India travels are over - home again - end of the blog

I ended my travels in India with dinner and a few beers at Leopold's Cafe in Mumbai. There were demonstrations in the street marching up and down the main street in front of Leopold's and there was an absolutely packed house inside Leopold's. The crowd inside Leopold's was mostly local Mumbai people, many wearing the day's most popular "I love Mumbai" T-shirts. They had come out to show support for Leopold's, and to see, and to be seen, at Leopold's. The crowd was loud and frequently breaking into song or chants, which were not in English, so I could feel the spirit, but didn't understand most of the words. There was a strong nationalistic feel in the air and a defiantly proud Mumbai spirit, and also sometimes a strong anti-Pakistan sentiment. I had left my bag at the hotel and arranged for a cab to pick me up at 11pm to take me to the airport. Due to the hightened security, it was suggested that people get to the international airport at least three hours before their flight departure time. My flight was scheduled to depart at 3am. I caught my cab, got to the airport, the flight was an hour late leaving, and I was real tired before my flights homeward began. I flew on Lufthansa and the flights were well run and they treated me well with lots of food and drinks. I had a two hour stopover in Frankfurt, Germany where it was a grey wet cold morning. From Frankfurt we flew a polar route over Greenland, across northern Canada, down across the Canadian Rockies, the Washington North Cascades and south into Portland, flying past Mt Ranier, Mt Adams and Mt St Helens. It was a great traveling trip to India and Nepal, but it is great to be home. I have mostly adjusted to Pacific Standard Time now and I was glad to be greeted by some bright crisp Fall days for my return...blogger Dave signing off...end of my India travel blog...

Mumbai CST

I arrived in Bombay via the overnight train from the south. The destination terminal was Mumbai CST (Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus). I awoke shortly before the train arrived at Mumbai CST. I was rather surprised to discover that almost all of the people on the sleeper car, that had been full of people when I went to sleep, had already gotten off at some stop before Mumbai CST...seemed odd... When I got to CST, it was deadly quiet and there were lots of police and military, but it was early and still dark, and I was tired, so I just got a cab and headed out to find my hotel. Later I found out that the Mumbai CST has also been one of the targets of the terrorists. Perhaps this is why most of the people chose another station to get off the train at before getting the Mumbai CST, but by a week later, the place was packed, busy and noisy.

wandering the streets of Bombay

Bombay feels like a city of business, everywhere there are businesses, mostly small shops or sidewalk stalls, but also bigger businesses and upscale shops and restaurants. It is busy and energetic, but also it is dirty and noisy.

Bombay Museum

I spent a couple of hours in the museum in Bombay. It is called Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (formerly called the Prince of Wales Museum of Western India). They had a modest collection of historic artifact which were well labeled and housed in a pleasant to spend a few hours.

McDelivery

In the middle of the tourist section of town, there is a McDonald's restaurant. I was not surprised by the restaurant, but I was surprised to see their fleet of delivery motorcycles.

circus ebb and flow

By Wednesday morning, a week after the tragic events, the news story had started to fade and the satellite up-link news vans and their video crews had mostly packed up and moved on. But by the evening, protesters had assembled by the Taj Hotel, and the news crews were returning in force. The protesters seemed to be of several flavors, some lambasting the politicians as incompetents, some advocating war with Pakistan, and some wanting peace... Army vans with soldiers started to arrive, and I decided to move on and do my final blogging before I start my journey home.

Elephanta Island

I took a 30 minute boat ride to an island northeast of where I was staying in Mumbai. The island, Elephanta Island, has been a place of religious significance since before the second century BC. Around the 7th century AD, a series of Buddhist caves were carved out of the hillside. The caves were interesting, but after seeing the caves at Ajanta and Ellora, these were not particularly impressive, but it was a nice peaceful place, especially after the tension remaining in Mumbai. While I was there I met a group of Hindu monks. They had come to Mumbai to celebrate their guru's eighty-eighth birthday, but the guru decided that they should not celebrate due to the recent tragedy in Mumbai, so the monks decided to visit the caves before they returned to their home in central India. They had brought their own fresh vegetables to prepare their own food. They invited me to join them for a meal. The food was very good and very fresh. They are strict vegetarians, no eggs, no onions, no garlic. They make a life long commitment to service, giving up all material belongs, no sex, and no contact with immediate family. This particular sect only admits men older than 21 years and having a college degree, and having permission from their parents to sever their relationship with them forever. The food was great and they all seemed very committed (some were from the US, UK and Japan), but it was too much for me, so after an enjoyable meal and discussion, I went my own way.