Bombay

Another pleasant flight, from Abu Dhabi to Mumbai, except that it was in the middle of the night and neither of us got any sleep. Needless to say we arrived in Mumbai exhausted and ready for a nap, we hopped in a prepaid cab, and made our way through the city at dawn as the city started to come to life. Through the slums, past the cooking fires on the street, and finally to Colaba - the tourist center of the city. With a few hours until we could check in, we dropped off our backpacks and wandered around the neighborhood. Our hotel was blocks from the Gateway to India - a large arch to commemorate King George V's visit to Bombay in 1911. Great for people watching and right next to the Taj Mahal Hotel, one of Mumbai's grandest hotels and also the site of the 2008 terrorist attacks.

After a few hours of needed sleep, we met up with David, a friend of Alana's who is carrying out his Jewish fellowship in Mumbai at a drug rehabilitation center. It was nice to have a guide through Mumbai's Colaba and Fort neighborhoods, home to Colonial architecture and the Victoria Terminal. We ate vegetable thali for dinner, a sampling of vegetarian dishes, learned a lot about what was to come, and headed back to the hotel early to catch up on more sleep (still trying to stabilize our sleeping habits).

The next morning we caught an early ferry out to Elephanta Island, about an hour off of Mumbai's eastern coast, to check out 5 cave shrines dedicated to the god Siva (and others). Dated from around 600 AD, the caves were filled with ornate carvings and temples depicting the god and his many personalities. We also saw our first pesky monkeys.

We made our way back to the city and decided to spend the rest of the afternoon on a "walking tour." We walked through many of Mumbai's wealthier neighborhoods, dodging traffic and the sun. Finally ran out of steam, and took a taxi back to the hotel to collect our bags and make our way to the bus "station." On this two hour cab journey we saw the real Bombay, leaving behind the comfort of our tourist neighborhood. There are no addresses in India, our bus stop was at a hotel opposite a tour company, the only problem was the hotel was an incorrectly spelled cafe. In rush hour traffic, driving is a sport and may the most aggressive man win. Anxiety set aside, we made it to the neighborhood with twenty minutes to spare, just enough time for our cab driver to question numerous locals and rickshaw drivers about the location of this bus stop. As we sat on the side of the road, we finally saw our a/c sleeper bus in the distance. As the bus slowly rolled by we hopped on and could relax. Fourteen hours later we arrived in Ahmedabad.