Mumbai, India - Day 3 (17th May 2011)

Today is the day that we'll be heading to Mumbai. Been in Aurangabad for the past 2 days.... i must say that the shopping here is terrible. Coz i went to Mumbai with the same amount of baggage.... no increase in my baggage at all. There was basically nothing interesting for me to buy in Aurangabad.... perhaps only water... hahaha... to hydrate myself.

Anyway, today we met our driver at 0630hrs and head to the Aurangabad Airport. It is about 2km from the city to the airport... so we reached the airport like in 15min.... pretty fast huh....and the airport was somewhat like a ghost town. probably because at that time slot there was only 1 plane arriving from Mumbai and taking off once we the passengers have board it. So after checking in our baggage, we sat there and waited whilst i had my breakfast that consist of muffins and water. we thought we were the only chinese who will be taking the plane... but surprise surprise we saw a couple of taiwanese (mother and daughter) who were also going to take the same plane as us. In fact a few of the foreign passengers who were going to take the plane with us, we met them in our 2 days of touring the caves and the city sights. =D

Aurangabad Airport

Walking on the tarmac to board the plane

soon... 0810hr came... and its time for the plane to take off.... and its 'Bye Bye to Aurangabad. Hello Mumbai!' Our driver+guide, Amin was already there waiting for us. He was quite a pleasant guy and really talks a lot. Along the way, he pointed out to us the Dharavi Slum (which we're going to visit on our 3rd day in Mumbai) and drove us through the largest red light district in Mumbai, Kamathipura (कामाठीपुरा). U can see rows of houses some with curtains in front of the doors or gated doors. At times u can see girls who are heavily painted in the face wearing saris standing in front of the doors. It is really terrible.... coz some of these girls are sold to the brothels or bluffed into prostitution at a very young age, often before puberty. these girls and women are sexually exploited. Often not aware of the trap they are falling into. Once in the trade, there is no escape until the brothel keeper has earned enough through them. Here they are subjected to physical and mental torture if they refuse to abide by the wishes of the keeper. Amin told us that girls can be locked up in tiny rooms to serve many male customers day after day. As most women do not have formal education, they have do not know how much they earn. When they are allowed to leave the set-up, most probably they have become a victim of life threatening diseases like AIDS, without any places to go to. It is really a very sad sight. We could not take any pictures as there is a possibility that people can smash Amin's car.
Its really ironic that everyone in Mumbai knows Kamathupura is the largest red light district in Mumbai and men go there to find their pleasure..... however, prostitution and sex-trade is still a taboo and illegal in India.

Sole remaining hand painted poster cinema in Mumbai

 Mahalaxmi Dhobi Ghaut, the largest in Mumbai

 Further down the street, are rows of tiny, cramped houses. and these houses are owned by the mafia. the occupants are from Bangladesh. and each family has about 4-5 children. These children will be the well-being and a form of earnings for the families.

 Mafia owned tiny cramped houses

 People standing outside of their house

 People lying on the streets (this is a common sight in Mumbai)

Reason being, the children will work for the mafia and they will be the ones to bring the money back to the family to ensure their living and existence there. Really sad.... how can parents make use of their children like that.... children are innocent. They should be born into this world to learn the correct things and do the correct things... but not as a means for people to use to their own advantage and vices. Once the life lessons are taught wrongly to them.... when they grow up into adulthood... they will continue to pass on and educate their off-springs the wrongs things too. u can say... its a snowball effect.

After driving through the street life of Mumbai, Amin drove us to our hotel to check in before heading out again. In Mumbai, we stayed at Hotel Residency in Fort area. Having stayed there 3 nights... i would not recommend that hotel to my friends. I mean besides the hotel being in good location and the bed is soft, its not worth being labelled as a luxury hotel. Coz the sheets can be dirty, rooms smell and feel damp, rooms are pretty cramped and people drilling the walls even at nights!

After checking into the hotel, we headed out to Gateway of India, the icon of Mumbai. Its amazing to me sometimes that how can there be still so many people around everywhere?

In front of the Gateway of India

 
Then i got to know that there are about 22 million people living in Mumbai! Imagine that! We also got to see the most expensive hotel in Mumbai, Taj Mahal Palace and Tower. hahaha... i did not feel that its that majestic... coz its just another building that seem somewhat like european style to me.

 Taj Mahal Palace and Tower

 Leopold Cafe, one of the sites that was bombed by the terrorists a few years back

 Building for the Parsi

after taking in the sights we walked through the streets of Colaba and had our lunch (sandwiches) there.

