After our breakfast, we went on a city walking tour, following the map in the Lonely Planet guidebook (my saviour). we wanted to buy some stuffs... and were tracking back the places, markets that we've visited with Amin on our 1st day in Mumbai.
Chhatrapati Shivaji Bus terminal
I told my friends that I wanted to get a scarf... hahha... to cover my nose later when we visit the slum. Coz Shu Hui told us that visitors to the slum had mentioned that it does not smell good walking in the slum. As we walked, we found ourselves in Crawford market and wanted to look for the textiles market in the Crawford market. But we could not find it. Hahaha... the reason is because it was still too early... (that was around 10am) and majority of the shops were not open yet. So walking one round, discovering that we could not buy anything... an old man seeing us invited us to go to his shop to take a look at the scarfs that he sells.
So we took the chance and visited his shop. And that's when our bargaining skills came into play. I must say that Ka Wei has very good bargaining skills! all of us bought scarfs (I bought a mixed silk & pashima scarf and 5 silk scarfs). after that we decided to take a taxi back to our hotel. and started to hail taxi. we tried a couple of drivers before we managed to get a taxi driver who knows how to get to the hotel that we were staying. the taxi ride was short. and we paid about 18 Rupees for the short ride. Oh! 1 thing about the taxis in Mumbai, don't expect luxuries. All the taxis are non air-conditioned. so u've got to bear with the heat, fumes and honking sounds.
We wanted to visit Bombay store coz Amin told us to visit that and we can get practically anything and everything from there. We thought the things will be reasonably priced. however, they were not so. The things were like 4-5 times more expensive than what u can get from the street markets in Mumbai! Hiaz was totally disappointed coz I've not done any shopping for souvenirs yet.
after walking around, we went for lunch at Mocambo Cafe and Bar. Food there is not fantastic. Think there are better outlets worth spending your money on. After lunch, we went back to the hotel to rest for 1hr before the guide from Reality Tours pick us from our hotel for the Dharavi Slum tour. I slept for about 45min. Was tired.
Our guide came at 2pm to pick us. His name was Santhos and he has been a guide with Reality Tours for about 2 years. When we knew that he could speak 6 languages, we were surprised. He told us that yesterday the temepratures in Mumbai reached a high of 45 Degrees Celsius! Imagine that! No wonder i suffered from heat stroke.
He showed Dhobi Ghaut, Kamathipura and finally Dharavi Slum. i cannot take any photos as the tours do not want us to intrude on the people's lives and privacy. We got down and walked through the slum for about 1.5hrs. He explained to us that there are about 1 million people living in Dharavi Slum. Originally, the slum was inhabited by the fisherfolk, Kholi. However, as time goes on, it became attractive for migrant workers. Currently, Dharavi slum covers about 1.37 square kilometers and sandwiched between Mumbai's 2 major railway lines. Santhos also shared with us that Dharavi Slum is one of the slums that had been legalised by the govt, hence, there are schools, hospital, roads, factories in the slum. He also bought us to see some of the factories that are taking place in the slum. We got to see people recycling plastics, aluminium, paint cans and oil tins. people making biscuits which will be sold to restaurants and supermarkets.
Kids playing in the region of recycling of cardboard pieces (courtesy of Reality Tours)
Recycling Oil tin factory (Courtesy of Reality Tours)
people making and dying leather to be made into products. People making and dying, waxing clothes for sari, clothes. It was just amazing that all these things can be happening a slum. And all these people work 7 days a week. They only get time off during major holidays for a period of 1-2months. And that's when most of these people will head back to their villages. However, there have been news that in another 5-7urs time, most of the factories/businesses maybe stop as the government feels that the fumes emitted in the cause of recyling some of the products are super toxic and harmful to human health.
Men doing embroidery in a typical sweat shop (Courtesy of Reality Tours)
Men checking on the plastics to be recycled on a roof-top (courtesy of Reality Tours)
Santhos also brought us to walk through the alleys of the residences. I must say i was totally shocked in the way of their living condition and the horrible and dirty hygiene. The alleys were so narrow that it was large enough just for 1 person to walk through. Some of the alleys were really dark and smelly and dangerous looking electric cables hanging down from above.
Kid standing in 1 of the narrow alleys in the communal section of the slum (Courtesy of Reality Tours)
The rooms were so small (15m by 10m) and it comprise of a tiny kitchen, a super tiny toilet (if the family wants to have otherwise about 150 people will share a communal toilet) and the main bulk of the room is the living room for eating, doing bread business or sleeping. Really sad to see such tiny and cramped living conditions of the people. Ventilation in the houses were really really bad. Santhos shared with us that each house in Dharavi cost about 40 000 -50 000 USD. imgaine that! Coz the land in Mumbai is scarce, hence land is super expensive here. So all these people do not own the houses, rather they have to pay a monthly rent to the house landlord.
Children are seen playing, running around so carefree. Seeing us walking in the alleys, often they will smile at us, waved and say 'hello'. After the slum tour, we were brought back to our hotel to rest for awhile before heading out to Marine Drive for dinner.
Flora Fountain
Tonight we had pizza for dinner. Whilst the crowded pizza eatery faces the sea, just outside the eatery on the street, you'll be able to see beggars. Such is a common sight of Mumbai. And all four of us totally agree that we can't wait to get back to Singapore. And this is 1 trip that I've never dared to try the street food nor do i dare to eat ice-cream for fear of having major diarrhea problems. After dinner, we had a short stroll along Marine Drive before heading back to hotel to pack our bags to get ready to leave Mumbai tomorrow! Great way to spend our last night in Mumbai! =D
Night scene along Marine Drive
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