Mumbai, India, November 30
Woke this morning to the smells of India! Mostly it works being on the port side of the ship but this morning there was a quarter finished building beside us, looked as if it might have been started in the 1970’s as small trees were growing in the cracks! The Indian Government has gone nuts over security and every person had to get off the ship deck by deck and go into the arrivals hall to be checked for temperature, visa, etc and then back to the ship. Wouldn’t have been so bad but the ship docked at 5am and we’d been told to be ready to go at 5.30! Finally got back to breakfast at 7.30 but others were still being checked - what a fiasco! However at that time in the morning there was a cool breeze which was nice.
Did a tour called ‘Religious Beats’ - don’t fall off your chairs, we haven’t gone mad, but we also had a nice tour of the city between stops. Mumbai is really dirty, especially around the port area, and generally there is a serious need for a good clean up everywhere. But the buildings are sensational, the railway station for instance, and all the British built government offices - all they need is a good clean! But then that wouldn’t be India I guess!
So the first stop was at a Hindu Temple, shoes off but but not allowed to be carried in a bag so had to be left at the door, and into a very noisy temple. Someone beating on a drum, another blowing a noisy pipe, people chanting, priests tearing leaves into a basket and then we all had a crown placed on our heads on the way out. Quite a different experience from temples we’ve visited in the past. Next stop was at a Jain Temple - have not heard of the Jains before and found them to be most interesting. Our guide left the bus to check that we could go into the temple and when she came back she said there were a couple of conditions - no hats to be worn, no shoes to be worn and women were not to enter if they were menstruating! A very loud chuckle went round the bus as just looking at all the prunes on board gave her the answer!!
The Jains are interesting, they don’t eat meat, dairy, eggs etc as well as anything that grows under the ground. So potatoes, carrots, turnips are out! A lady at dinner tonight said they have Jain clients in Belgium and one night she took flowers to the family for a dinner party - they were quickly cast aside and told that you can’t cut a living thing!
Next stop was just for a photo at the Farsi Temple, the Farsis being the sect from Persia/Iran. I don’t claim to know much about them except they have very strange burial rites.
We stopped for lunch at a beautiful hotel, the Trident, a branch of the Oberoi group. The curries, etc were exceptional, and desserts lovely.
On our way back to the ship we visited St Thomas Cathedral, an Anglican Cathedral built by the British.
I really enjoyed the day, but tiredness had set in and a nap was necessary before dinner which we enjoyed with some Belgians in Prime restaurant. The chef came out to chat after dinner, he is from Goa and said he worked in Sydney for some years under Luke Mangan.