Mumbai

Mumbai was a last minute trip that Salim and I took. Mumbai is a huge, huge city that is completely polluted. Coming in on the airplane we saw miles of slums and layers of smog. The drive from the airport to our hotel was surprisingly civilized. I am beginning to truly believe Hyderabad is the craziest city to drive/travel by car in.

This first picture is of the Gateway of India. This was were we caught a ferry to take us out to Elephanta Island.

To get to Elephante Island, you ferried across a small part of the Arabian Sea. While on the ferry, some of the families made a game of throwing their juice boxes and other garbage overboard. The child would toss it, and the whole family would clap. This is probably the least of the problems in Mumbai given the amount of poverty, air pollution, and water pollution from the oil refineries, but it hurt my heart nevertheless. We were told to avoid seafood while in Mumbai. After that trip across the water, I realized what great advice that was.

We got off the ferry and walked the 100+ steps up to the temple. It was a still, hot, hot day and we were both drenched by the time we got to the top. Salim was sure there was something wrong with him he was sweating so much. There were guys at the base of the steps that would actually carry you to the top of the staircase for a small fee. I kid you not.
















Some details in the temple. Most of the sculptures were damanged in some way becaused there were used as target practice during the Dutch (or maybe English??) occupation.

Hampi

If you want a painful detailing of the train system in India, please take a moment to read Salim's posting on Hampi. Basically, we boarded at night for our 12 hour journey, *tried* to sleep, used the bathroom once and only once because it was a nasty, urine soaked hole in ground (literally), got off asap and tried not to think of the trip home until absolutely necessary.

The ruins made the trip worthwhile. I've posted a few of my favorite, but I have over 100 if you are interested in more. The place was unbelievable for two reasons:
1. You could go anywhere, literally. There were no off limits signs or ropes cordoning off delapidated stairways, etc.
2. We had this hilarious tour guide constantly screaming, 'hello, excuse me, please come...' the first day that entertained us for hours.






















This is one of the main temples in Hampi. There was a great bizarre at the entrance of it. We spent a lot of time and rupees there. There were a lot of kids around and they were fascinated with us. This little boy was so stoked to get a couple of pieces of fruit. I just had to take his picture.

Yeah...

So... it's been a while since I last updated. Things have been crazy. I was traveling for the past few weekends in a row. Here is the list of places:
1. Hampi - took a train to a World Heritage Center for the weekend
2. Sri Lanka - yes, again. Love that place!
3. Chennai - recruiting trip for work & saw little to none of the city
4. Mumbai (Bombay) - long weekend in a megacity with Salim for shits and giggles
5. Thailand - 5 days on Koh Samui and a couple in Bangkok

Pictures to come.