Mumbai day 2

Mumbai Day 2:
So I went back down to the Gateway of India and did the cruise over to Elephanta Island. Course just walking across the gateway’s square I propositioned by countless people trying to see my trinkets, boat rides, and just for money. There was a guy checking bags, kinda. Once threw I didn’t see where I was supposed to buy my ticket for the boat ride. Luckily I asked the concierge on how this all worked and prices. Cuz numerous people tried to sell my their “cheap” boat packages. I basically walked all the way up to the boats when this last guy asked me if I wanted a boat ticket, and even here I thought it was someone trying to sell me a fake something till I saw he wore a hat that looked like he was part of the boat crew. So I boarded the boat which was almost completely full and made ready for an hour ride. It was great to be on the ocean and was so relaxing. I knew I should have brought some of my sunscreen, but wasn’t sure if it would have made it through airport security. At end of day I paid for it slightly.
We passed by numerous large barge tankers and some oil rig stations till we finally reached the island. This is worth mentioning how lax thing are here in terms of what we’re used to in US. We hadn’t even gotten close to docking yet and they opened up the gate to exit. Anyone could have walked by and fallen out. Plus I didn’t see a single life jacket. This reminds me too my driver that picked me up yesterday (and same today for ride back to airport) all his seatbelts didn’t work. Made me hugely uncomfortable being someone who always using his seatbelt.
Once docked it was a long walk in open sun till I reached what I thought was the gate for Elephant island, instead it was a tax booth and paid 5 inp. I kept walking on past all these trinket shops and soda stands. I was very glad I brought a bottle of water. Now, I was surprised to end up at the bottom of a very long and high stone stairs that were littered with all these shops selling wares. Also at base were guys offering to carry you up the steep stairs in a seat with basically two long rods of wood that two guys would hold and carry you kinda Egyptian style. Oh, did I say that Mumbai definitely lived up to it’s name as being very humid. I sweat up a storm this weekend. It definitely made NYC summers look like a cake walk.
Finally I made it up to the top, and now I was at the entrance to the Caves. The concierge said the price of admission also included a guide if you wanted. I asked guard about it and said to stand off to side and one would be there. I did, and waited, and waited. No one came and I gave up. It looked like everything was really well marked. I had no problem walking to the caves on my own without a guide. I have to say the first cave was the most impressive. Nicely carved columns and sculptures. The whole area had tons of little monkeys, who though being cute were feisty with people. If you had food man they were all over you.
I finished up seeing the caves and made the long journey back down. I figured I’d buy some little items for back home and successful haggled with the merchants to get a better price. Made my way to the back down the steps (which down was much easier than up). I walked back to boat and felt good to be in shade and just resting. I was just drenched in sweat. The hour long cruise felt so amazing after all the hot sun walking, and I made a point to sit in middle of boat in shade. I knew I had my fill of sun. We docked and I took some more shots of the gateway. As you can probably tell I love taking photos of architecture and not much on taking photos of me.
I went back to my hotel and was sad checkout was at 12 noon. I so could have taken a nice shower. I was starving by this point not having lunch yet. It was 3pm now. I ate back at the main restaurant and had a pizza. I’ve been having a craving and I was sadly disappointed. It was great to kill an hour till my driver picked me up at 4pm.
I checked out and had my bag taken out of bag check. The doorman had my bag and I looked for my driver who had just called me to say he was there. I couldn’t see the car or him. Then he popped into view, waving me over. So the doorman and myself walked over to find it was only him and no car in sight. He quickly took my bag from doorman, who I gave a quick tip and a shrug for I still didn’t see this guy’s car. I walked with him as he said the car is just here. Well, “just here” ended up being 4 blocks in the blazing heat later. I’m sorry but he just tried my patience. I have to say he has been my least favorite driver so far. Now I asked him to show me the Victoria Terminal, which is this grand train station from 1800s. We drove around and it came into view and we went around to see it from the front. Now you would have thought he’d park the car so I could take photos like all the drivers have done so far. Nope. He just kept on driving. I was able to snap some quick shots, but to be honest at this point I was just done with him and just wanted to get to airport. He went back to showing me obvious buildings again, but I did get to see some of the slums of Mumbai. This is the town that Slumdog Millionaire was shot. We drove through rest of town and I got to airport very early but was more happy to just be done with my driver, sorry to say. Plus being out in hot sun this past weekend I think just did me in. I’m in airport waiting while I type this. I ‘m a little disappointed because I’m not getting wi/fi here and Bangalore is a much smaller airport and they had it.
So bottomline I really liked Mumbai, it was totally like a New York city kind of feel, but this humidity made it a very draining weekend. I could see that this would be a fun place to live. It has all the energy and options you’d expect of a large city. I have to admit I was surprised that you still had the smallness like Bangalore. Livestock in streets etc. Hopefully nothing happens with my flight. I so want to just get home and rest up.
Well, I think I jinxed it by my last line. My flight was delayed an hour and 20 min. I just got home in my hotel in Bangalore at 1:20am. Work is gonna feel long tomorrow.