MUMBAI - MARCH, 2014

This was my first trip to India. My flight to Mumbai [formerly known as Bombay] from Los Angeles via Istanbul, Turkey was delayed, causing me to miss my connection in Istanbul. I had to spend the night and the following day in Istanbul before continuing on to Mumbai, which resulted in my stay in Mumbai being shortened to one day from the previously planned two days. My driver picked me up at the Mumbai International Airport at 5:30 a.m. and we spent the full day sightseeing in Mumbai. We stopped briefly at my hotel, the Palladium Hotel [formerly the Shangri La Hotel], which was one of the most luxurious hotels that I have ever stayed in. This is the view from my hotel window looking  south to the financial district of Mumbai and the Arabian Sea.

Mumbai has a population of over 20 million people of which over 60% of the population lives in slums. One of the most striking features in Mumbai is the closeness in proximity of the ultra rich, and the ultra poor. Beside million dollar condos in highrise buildings you find slums of grinding poverty. Although Mumbai is the richest city per capita in India, and the financial center of India; there is a huge difference between how the rich and poor live in the city. On my drive in from the airport to my hotel we passed many street markets, where the people buy vegetables and other produce for the day's meals.

 
The first stop on my day of sightseeing was the laundry at Dhoby Ghat. Here the linens and uniforms of the hospitals and hotels are washed and air dried. Needless to say, not your corner laundry that we are used to.

Our next stop was Malabar Hill, which is one of the most exclusive residential areas in Mumbai. It is also the highest point in Mumbai overlooking the beaches and financial district of South Mumbai. Several beautiful parks are located here, which are actually built on top of underground reservoirs that supply water to the city.

 

 

Our next stop was the former home of Mahatma Gandhi, which is now a museum. It was fascinating to see the residence of the man who organized the resistance to British rule, and gained freedom for the people of India.

 

A short drive away is the Fort area of Mumbai which contains the buildings of the former British Empire in India, including the Victoria Station [Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus] the central train terminal in the city.

In the nearby area of Colaba we saw the Gateway of India, which was built in 1924 to commemorate the royal visit of King George V in 1911. Just 24 years later the Gateway was the scene of the withdrawal of the last remaining British troops leaving the newly independent India.

Next to the Gateway of India is located the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, one of the most luxurious hotels in Mumbai. It was also the scene of a terrorist attack in 2008 which killed several dozen people, and damaged much of the hotel.

Adjacent to the Gateway of India is a wharf where you can purchase tickets and board boats for a one hour trip to Elephanta Island located in the Bay of Mumbai. These are photos of the boat, looking back toward the Gateway of India, and Elephanta Island.

Elephanta Island [also known as Gharapuri] is a Unesco World Heritage Site which contains a myriad of cave-temples carved into the island's basalt rock. The temples are thought to have been created between 450 and 750 AD. The Portuguese explorers called it Elephanta Island because of a large stone elephant near the shore which collapsed in 1841 and was removed from the island. When you land on the island at the end of a long pier, you can walk to the island or take a small miniature train to the steep stairway leading to the caves. Before reaching the stairway you pass through several small areas of food and souvenir stalls.

 

 

 

At the top of the stairway was an area where you could buy refreshments, and sit and rest. There were many wild monkeys there that would steal anything that was left unattended, including food, drinks, and cameras. You had to be very careful.

The cave-temples contain some of India's most impressive temple carvings. The main Shiva-dedicated temple is an intriguing latticework of courtyards, halls, pillars and shrines. Unfortunately, the Portuguese explorers destroyed and defaced many of the works of art contained here.

 

 

My trip to Elephanta Island concluded my short, but busy, one day stop in Mumbai. After a good nights sleep I was on to my next destination, New Delhi, the capital of India.

CAIRO - FEBRUARY, 2014 - PART 3

On my third day of sightseeing in Cairo my guide, Amany Salem, said that she was going to take me to the real Cairo; the ancient Islamic area of the city. We walked through the streets and alleys, mosques and madrassas, bazaars and street markets, that the people of Islamic Cairo use in their everyday lives, far from the tourist areas of the city. We began our morning walking through the Khan Al-Khalili bazaar which dates back to the 14th century. Here, shop owners open their stores each day to sell the food, clothes, and housewares that the average Cairo resident uses every day for their families. When we began our walk the shopfronts were closed, but as the time approached 10:00 am the streets and alleys came alive, and where before there were no pedestrians, the shops opened and it was so crowded with merchandise and shoppers that you had difficulty walking through the narrow lanes. I was truly in the real city of Cairo, I did not see a single westerner all day.

The butcher shops were on the street [literally] and the cooking and heating oil were delivered by tank carts pulled by donkeys.

 As we walked through the streets we would go into the neighborhood mosques and madrassas used by the people living in that neighborhood. Although very simple, they had been in use for hundreds of years.

Egypt is a Sunni sect Islamic country, and although there were hundreds [or perhaps thousands] of Sunni mosques, there was only one Shia sect mosque in Cairo. It was a large, and quite modern, mosque located by the wall and gate of the ancient city boundaries.

When we left the old Islamic area of Cairo, we drove to the modern cosmopolitan area of Cario, along the Nile, where the 5-star hotels, restaurants and embassies are located. We took a one hour cruise on a traditional Nile sailboat, called a Felucca, along the Nile River. Although in the middle of the city it was very quiet and peaceful, and a nice respite from the hectic pace of the city.

After our short cruise on the Nile, Amany said that she wanted to take me to a real working class restaurant in the area. No tourists here, just real Egyptian food.

After a late lunch my driver returned me to my hotel in preparation for my flight to Istanbul that night. As always, one of the things that never changed about Cairo was the never ending traffic [with an occasional donkey cart thrown in.]

I enjoyed my trip to Cairo very much, even under the very difficult and potentially dangerous political situation existing in Egypt at that time. The Egyptian people were always very friendly and hospitable, and although I was obviously out of place there with very few tourists, and virtually no western tourists, the Egyptian people were always very kind and welcoming to me. I hope to return to Egypt again someday in the future when the country is again at peace, and I can travel to more areas throughout the country, and see the thousands of years of history of this remarkable land.