Sandwich shop where we had our lunch

After lunch, its back to the car and we headed to Mani Bhavan, a house which has been converted into a tiny museum. What's so special about this museum? It used to be the house that Mahatma Gandhi stayed in during his visits to Bombay from 1917 - 1934. There are exhibitions that showcase his life, letters wrote to some world leaders, his library and a room where he used to sleep and work.

Bust of Mahatma Gandhi

 Room used by Gandhi

 Pretty informative and insightful.
When I came out from the museum.... the heat is really terrible. I feel that the weather in Mumbai is worse than Aurangabad even though temperatures in Aurangabad is higher. Its worse in Mumbai because the humidity is super high in Mumbai. At least in Aurangabad its humidity is low (20%) hence even if we perspire, its dries faster than in Mumbai. and the heat in Mumbai + the perspiring can be pretty suffocating. No idea how the people in Mumbai get by each day. Probably they are all so used to it.

After the museum trip, we head to Banganga Tank (बाणगंगा तलाव ). Its a water tank that is part of the Walkeshwar Temple Complex in Malabar Hill area. The tank today is a rectangular pool structure surrounded by steps on all four sides.

 

Children playing in the waters of Banganga Tank

 People sitting in the shade chatting

At the entrance are two pillars in which oil lamps called diyas were lit in ancient times. The tank, as well as the main Walkeshwar Temple and the Parshuram Temple belong to the Goud Saraswat Temple Trust, which once owned most of the property in the complex. Many Goud Saraswat Brahmin families to date reside in the complex. The tank is spring fed and so its water remains sweet, despite being located only a few dozen meters away from the sea. Apart from being a cultural hub, the place over the years has provided inspiration to many artists, be it on film or on canvas. At this tank, people use it to drink, wash etc.

We went to another place where its another Dhobi Ghaut. Not so touristy. Amin shared with us that the Dhobis earn about 150 per day. and each piece of cloth collected is about 50 rupees. and each day these Dhobis wash thousands of kilograms of clothes. So u can imagine how much the boss earns?? and this is one of the reason why the rich will always get richer and the poor will neither get richer and they will just remain poor.

 Clothes drying in the hot sun

 A Dhobi using a manual spinner to squeeze out the water from the clothes

 Dhobis washing clothes

 Streets of the Dhobi Ghaut area

Mother and kids taking a siesta

 A little boy playing with plates

Next we head to Babu Amichand Panalal Adishwarji, a Jain temple. Amin explained to us that Jainism is a form of Buddhism. But i feel that its a fusion of Buddhism and Hinduism. He also shared with us that they are vegetarians and they do not eat anything that grows in the earth. Meaning that they can only eat vegetables like peas, lady's finger, bitter gourd, egg plant, fruits etc.

 Babu Amichand Panalal Adishwarji

 Exterior of the Jain temple

Ceiling of the Jain temple

Jain temples are always very colourful and decorated with jewels and marble. There is a rule that one must never use his her back to face the Gods.

After walking around the temple, we head to Hanging Gardens. Weird that they name the garden as Hanging Gardens... haaha.... but its really crowded.

Hanging gardens

and u can see children playing in the shoe playground, people strolling in the park (but cannot stroll for long... coz it was just too hot). But we managed to make it to the look-out point where we got to see a part of the Mumbai bay area.

Street market just outside the lookout point. Women buying bangles

Children playing at the shoe shaped playground

Beach in Mumbai

Flowers blooming in the hot sun

then its back to the car and we head to Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Central Railway station and Crawford market.

Posing in front of the Victoria Terminus

Shops in an underpass. And i dare say this is totally totally different from the shops in the underground regions in japan. These shops in the underpass in Mumbai is in a totally suffocating environment. No idea how these people mange it.

That's the typical local train at the background

Green mangoes

 Boxes of ripe mangoes

 Amin and the stall owner who sold us mangoes

At Crawford market, we bought 4 dozens of mangoes (2 dozens ripe and 2 dozens unripe). each mangoe was sold to us at a rate of 30 each. As now is the mango season, everywhere was juz swimming with crates and boxes of mangoes. 

Us and the stall owner

After getting our mangoes, we headed back to the hotel. and told Amin that tomorrow we'll meet him at 9am to visit the northern side of Mumbai. Shu Hui did not join us for dinner as she was suffering from mild heat stroke. So she rested in the hotel whilst the 3 of us went to Mahesh Lunch Home. Its situated at 8B Cowasji Patel St, Fort. The food was pretty good.

Taken at the restaurant

 Our lassi

We ordered a Tandoori chicken (full size) a bowl of vegetables (finally i get eat proper vegetables) to share and 1 glass of lassi each. We also packed steam chicken rice for Shu Hui. After dinner its back to the hotel to rest and get ready for tomorrow.