagine. Perhaps that is why so many of  these taxi's look so decrepit and bashed.

The Hanging Gardens are a little oasis from the noise of the streets and they were laid out in the 1880's. Benches galore to sit on, gorgeous butterflies that refused to sit still for a photo, lovers, and some blooms. Being just after the monsoon, one would not expect an abundance of blooms. The best was watching 2 guys mowing the lawn with a hand-mower - one chap pushing and one pulling. In the heat, this gets the job done quickly and efficiently! The Indians have some age-old customs which are lovely to see!

Opposite, the Hanging Gardens is the Kamala Nehru Park, a pleasant spot to sit in the cooling breeze to regain our breathe after walking all the way up the hill and back again. There are some beautiful apartment blocks and just as many really grotty ones (from the outside anyway!) This a Real Estate with a hefty price tag and this can be believed as we say some really great roof top gardens - they must have amazing views of the city.

As usual, we are the only Westerners in sight but besides a few women (always with a child) begging, we have not been harassed. After a firm NO, most vendors have left us alone. I find the tiny stalls quite incredible - they are only about 1.5 metres wide (if that) and the goods are packed tightly into this minute space. Some even have a phone!!! Although, how they can hear anybody speak with all the road noise is a miracle!

There are always Indians walking to and fro, everywhere we go, and on this road on Malabar Hill, we found them the most friendly with wide smiles, especially from the ladies. It has been a complete eye-opener - nobody has tried to harm us in any way, and it seems that theft is not an issue here. Bicycles are left unattended, laden with goods, a helmet was left on a sidewalk waiting for it's owner to return. Now how is this for co-incidence - our daily newspapers have just been delivered and the front page of the Times of India has an article stating that Mumbai is the 2nd most honest city in the world after Helsinki. This exercise was conducted with wallets being dropped, with cash in, plus a phone number. Citizens in Mumbai returned most of the wallets planted whilst Lisbon came in stone last. South African is not listed as none of the wallets would have been returned!!!!!!! However, this is not to say that there is no crime in India - the country is high on the corruption stakes, rape is a huge issue and burglaries do certainly occur as can be seen by the burglar bars on windows.

Given the number of lovers lining Marine Parade, one can understand the huge population - it seems they start young here! Smooching in public, albeit behind an umbrella, is commonplace along this sea boulevard and this in broad daylight so who knows what happens once the sun sets??? The mind boggles!

It does not seem as if there is a market for scrap metal in Mumbai as all the metal drain covers are still in place. Not like South Africa where nothing is sacred and metal = money!

The other issues are health related - water is not drinkable, we spotted a man doing his "toilet" needs just below Malabar Hill on the beach and the stench from some areas is disgusting.

Eventually our legs got tired so we tried a taxi. IR 200 to go back to the hotel - what a rip-off. The next driver said IR 30 but then changed his tune once we were in the car!! His English was very poor and although he was a total rip-off at IR 80 he did get out of the taxi to get change! So he trusted us to wait for him as we could have just walked off. It's a crazy country and the hotel room has muted honking sounds which is bliss after our very long walk.

They honk, they honk, they honk some more - often just for the hell of it! Nobody points a gun though and nobody gives any rude finger signs so just bear with the noise - they will get you to your destination in one piece, even if the price is a total rip-off! So much for honesty amongst taxi drivers!

Supper time came around and once again, no taxi's to be had. As we did not feel like paying fo the hotel cab, we ventured back to the Thai restaurant at the hotel. Bad move as my tummy did not enjoy this again. Obviously, something in their food does not agree with me and it is very irritating. I had asked for the veg curry and could count the few beans on virtually one hand, with a tiny slice of potato thrown in. Drowned in a bowl of curry sauce, this was a poor choice and a rip-off. Whilst our first meal here was pretty good, except for my poor tum-tum, this one was very poor. Win some, lose some.

© Judelle Drake

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bradclinphotography

For Accommodation Cape Town, South Africa

www.bradclin.com

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India - Mumbai (5)

Now we head for the Prince of Wales Museum to "try" and soak up some culture.
Yeh right - it is difficult but nothing ventured, nothing gained. The taxi fare of 100 Rupees (most probably a rip-off!) got us to the door of the museum just as the rain came down.



We waited under shelter, like idiots, as nobody told us that there were umbrellas to use to reach the entrance.

The museum has 3 floors of art collections such as Nepal-Tibet, Krishna, Chinese and Japanese, European paintings, sculpture, weapons, coins etc.

