Mumbai, India

Day 19- Mumbai, India

From the Navigator - Throughout the early hours of the morning, Dawn Princess continued her south-easterly course across the Arabian Sea. After making contact with the local pilot and confirming arrival, we will board the pilot and proceed into the harbor.

Today we visited Mumbai India, some still call it Bombay. There are 15 million people in the City and 5 million in the surrounding areas. India is about 1/3 the size of the US and has 1.2 billion people. Mumbai is a vibrant city, with its colors, spicy smells, the rich and the poor. Our tour guide Vinita along with our driver pick us up with Jim and Pam a great couple that toured Mumbai with us. We visited Crawford Market with its many selections of fruits and vegetables. You hire a man to follow you around and he holds your purchases on his head in a basket. The Market is colorful and the spice smells were fragrant. Next we were off to the Bau Gange, the Tank. It is an area that a natural spring empties into. It is close to the ocean and the Indians believe this spring water is a miracle. so the area was cemented in with steps and Hindu temples are around the tank. Next up was the Jain Temple, It is a very large and well maintained Temple. The Jain Sect believes that not only are you not to eat meat but that you must not disturb the earth. So they do not eat any vegetable that are grown under the earth. Also some wear cloths over their mouths as not to kill any insects. From there we went to the Kamala Nehru Park and the Hanging Gardens, an oasis of green in the City. Next we drove by the Tower of Silence. We went to the Gandhi Museum. It was a profound experience. He was a powerful Man that lived as he taught. It was a moving experience. He did so much for India and it's people On to the Public Laundry it was bigger then in Cochin but still a dying industry as that it is inherited and the children are being educated and finding better paying jobs. Vinita suggest an authentic India restaurant to us. It was a great experience. We were the only western faces in the restaurant. There were so many different choices. Randy had the combination platter. He is brave about spicy food. He was in heaven. I was able to find mild choices that were very nice. After lunch we went by the Train stations where over 4 million people travel daily. It is a wonderful ornate building, then on to the Gateway of India and the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. Then back to the Ship after a busy day. We have two days at sea and then the next Port is Dubai.