Wednesday, April 17th
Mumbai or Bombay is the 4th most populous city in the world with nearly 21 million people. It is the financial, commercial and entertainment capital of India. Mumbai is also the center of the Hindi movie industry, Bollywood, which is the largest film producer in India. State and central government employees make up a large percentage of the city's workforce. Taxis and rickshaws are required by law to run on compressed natural gas due to the pollution problems.
We arrived at 7:30am. For some reason (probably job security) the Indian authorities wanted all the 700 passengers and all of the 450 crew members to go through immigration here on the ship. So by deck we went down, picked up our passports (ship keeps them), took them to an immigration officer, and he stamped a yellow card we have to take with us on tours or to airport for those leaving ship. We were walking back on Deck 5 promenade on side of ship away from dock (bay side) and saw two security men manning water cannons. I later went back down and took photos and talked to one of them. He said they were watching for any boats that got too close to our ship while in port. Remember what happened to the USS Cole?
Water cannon to repel any pirates we may encounter.
Our tour today
Guard at port entrance.
Nap time!
Beggars all over town. Our guide said the children are professionals and work for a pimp like person. If they do not produce an allotted amount for the day, they were punished.
In front of entrance to "Gateway of India" where we boarded our boat for hour ride to island.
Only 16 of us in our tour group per boat.
Had to laugh at this sign on our tour boat. Everyone was snapping photos.
Our boat had two decks both covered so was comfortable. Did not see any life preservers??
Mumbai skyline
Voyager
Docking facilities to unload oil tankers from Mideast. There was a refinery near by.
Our destination to see temple carved in mountain
Souvenir shops lined way to the caves
There were 120 steps you had to climb to get to the caves. For $10 each way 4 men would carry you up on this chair. It might have been worth it because it was hot and I was sweat wet by time we got to top.
Menu to a restaurant at top.
Entrance to caves which is actually a Hindu temple built in 7th century AD.
The temple was carved out of the mountain by chisel and hammers taking 100 years to complete.
The temple was partially destroyed by the Portuguese in 1600's. They use cannons to blast carvings destroying lower part of bodies.
This guy picked up the water bottle from walk way and hopped up here to see if there was anything in it.
Train back to dock for boat ride back.
We arrived at 7:30am. For some reason (probably job security) the Indian authorities wanted all the 700 passengers and all of the 450 crew members to go through immigration here on the ship. So by deck we went down, picked up our passports (ship keeps them), took them to an immigration officer, and he stamped a yellow card we have to take with us on tours or to airport for those leaving ship. We were walking back on Deck 5 promenade on side of ship away from dock (bay side) and saw two security men manning water cannons. I later went back down and took photos and talked to one of them. He said they were watching for any boats that got too close to our ship while in port. Remember what happened to the USS Cole?
Mumbai skyline in taken from our balcony
Yellow stamped immigration card we had to show exiting and entering ship.
"Gateway to India"
Taj Mahal Hotel
Boarding boat from trip to Elephanta Island.
"Gateway to India" from boat.
Taj Mahal Hotel and Gateway to India from distance.
Naval ships
Old fort in middle of bay
Fishing boat
Elephanta Island--Never have been any elephants here though.
We had to take a packed little train from dock to entrance to caves.
Steps up the hill
Our guide explaining all the carvings of the Hindu god, Shiva.
Shiva the Hindu god
Very intricate detail to the carving in stone.
There were monkeys on the island. We were warned to watch our bags as they would aggressively go after food in them.
Upper deck of our boat
Lot of Indian tourists now as school kids on vacation now.
One man sewing shop on the street.
https://goo.gl/photos/uTu43ufeFLNA8YJh6
No comments:
Post a Comment