The foundation stone was laid by Prince of Wales (later KIng George V) in 1905 and is a heritage building and landmark of South Mumbai.The museum opened to the public on Jan 10, 1922 wit various collections plus the Sir Ratan Tata bequest. The Tata family are well-known and very wealthy - Tata vehicles are even available in South Africa.

The Natural History section is superb, spoilt only by a group of Primary (Called High School) kids who were sooooo noisy we could not even hear our audio head phones. They were all very smartly dressed in uniform, with name tags and photos, all wearing sandals but, oh my goodness, what alot of chatter at the top of their voices. The teacher telling them to be quiet had absolutely NO effect! Even the museum chap tried to move them along....he did not succeed. Rather a pity that such smartly dressed kids from obviously wealthy backgrounds can be so disobedient when all the signs say "Silence Please" We had to wait for them to leave to enjoy the exhibits.

Have you ever seen a "saw" fish? It's the most amazing looking sea creature with a huge saw in front of it's body. Don't think I would like to encounter one of those in the ocean! Forget the magician trick of sawing somebody in half, this would be the real deal!

Indian 1 Horn Rhino's also faced near extinction until measures were taken to increase the population. The conservation program in India and in South Africa (White Rhino) are mentioned here for their efforts in saving these magnificent animals.

We found the history of Karl Khandalavala most interesting. A lawyer by profession, he became an Indian Art Collector and had close links with the Prince of wales Museum. He was asked to source art for the museum and then stopped collection for his own use. He was also a great photographer and one numerous awards. His collection is now in the gallery where he spent many a Saturday afternoon, such was his love of the arts.

A video in the Prechand Roychand gallery was totally fascinating as it showed the history of the art of painting for mobile temples. This huge painting is taken from village to village. Today this art form includes words and more colours than the originals - however, it needs to be preserved for future generations.

We decided to walk back so that we could get some exercise and experience the noise of Mumbai again!!!!! The noise is so invasive that I can't even concentrate on taking interesting photos of people, cars, shops etc that we pass. It's all encompassing noise that assaults the senses to such a degree that one walks like a zombie! There is nothing like this anywhere in Europe, USA, SA and certainly not in New Zealand (peace and quiet!!) or law-abiding Australia. There are no rules of the road and most roads are packed, with truly only about a centimetre of space between cars or bodies. How there are not more accidents, I have no clue. Apparently, in the monsoon season there are many accidents - thankfully, for my sanity, the rain is no longer too much. Whew!

We had hoped hoped to see the Kala Ghoda Pavement Art which is on either side of the Jehangir Art Gallery but this is closed until October ( after the Monsoon Season) I suppose no self-respecting artist would want his/her work ruined by the rain?

As we did not find the Colaba Causeway on our Saturday outing, we decided to walk back to via this route. These stalls of full of cheap trinkets and clothing and quite claustrophobic. We did buy an elephant for 300 rupees for my elephant collection at home. Gorgeous and ornate, he will rule the other elephants when he gets back to South Africa! The beggars all seem to be women with children, sitting on the pavement. I was eventually tempted to use rather strong African swear words - just the fact that they did not understand these, seemed to have an effect! I won't repeat them here!

Although the Internet reckons that the area around the President Hotel is not so safe we have found all the areas so far to be hassle free. Wherever we have walked there has been no problem even though we stand out like sore thumbs - white faces and with a Nikon camera slung around my neck! Many of the buildings look like total slums, yet they are not. It's a crazy place, a noisy place and the Indians themselves are all over, shopping, eating, buying and driving.

We spotted a Driving School called "Good Luck" - yep, I think the bumps and scratches on the car are testimony to the crazy driving in Mumbai and India. Quite frankly, I would think that no license is required - nothing could equip one for driving in this country - hence the fact that foreigners are not allowed to hire a car without a driver. Driving in India, without being born in this country, would be the fastest way to voluntary suicide.

Indians, please come to South Arica - you will LOVE the way we drive - we don't hoot very often, we tend to obey most of the rules of the road and we can be very polite!!! Capetonians, your driving is SUPERB - I love you all!!!!!

Our laundry arrived, delivered in a briefcase and with cardboard in the t-shirts. Service!!!!! Singita Lebombo, a fantastic hotel in the Kruger Park of South Africa,  can learn a few tricks from the Taj Group! Joking - Singita is very special and our memories there will never fade.

