March 30

3-30: Yesterday we got into Mumbai (formerly Bombay) at about 11:30 in the morning. As soon as the ship was cleared we headed out for our lunch at the Taj Mahal Hotel. (Picture included) It is a magnificent building built in the early 1900s when the man who built it was refused service at the classy hotel of the day because he was an Indian. When we arrived they put red dots on our foreheads. Our lunch was amazing. We had two appetizer courses - one vegetarian and one not. All who know me will be amazed to know that I tried everything! Most of it was very good BUT very HOT! Mexican food has nothing on Indian food. The plate in the picture was for our main course which was a sampling of a lot of different things - lamb and prawns and beans and potatoes and a lobster tail! It was all good. Then we had dessert - ice cream like a popsicle that was very good along with other things. They also had chip that looked like curled into a cone tortilla chips that were made from lentils that were very very HOT! During lunch we had a show that was strange - Bollywood which is the Indian film industry put on song and dance numbers from the movies. After lunch we went to the Dhobi Ghat which is the mind boggling outside laundry! The pictures don’t do it justice - it is absolutely amazing! It is all men doing the work - they pick up the clothes from the people’s homes, wash them, dry them, iron them and return them! It is really one of the most fascinating things I have seen We went back again today on the tour and I was still amazed! Then back to the ship where for once it was not formal wear at dinner - guys don’t even need a tie! But it was Indian dinner night and Ginnie and I had had enough of that so we both just ordered big salads - and we were so tired that shortly after dinner we were sound asleep. Then this morning we had another tour. Once again to the Dhobi Ghat and then to the Ghandi museum which is in the house where he stayed when in Bombay. It is under renovation but it was still interesting. Then to the Prince of Wales Museum (which now has an Indian name) where we spent most of our time in the Natural History part of the museum looking at the animals. Then on to the Gate of India which was built to honor the King of England when he came to visit - though it was not built until after he had been here. Everywhere we went there were people hawking “junk” and beggars - especially young woman with babies and young children. Our guide said manyof the women just picked kids up off the street for begging - that they weren’t even their children - she said it was big business. But what a cute little kid from our bus window. All in all Mumbai was much cleaner and nicer than Sri Lanka - or for that matter the rest of SE Asia - we were pleasantly surprised. Tonight we leave Mumbai and head toward Dubai - 2 sea days.