mumbai trip

mumbai was interesting!!!!! i had a great time exploring another part of india. it was an experience that i was glad to have. the volunteers and i had lots of laughs.



although........... i am not sure it is my favorite place to go. there is sooooooooooo much pollution. when i washed my face at the end of the day my towel had black on it...... it is a city filled with car horns blowing....you wake up to it and go to bed to it.... traffic is out of control... the cab drivers take advantage of you and try to charge you loads of money..... the cab drivers never know where you want to go..... they say they know where you want to go but after passing the same pharmacy twice you realize it is time to get a new cab. it got to the point where we went to the same two restaurants every night because we did not want to deal with the taxis.



the hotel we stayed at was called the causeway. it was right in the center of everything. the area we stayed in was called colaba. as soon as you walk out of our hotel there is a market with people selling everything you could think of; balloons, jewelry, clothes and drums. several times we had people chasing us down the street begging us to by a balloon or a drum. now what would we want with either of those things. the people are extremely persistent. they don't seem to understand the words "no thank you"

we did lots of sight seeing. we went to the taj hotel and walked around the inside. it was so nice!!!! we went to the gateway of india, dhobi ghat (which is a huge outside laundry facility). it is pretty amazing to see. it sounds like a funny place to go to but it is so interesting to watch these people as they work.


we took a tour of the house gandhi stayed in when he came to mumbai . after that tour we took an hour boat ride to elephant island. this is an island known for its caves. i was more interested in the monkeys which we were able to see on the island. the monkeys were everywhere.

i had a nice little interaction with one of the monkeys. as i was walking up the hill that leads to the cave i saw one of the monkeys looking at me. i knew he wanted something from me but i wasn't exactly sure what he could have wanted. i got scared and started slowly backing away. suddenly the monkey jumped towards me and took my pop right out of my hand. after he grabbed my drink he jumped up into the tree and tried to open it. when he opened the bottle the pop sprayed all over everyone. at first i was really scared but then at the end i was able to laugh because the whole situation was really funny.


we went to three restaurants total. the food was all really good. it was much more westernized then goa so i was always able to find something i wanted to eat. the restaurants we went to where called cafe mondegar, leopolds and then one night we went to dinner at a restaurant called the salt water grill. it was a really good restaurant which was located on the the beach.

after we ate dinner at the salt water grill we walked along the beach. all the people on the beach were so amused by us. we had two families come up to us to ask if we would take a picture with them. right now we are probably sitting on the dresser of a family we do not know. it is so funny.


there was more poverty in mumbai then in goa. people are sleeping on the sidewalks with their families and you see more slum areas. when you are in the taxis you have children as young as four or five knocking on the windows begging for money. we never gave them money but we did buy them food or give them our drinks that we were holding. it was really sad.


oh how could i forget the wonderful experience of the train. i posted pictures so you can see what it was like. it was definitely not as bad as i thought. we got to the train station for a 5:45pm departure and we did not leave until 7:15pm. nothing is ever on time when you are in india. the whole night men where walking up and down the aisle asking if you wanted food or drinks. even if you are sleeping they will ask you if you want something. we stayed up for while, ate snacks and drank wine. i took a tylenol pm and pretty much slept the whole night. a few times i woke up because the train ride was pretty bumpy but over all it was a great experience and i would do it again.



it was nice to get back to goa. i forgot how quiet and relaxing it was!!!!



so that was my trip



as for the mango house, four new volunteers started last week. this group also seems very nice!!!!!!! one is from holland, another from germany and two from england. we will be going out with all of them on friday. allan will be happy because two of the volunteers are male. he is not the only on now!!



saturday night ali (the houseparent) his wife and baby cinderella are going to come to the marriot and have dinner with me and allan. it will be really fun to have them over. it will be a very new experience for them.



allan promised that in the next blog he will write something!!!



love and miss you