The tour continues...It was an awful night. The plane was 6 hours late. My bag was checked 3 times. There were dogs at the airport in Kochin and my 3G ran out of money while waiting for the plane that was under terrorist threat...What a great evening. The only thing I had to eat was a small samosa at the airport which was, good! Still though, not much to call a dinner sitting alone in a place where you look at any sort of "suspicious" random person who might blow up. In India airports they all want to see your travel documents before you can enter. It's not super convenient to rub a laptop in soldiers faces who all carry M60 rifles...So when you go to India. Do print out your itinerary. Also, the counter at check-in gives you this little tag for hand carry baggage. Make sure you don't lose it. Otherwise the security guards go crazy and security check. And keep that little tag because there will be about 4 check in total for it. Really don't understand what's the use of it. You could use any old kind of tag because they don't read it, just need to see that you have one.
Mumbai has the biggest slum in Asia, driving from the airport to the city you will pass it. It's kilometers long and looks to be honest, like the worse place on this earth to live. Truly feel sorry for the people that have to endure that kind of poverty. And I only saw it from the taxi, imagine that it is much much worse if going into it...Probably would never come out if I went in....
It's Divali holiday and the city is PACKED! I didn't actually think about it when I came. It seems like all of the domestic tourists came to Mumbai for this festival. Had a few hours extra and decided to go to the Elephanta caves. It's a 1 hour boat ride just by the Gateway To India and it took about 45 minutes to get on the boat...There is absolutely no order or coordination with Indians. Everybody runs around like chickens without heads and gives a damn about personal space or how they behave. All people that were on the boat threw trash in the sea after they were finished with their snacks or whatever napkins they wanted to get rid of. Felt quite bad about it, can just imagine the industrial waste that comes out in the sea killing everything and not really contributing to a sustainable future...Just sad.
Elephanta caves are cool, it is quite the climb up to them and there are cows walking in the streets. Also a lof of cow shit around the streets and trash everywhere. So many sellers having everything from kitchen magnets to ivory carvings on the way up. I did get a magnet as a memory for 50 rupees though. Thats like 50 cents.
Got a really bad food poisoning the second day here, wasn't able to eat for about 2 days because simply no hunger. Luckily had some ORS solution and tried to drink water. So, the next 36 hors was spent in bed feeling quite horrible.
When it was time to fly to next place I still felt quite bad. And here it gets fun...My plane was first delayed by 1 hour. Then by another hour. Then by 2 hours. Finally it was cancelled. Originally I was suppose to land in Delhi at 19.00. But the "new" plane didn't leave before 23.30. I got sick at the airport and spent some time puking in the lounge (fun right?)...At least it was a lounge, sick with style. After spending 8 hours at the lovely Mumbai airport they upgraded me to business class and it was off to Delhi. But they forgot my bag in Mumbai...So much for this city, can't say I enjoyed much of it.
Mumbai has the biggest slum in Asia, driving from the airport to the city you will pass it. It's kilometers long and looks to be honest, like the worse place on this earth to live. Truly feel sorry for the people that have to endure that kind of poverty. And I only saw it from the taxi, imagine that it is much much worse if going into it...Probably would never come out if I went in....
It's Divali holiday and the city is PACKED! I didn't actually think about it when I came. It seems like all of the domestic tourists came to Mumbai for this festival. Had a few hours extra and decided to go to the Elephanta caves. It's a 1 hour boat ride just by the Gateway To India and it took about 45 minutes to get on the boat...There is absolutely no order or coordination with Indians. Everybody runs around like chickens without heads and gives a damn about personal space or how they behave. All people that were on the boat threw trash in the sea after they were finished with their snacks or whatever napkins they wanted to get rid of. Felt quite bad about it, can just imagine the industrial waste that comes out in the sea killing everything and not really contributing to a sustainable future...Just sad.
People people people, like in an ants nest. If you don't like crowds, avoid India during it's holidays....and China too for that matter.
See this everywhere, dudes holding hands. It's quite normal and does not mean anything, just a bit....strange
There was actually a working que here :)
Setting out to sea. The Taj Mahal Palace & Gateway to India
Awesome training grounds
And they have an aircraft carrier
Family out travelling
Skip boats to get to the next one
The Portugees has destroyed a lot of the carvings in the cave, I read in a book that the statues were used as "target practice"...And who said Europeans are civilised...?
Arriving at Elephanta, take a walk
Cows roaming around freely
Endless stands selling all kinds of stuff
Finally here!
The monkeys have taken a liking to this place
It was crowded, very crowded
Result of Portugese target practice
Looks like something from Indiana Jones
Wonder if any movies where ever filmed here
Someone gave the monkey a soda. Monkey see, monkey do
One tired dog
Homeless children in the street. Wonder how safe it is for them out here because the neighbourhood is a bit dodgy
The Gateway To India is where all the British used to come and go from India back in the days before 1949 when it still belonged to the empire.
Seriously so many homeless people sleeping in the streets here
Trash everywhere. Seriously EVERYWHERE!
....and the cows eat the trash. No wonder they are so skinny
Did you drop your corn? Does not matter! The cow will eat it
Eating in the Taj was amazing, really feel like a colonial king back 200 years when coming here. Too bad I got food poisoning from the curry.
The beach here full of trash, homeless people and other waste. Seriously could be a beautiful place it if was just cleaned up...
Asias largest slums
When it was time to fly to next place I still felt quite bad. And here it gets fun...My plane was first delayed by 1 hour. Then by another hour. Then by 2 hours. Finally it was cancelled. Originally I was suppose to land in Delhi at 19.00. But the "new" plane didn't leave before 23.30. I got sick at the airport and spent some time puking in the lounge (fun right?)...At least it was a lounge, sick with style. After spending 8 hours at the lovely Mumbai airport they upgraded me to business class and it was off to Delhi. But they forgot my bag in Mumbai...So much for this city, can't say I enjoyed much of it.
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