Thanksgiving Day in Mumbai, India
We had to get up early for the “face-to-face” meeting that
is required for all passengers with Indian customs officials. What a waste.
We finally got off of the ship about 8:30, loaded on a bus and had Anna
for our guide of Mumbai. She was
excellent with a great sense of humor.
She took us to a market that was just getting set up. We went through the vegetable section and the
floor was gross! But it was interesting
to see all of the things that they had.
We drove by the Victoria Terminus, the central train station that was in
“Slumdog Millionaire”. We stopped for
pictures that then headed on into Mumbai.
Mumbai is a city of 22 million people, half of them living in poverty. It was dusty and hazy all over.
Beautiful train station in Mumbai
Beautiful building and statues
Lots of traffic in a very busy city
The market
Inside the market - they sell everything!
Beautiful produce
Men carrying groceries out on their heads for customers
Many "head carriers"!
A strange mix of old and new in Mumbai
We drove by the waterfront that had a huge beach. We went to a temple and walked to the top and watched the rituals of the people saying their prayers to the various Hindi gods. The floor wasn’t very clean. Anna showed us a high rise that a very rich Indian built as his home, costing $2 billion.
A makeshift shrine
The hike up to the Hindi temple
Worshippers all over worshipping the various Hindu gods
The temple
The private high-rise home of one of the wealthiest men in India
Beautiful Hindu temple
We drove to a park and walked around. Under the park is a huge tank that supplies water for Mumbai. We drove by the Tower of Silence where a special religion brings their dead. They leave them on a catwalk in the tower and the birds of prey strip the flesh and eat the bodies – then they put the bones in a pit with lime.
We went to the Gateway to India tower built to commemorate King George’s visit to Mumbai in the early 20th century. We walked into the Taj Hotel and looked around.
There was an old woman who lived in a shoe . . .
Smoggy view of Mumbai from the park
We then drove around Mumbai and ended up a train station to watch “the lunch box” delivery process. Each day this happens. Families from far away send lunch boxes to people working in Mumbai. The delivery process is labor intensive but very accurate. It even has a six-sigma rating and only 1 in 16,000 has gone astray. A movie was made about this – “The Lunch Box” – we are putting that in our queue.
The "Lunchbox" experience - the lunch boxes come off of the train from far away
The sorting begins on the street
Then deliveries are set up for the lunchboxes. They have a "perfect record" and no one understands how it all works! The movie "The Lunchbox" documents this story. Fascinating
A clock tower in Mumbai
One of the grandest hotels in Mumbai
The India Gate in Mumbai
Picture at the India Gate
Selfie at the India Gate
We then had a great Indian lunch at a restaurant – spicy food, naan bread, and rice. It was good and we had Kingfisher beer.
We then headed to a museum that was somewhat unimpressive. The building was more interesting than the displays. Then we went to an old Portuguese bungalow neighborhood and had refreshments and looked at the house. The hostess greeted us with a red dot and a piece of rice on our foreheads.
This is a replicate in the museum of "The Quiet Place" where bodies are placed and the birds take care of the rest.
The entrance to the park at the museum
We went to Khotachi Wadi where the old homes have been preserved - for now!
Inside the upstairs of one of the homes in Knotachi Wadi in Mumbai
A hostess greeted us and we got a red dot on our foreheads
The Khotachi Wadi neighborhood in Mumbai
We then loaded on the bus and headed back to the ship. It was so hot.
We got ready for dinner and had drinks with Paul and
Patricia from Stuart in the Lounge. We
went for traditional Thanksgiving dinner in the restaurant a little after
8. It was good but not nearly as good as
Tim’s Thanksgiving dinner.
We went to the theatre after dinner and watched the second
half of “Slumdog Millionaire” that was filmed in Mumbai. Then off to bed.
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