After our sleepy stay in Goa we returned to the big city life in style. Kristen’s aunt once again graciously sponsored us with a hotel, this time a suite at the Westin. The amazing breakfast buffet and monsoon rains made it a little difficult to leave the plush comforts of our room, but once we did, we found Mumbai to be much more modern, relatively clean and to have a conspicuous lack of cows compared with the rest of India. The cush living was a great way to end our time in India. We had a great time traveling with Kristen and it’s too bad she couldn’t continue on with us to Thailand (we’re sure she feels the same way).
The front room of our Suite, it just kept going and going. We didn't even find the second bathroom until we'd been there for about 30 minutes. (Thanks again Colleen)
The Taj Mahal Hotel, one of the many examples of colonial architecture that pervaded Mumbai.
India Gate, the Mumbai version
We couldn't resist a trip to beefless McDonalds. The chicken Maharaja Mac was quite tasty.
Graham was in need of a hair cut so he stopped at a Muslim barbershop, it was only the 4th time someone besides his mom had given him a trim, but Rashid did a pretty good job.
Rajabai clock tower, built in 1878 it was paid for by the founder of the Mumbai stock exchange and named after his mother.
A beer inside Leopold's cafe, a cornerstone of the Colaba causway and frequented by the main character of our favorite book "Shantaram" which we talked about way too much throughout the trip (sorry Kristen, but you really should read it).
One of the views out of our suite, the little sacks below were one of the many many slums of Mumbai. We took a tour guided by a non-profit through the Dharavi slum. unfortunaltely cameras were not allowed, but a quick google image search will give you an idea. Once considered the world's largest slum, Dharavi now holds an estimated 1 million people in 0.67 square miles. Founded in roughly 1870 the slum has a long history and many of the houses have been inhabited by the same family for generations, with the relatively cheap rent (mumbai is some of the most expensive real estate around) and central proximity actually make it attractive to those with relatively decent jobs, about 55% of Mumbai lives in slums. Though it's not uncommon for family of 8 to sleep on the floor of the standard 10'x10' "house" which line the incredibly narrow and short alley's that snake throughout the slum, if you took a wrong turn, you might not ever find your way out. The tour also took us through the industrial section of the slum with a thriving recycling and manufacturing industry. While the living conditions of the houses were indescribably cramped and the alleyways unspeakably dirty (even by India standards) it was the working conditions that were the most shocking. Workers welded with no eye protection, people tended burning furnaces with piles of burning metal paint cans (we tried to hold our breath in that part) others worked with caustic chemicals and boiling water without gloves. All this was for the average wage of $3-$4 a day (about 3 times what you'd earn in a village) and a life expectancy of 49 years. Quite an eye opening experience.
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