For our evening meal, we decided to catch a taxi to Leopolds - famous in Mumbai. This is right in the Colaba Causeway area and was packed with locals and a few Westerners. The menu is under the glass on the table so sometimes you have to read upside down. The noise is incredible as the buzz of conversation competes with the honking horns in the road outside. If you are in the mood for a romantic dinner, this is not the place to be. If you want tasty food at a reasonable price, then it IS the place to be. Our waiter was very helpful and I decided on a vegetable curry called Makhanwala  while James chose Butter Chicken. Served with some Naan Bread, it was delicious. Leopolds also serves huge "tower of beer" at 1400 IR - needless to say, we stuck to a glass each at 180 IR! No need to fall over in Mumbai! The cakes and desserts are scrumptious - the Chocolate Ecstasy was just that - so rich that I could barely finish it, despite James stealing a few mouthfuls.

There were plenty of taxi's outside so we opted for one that said 80 IR (the fare we paid to get to the restaurant)
At our destination, James handed over a 100 note and was told "no change" So he counted out his smaller notes and made 60 which he then offered the driver. Suddenly, change of 20 miraculously appeared! We were not impressed by this tactic - however, only fair to say that this has happened to us whilst taking a taxi to Cape Town airport so it is obviously a ploy used by taxi drivers world-wide. Why they would want to annoy their fares to such an extent, is beyond me. Mind you, in Mumbai you never get the same driver - this last one was extremely surly and spoils the good experience that we have enjoyed from others in this city.

The streets at night are even more crazy it seems than during the day with far more people walking, riding and just being out and about. We even saw a gent sitting on the pavement having his ears cleaned by another. How gross is that? Funnily enough, I have only seen one taxi driver open
his door and spit! Even more gross!

On that note, back to our cool, clean hotel room......to read the latest in the Indian Newspapers:

The Mumbai Mirror, the Bombay Times and the Times of India are delivered to our room daily. They make interesting reading and show us that problems are really world-wide and so is good news.

Some snippets:
Armed with lathi, constable beats back 10 train robbers
In a first, chemist is booked for not having pharmacist!
Ragpicker stumbles upon woman's partial remains near sea link
Free Seminars across the city to help students study in USA
Rehearsing teens spark real dram on Marine Drive ( this happened across from the Inter-Continental Hotel where the Pakistan Judicial Commission is staying!!)
Study: Drug-resistant TB in city air, families clear yet kids affected.
Irrespective of faith, 12 year old cannot be wife.
Grad steals mobile, blackmails owner - love this one - in SA they just re-sell them at bargain prices!
Wheelchair bound Deepa Malik (43) will cover 2000 km across 6 states in 10 days in a car designed by students from Sathyabama University, Chennai
If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail. "Keep it simple, stupid" Kiss Principle

Ad - 2 months later, 7 kilos lighter and a plan that finally worked. SMS Slim to .......!
Ad - Get going in your own Innova for a perfect holiday (Toyota)
Ad - 30,000 cars sold, 30,000 lived changed - Honda

You have guessed - it is raining today so more time to read these fascinating glimpses into Indian life in Mumbai.

© Judelle Drake

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bradclinphotography

For Accommodation Cape Town, South Africa

www.bradclin.com

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India - Mumbai (4)



Mumbai from Marine Drive

05.30 and disaster.....we have all heard of the song "Beds are Burning" Well, my b.. was burning! Obviously, the tummy did not enjoy the delicious Thai flavours quite as much as my palate did!! So a very basic breakfast for me at 09.30 in the hopes that the unruly tum would settle down as we hope to explore at least one market today.....

Meanwhile, reading the "Times of India" is a worthwhile way to pass the time.

Forget about Car Pools - a Mumbai resident has a Helicopter Pool. After 12 years of leaving home at 06.00 and only getting back by 23.00 at night, he discovered that he could get enough folk together to share a chopper. Innovative thinking from a 45 yr old Chemical Engineer. Needless to say, he owns the factory but still - imagine having work hours that long? Not for me thanks!

As my tummy problem was more a reaction to all those delectable Thai spices, I swallowed an Imodium and off we set for our next adventure. The hotel cab dropped us off at the Crawford Market. Taking our lives in our hands, we crossed the street and entered the market to be accosted by a "guide" who showed us his official badge and told us that he had to escort us around the market! He stated that his services were free so we obediently followed.

The Crawford Market was built in the days of the British Raj. Named after Arthur Crawford, this market is still a very much part of South Mumbai life and teems with local people. The fresh fruit and veg all look very tempting and there were many types of fruits that we did not recognise. The stalls sell anything from chocolates, biscuits, plastic ware, toiletries, and a stunning array of spices from the Spice King - just about anything and everything one could wish for.
spicekingmumbai@yahoo.com

Pay them a visit - it will be worth your while!

