So as Isabelle keeps saying, I have been slack and not been keeping you all adequately updated with our goings-on. I just realised it's been nearly a month since I wrote on here! We left Agra and shot down to Mumbai, the home of India's rich and famous. We, of course, are not the rich and famous so we found the cheapest hotel we could (thankfully our room was bed-bug free- others in the hotel weren't so lucky) and had an explore of the city.
It was very hot but an interesting place to walk around- there are so many old English buildings...there was a Big Ben style clock, the university was all towers and spires and the biggest train station was incredible. An enormous building coverd in spires and intricate stone work (I'm sure there were gargoyles about the place) with two stone lions guarding the front gate. Not India at all.
Apart from sitting in a very hipster cafe in some back street and drinking good coffee we didn't do too much in Mumbai. We caught a train out to a suburb which has the honour of being in the Guinness Book of Records for 'most people washing simultaneously in one place'. It's around 400 people I think. It's called the Dobi Wahing Ghats and the rooves are like a patchwork quilt of different coloured washing drying in the breeze while hundreds of people sit underneath, washing and smashing clothes on concrete blocks.
The only other touristy thing we did in Mumbai was catch a very slow boat to a place called Elephenta Island in the Harbour and have a look at some stone carvings. It was very hot that day though, so we halfheartedly wandered around a bit, trying to avoid being chased by monkeys then caught the very slow boat back to the city.
My main memories of the city are of the delicious French pastries we had for breakfast one day, th huge, juicy (and very expensive- for India) burgers we had for dinner one night and the good coffee we had most days. So not India really. But very delicious.
It was very hot but an interesting place to walk around- there are so many old English buildings...there was a Big Ben style clock, the university was all towers and spires and the biggest train station was incredible. An enormous building coverd in spires and intricate stone work (I'm sure there were gargoyles about the place) with two stone lions guarding the front gate. Not India at all.
Apart from sitting in a very hipster cafe in some back street and drinking good coffee we didn't do too much in Mumbai. We caught a train out to a suburb which has the honour of being in the Guinness Book of Records for 'most people washing simultaneously in one place'. It's around 400 people I think. It's called the Dobi Wahing Ghats and the rooves are like a patchwork quilt of different coloured washing drying in the breeze while hundreds of people sit underneath, washing and smashing clothes on concrete blocks.
The only other touristy thing we did in Mumbai was catch a very slow boat to a place called Elephenta Island in the Harbour and have a look at some stone carvings. It was very hot that day though, so we halfheartedly wandered around a bit, trying to avoid being chased by monkeys then caught the very slow boat back to the city.
My main memories of the city are of the delicious French pastries we had for breakfast one day, th huge, juicy (and very expensive- for India) burgers we had for dinner one night and the good coffee we had most days. So not India really. But very delicious.
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