Mon, Apr 17: Mumbai

We met Tara at breakfast and talked some about future travel options.  There is nothing on the schedule today until evening but we ended up joining Tara and the guide for a tour of some markets…produce and textiles. 

Alfonso mangoes are in season so the product market could have almost been seen as a mango market.

India has amazing textiles that are colorful, glittery and with amazing details.  Mary enjoyed wandering around the textile market.  

We saw men walking around with large round, shallow baskets.  If you are shopping and need help in carrying your produce you can hire the men to carry everything for you as you walk around the market.  They will then take the basket of produce to your car and help you load up.

We stopped by the Taj Mahal Hotel for a short visit with other members of our tour are staying and then went to lunch.  We opted to go back to the hotel for the afternoon rather than more sightseeing. 

We were picked at 6:30 to start our Mumbai by night tour around the city. 

First stop was Taj to pick up Scott and Melissa, our travel partners and then a short stroll across the street to see the Gateway to India.  The Gateway was erected in honor of King George V and Queen Mary for their visit to India in 1911.

While we there we were “accosted” by a vacationing Indian family who wanted their pictures taken with us.  On the way out couple of young men also wanted pictures.  Didn’t realize we were such important people. 

From the Gateway of India we had good views of the Taj.

The tour then took us around some of the more exclusive areas of town and included a stop to see the most expensive home ever built.  The Antilia Building is a 26 story tower complete with two helipads on top and a movie theater (seating 50), swimming pool, and gym.  The building has over 400,000 square feet of living space with about 600 rooms and parking spaces for 160 cars.  It cost 1 billion US dollars to build, including land purchase, which was the majority of the cost.  There is over 600 staff members to take care of the building and its owner, and the monthly electricity bill for the complex is a half a million dollars.  It is owned by the Mukesh Ambani, the owner of Reliance Industries…petroleum, natural gas, petrochemicals, textiles, retail, telecommunications and media, and also the owner of the Mumbai Indians, a premier Cricket Team.  It was dark out and there were a lot of trees so no pictures tonight.  Someone has a lot of money.

The tour took us back along the Marine Road that is called the Queen’s Necklace.  The contour of the bay is very much like a necklace in the way it swoops in a long arch.  And it has many tall buildings (the jewels) dotted along the way…hence the necklace. 

Also included in the drive is a Mosque set out in the bay and reached by a causeway that is underwater at high tide.

And a quick view of a wedding venue all lit up for a wedding that was taking place.

The tour then crossed a long bridge to a neighboring island to the area considered the equivalent of Hollywood as it is the home of many Bollywood starts.  We stopped to see the homes of a couple of major Bollywood stars. 

Then it was back into the main part of town for an excellent dinner and to the hotel and to bed.