Monday, September 6, 2010

Mumbai

We went to Mumbai last weekend for our Dad's birthday on Indigo Air. We got to the hotel in an A/C cab. We checked in and went up the super-duper fast elevator to the eleventh floor where our room was. We had a sea view room and a butler! He was pretty nice. Once all of the luggage was in the room and we had our "welcome drink," we took a boat to Elephanta Island.
That is where we saw the old Temple Caves. These are dedicated to the god, Shiva.
Boom!!! Bang!! Crack!!! A storm was starting. We had to walk up about 1,000 stairs (not really, but it felt like 1000) It was raining when we got to the caves.
We saw statues of Shiva and Ganesha, and thought we saw some bats! On the way back down we bought some "Kukare" - Audrey's favorite Indian snack. The boat was a little rocky on the way back, but nobody got sick.
When we got back to the hotel we had "high tea." This was actually like a big lunch with hot drinks and lots of desserts. Then Mom and Dad called for a baby sitter. The hotel brought Dad a birthday cake and champagne! When our babysitter came, Mom and Dad went to dinner. The sitter turned out to be pretty old, so she fell asleep before we had to go to bed. In the morning we went to the breakfast buffet and ate the yummy food!

After that we took a old non-A/C cab to go sight-seeing. Evan wanted to take one of these because it was an old Indian-Fiat "Premiere." They are pretty cool, old-fashioned taxis that you mostly only find in Mumbai. We saw a Temple and a famous old Mosque that looks like it is floating at high tide. It was a little boring since we have seen so many Temples in India. We went swimming in the Taj's pool in the afternoon.
After tea-time, we took a walk. A man took our picture in front of the Gateway of India. This is a memorial for King George V and Queen Mary. It was next to our hotel! There was a cool police armoured car outside by our hotel too! Then Mom and Dad walked with us to some shops nearby.
After that we took a horse-carriage ride around the city. When we got back to the hotel, our Mom and Dad went out to eat, so they got us a another babysitter. She was younger and watched TV with us. This one didn't fall asleep before she put us to bed.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Sounds like an awesome trip! I just read a book called The White Tiger which was set (partially)in Mumbai. It gave me a better understanding of what life is like for a lot of folks in India. We miss you guys....Brian (Zachy's dad)

TheKidz said...

Thanks for reading, Brian.... Funny I am reading that right now! (Lesa liked it as well)... If you liked that, you should also try "Shantaram." It is my favorite book set in India and one of the best books I've read in a long while.

-- Jonathan