MUMBAI, INDIA

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.

   

Mumbai skyline in taken from our balcony

                                                            Our tour today

Yellow stamped immigration card we had to show exiting and entering ship.

                                                    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.

"Gateway to India"

Taj Mahal Hotel

Boarding boat from trip to Elephanta Island.

                                               Only 16 of us in our tour group per boat.

"Gateway to India" from boat.

                                 Had to laugh at this sign on our tour boat.  Everyone was snapping photos.

Taj Mahal Hotel and Gateway to India from distance.

  Our boat had two decks both covered so was comfortable.  Did not see any life preservers??

Naval ships

                                                              Mumbai skyline

Old fort in middle of bay

                                                                     Voyager

Fishing boat

               Docking facilities to unload oil tankers from Mideast.  There was a refinery near by.

Elephanta Island--Never have been any elephants here though.

                                              Our destination to see temple carved in mountain

We had to take a packed little train from dock to entrance to caves.

                                                         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.

Steps up the hill

                                                   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.

Our guide explaining all the carvings of the Hindu god, Shiva.

 The temple was partially destroyed by the Portuguese in 1600's.  They use cannons to blast carvings destroying lower part of bodies.

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.

 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.

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

GOA, INDIA

Tuesday, April 16th

     We had a 5 hour "Highlights of Goa" tour scheduled for this morning but decided not to go.  It appeared to have similar sights as the one we did yesterday, only a different city.  Another mostly sunny and very hot & humid (90 degrees & 78% humidity) day here so good to just stay in the air conditioned comfort of the ship.  We woke up this morning and found out two tragic events had occurred.  One, my cousin's 26 year old daughter was brain dead and would soon be removed from life support due to an ATV accident.  She leaves behind a 2 1/2 year old girl.   Number two was the Boston bombing.  We are about to cruise into a dangerous part of the world; Somalia waters on way to Dubai, UAE, Oman, Jordan, Egypt, and Israel but seems we are safer here than in the USA.
     Goa has a population of 1.5 million and is renowned for its beaches, places of worship, and architecture. Tourism is #1 in the economy and mining is number two.  They mine ores such as iron, bauxite, manganese, clay, silicone, and limestone.  They also manufacture fertilizers, pesticides, tires, tubes, foot ware, pharmaceuticals, wheat products, steel rolling, textiles, fruits, fish canning, cashews, and brewery products.  They have a very low excise duty on booze so it is cheap here.

                                                      Our pier at Goa port

               

                                                             Our guards

                                                     Indian naval ship by us.

                                        Large ship in dry dock for repairs next to our pier.

                                              Running/walking track around upper pool deck

                                                     Walking/running track info.

                                            Compass Rose the main dining room.

                                                            Elevator placcard

             Bert & Lani from Tacoma, Washington.  We dined in Prime 7 with them last week.

     Tonight is the Captain's Farewell Party as the 2nd segment (17 nights) of the cruise is ending on Thursday.  So tonight is formal optional dress.  On Thursday most of the current passengers will be disembarking and we will then have to break in some new ones who will be boarding that afternoon.
     We will be sailing at 4:30pm today for Mumbai (Bombay for us old geography students) and will arrive there tomorrow morning and remain there for two days.

https://goo.gl/photos/sLamm5eGnMMZh8nk6