Mumbai for 2 days

So excited today Friday 27^th and tomorrow Saturday 28^th Dec we are in Mumbai, once known as Bombay under English rule. In 1995 it was renamed after the Hindu goddess Mumbadevi, the city’s patron deity. Mumbai was built on an archipelago of seven small islands. Today it is the most populated city in the world with some 14 million, it forms the world’s 4^th largest urban agglomeration (big word Pete but that was what was written on the ships daily newsletter) with about 19 million.

The sun was not visible until later in the morning and when it finally appeared through the smog it was just a glowing fiery red circle. Being the world’s biggest city’s so to comes with pollution in the air, the seas and the city and it’s bad, really bad. The smell created from the churned-up black-grey-brown ocean in the bay as the ship was moving sideways into the dock was just PUTRID. Not the best arrival for the nose (100% on the Pete’s Stinky Pooooo’s radar-scale) standing on the balcony, but the exotic Indian views looking out over the bay with hundreds of boats moored made up for it and after all its Mumbai. Every other port we have been on the right side of the boat (sure there is a boat-e name for that side!) and been able to see the dock, today we have docked on the left (again not sure the boat-e word) so we have a great view over the bay out to the Arabian sea with the passing boats for the next 2 nights. Not all bad once the disturbed water subsided the smell did mellow to a fair degree. 

The next 2 days it is to be a low of 23 and topping out at 32. This is our final exotic Indian port on our journey before we set sail to Dubai for New Year’s Eve. We have now sailed some 1100 nautical miles from Sri Lanka up the west coast of India. 

Today we are doing a market tour that states we will be rubbing shoulders with locals in the busy city of Mumbai so Sandy has already packed my brand “spanking”! new Christmas present from Santa (I must have been real naughty boy this year) a black leather collar with lead and sparkling silver studs!!! 

Our bus tour took us to Victoria terminus

When off the bus you we an open target for the maimed beggars and the transiting under the radar displaced refugee souvenir sellers, they know when the bus turns up that their cash cows have arrived. I’m a real soft touch, these poor people are just trying to survived in a world that is just plain cruel. You soon learn sometimes the easiest way to get to see the sights is to buy the souvenirs first and then they could move on their next target. Several times I paid for their souvenirs only to then donated them back to the same said sellers. They were bewildered to know that I really didn’t want some of the stuff they were selling so with hand on heart I would bow and give it back to them and ask if I could take their pictures. I was also travelling with a suitcase full of Aussie sultanas , you know the one’s in the little 40-gram boxes so had about 250 little boxes that I wanted to give out to the people with their hands out. I hate to say no, and the door and hearts that were opened to us was truly wonderful and these people with smiles on their faces as if you gave them a million $, but it was because we cared, we bothered to look them in the eye and open up your heart. So many people travel with eyes and hearts closed.

 With my trusty green bag with sultanas