There is also a meat market which we did not visit and then the pet market which is rather depressing - hundreds of birds in cages, geese, canaries, love birds, small puppies, wagging their tails in the hope of finding a good home, beautiful kittens, quail (for the pot, I assume!) fish in tanks etc.

It's a kaleidoscope of colour, an overload of people and no Westerners except us and a Dutch couple travelling the world (Europe, India, China and whatever else takes their fancy) Young and free, they did not have a guide! We were then told to cross the road - death staring us in the face! There are so many stalls in this area, that it is hard to take it all in. Artificial flowers are absolutely stunning but would get crushed in a suitcase. How everybody makes a living is beyond me but I suppose they all do. There were people sewing suitcases, making juice from something that looked like sugar cane or bamboo,  men staring, others smiling, most thinking we are crazy tourists!! Which we are!

After walking for ages through all this chaos, we decided to take a taxi to Marine Drive to breathe some sea air and relative quiet! If you have never driven in a local cab in this mayhem, you are totally missing the point of Mumbai. It is TOTAL MAYHEM and far worse than anything you could ever see on TV. Hooting is the name of the game, anything and everything goes from guys with baskets on their heads (local Courier service!!) to animals pulling goods, to parents with 3 kids on a scooter, to people walking in amongst this mess, to guys with loaded wagons and many, many taxis! 50 thousand of them apparently, all living by their horns!!! Hang on as you progress slowly, then have a burst of speed, only to brake and nearly go thru the windscreen! It has to be seen to be believed, the noise is incredible and just does not stop. In fact, I think I have to say that it is worse than Manhattan, New York. In the traffic jams, anything and everything goes - no rules apply - it is each man for himself!

With a sigh of relief, we reached Marine Drive and some cooling sea breezes. This is a very long drive so we could only walk part of it. There were many students also catching the sea breeze and perhaps a little cuddling away from parents eyes!

Even though the traffic was free flowing along this area, the hooting continues - just for the hell of it! Perhaps the Indians are not all born with a silver spoon, so they have a hand that simply loves the horn and it's blaring sound! The drive is 4.3 km long, with C  shaped 6 lane concrete lanes along the natural bay. The road links Nariman Point to Babulnath and Malabar Hill. The sea breeze was most welcome and the litter was not TOO much! In fact, we did see somebody picking up litter hence the fact that this area is not so dirty. Malabar Hill has the most expensive real estate in Mumbai it seems with a recent sale at Darshan Apartments reaching a new high. This apartment has 3 floors, 4 bedrooms, attached terraces, a covered garage of 700 sq feet and the unit is 3510 sq ft. The price of 57 crore is huge (1 crore = 10 million rupees)

We walked as far as Chowpatty Beach. This beach is huge and I would not like to be there when it gets packed with people. Seething masses are not my favourite! Besides Juhu beach, Chowpatty is Mumbai's most famous beach and comes alive at night when family's descend on this area. During the day it was not so busy although there were a number of kids having a swim. The fishermen were hauling a boat up the beach with military precision and it seems as if they live in shacks on the beach. After a very long walk, we caught a cab back to Cuffs Parade for 100 Rupees. Most probably a rip-off as the distance was not great.

We are total plebs, so we wandered down the road again to find some more Kingfishers - 100 Rupees each for 650 ml against 225 Rupees for 200 ml in the bar fridge in our room. As we have to go thru security every time we enter the building, they must think we are really not 5 star quality guests!!!!! Love the comfort, don't like the prices!!

We also wanted to see Fashion Street today as we passed this yesterday - however, it seems the stalls are closed on Mondays so too bad!

A great day out and a true Mumbai local experience. Mixing with the locals in areas where there are truly no Westerners, has been incredible and awesome experience.

The legs are tired, the body needs a shower but what a great day out!

Tonight we decided on "safe" food - chicken and veg with choc mud pie desserts. Boring, but hopefully my silly tum-tum will behave. Mind you, we are drinking buffalo milk with our tea - 50,000 buffaloes supply approx. 750,000 litres of fresh milk daily to Mumbai. Housed in Buffalo Tabelas (cowsheds) the smell is apparently over-powering and there are moves afoot to re-locate these.

© Judelle Drake

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bradclinphotography

For Accommodation Cape Town, South Africa

www.bradclin.com

Please share - if you did not enjoy this post .....Shhh - but please still share!

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