Currency:
Indian Rupee

Highlights:
Cricket crazy, Bollywood, Gateway to India and learning all about a great man called Gandhi

Our Adventure:

After leaving Cambodia we had to head to Thailand to fly out to India the next morning which gave us "One Night in Bangkok".

You can see our photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=386019&id=713415257&l=f0bc8600b3

Next stop: Mumbai, India.

India is the largest country in the Indian Subcontinent and is the seventh largest country in the world by area and with over a billion people it is only second to China in population. India is an extremely diverse country with vast differences in geography, climate, culture, language and ethnicity across its expanse and it prides itself on being the largest democracy on Earth.

Befitting its size and population (am impressive 17% of the world's population live in India), India's culture and heritage are a rich amalgam of the past and present: From the civilisations, fascinating religions, variety of languages (more than 200!) and monuments that have been present for thousands of years to the modern technology, economy and media that arises as it opens to a globalised world, India never ceases to awe and fascinate.

Incredible India is how it is described by the Indian Tourism Board and we were excited to start on our travels in India and find all things incredible that it had to offer us.

Day 1:

First stop on our Indian travels was Mumbai (which was formerly known as Bombay). Mumbai is the capital of the Maharashtra state and was originally a conglomeration of seven islands on the Konkan coastline which over time were joined to form the island city of Bombay.

Lonely Planet describes Mumbai as follows:

'Mumbai is big. It's full of dreamers and hard labourers, actors and gangsters, stray dogs and exotic birds, artists and servants and fisher folk and crorepatis (millionaires) and lots and lots of other people. It has the most prolific film industry, one of Asia's biggest slums and the largest tropical forest in an urban zone. It's India's financial powerhouse, fashion capital and a pulse point of religious tension. It's evolved its own language, Bambaiyya Hindi, which is a mix of … everything. It has some of the world's most expensive real estate and a knack for creating land from water using only determination and garbage.'

We were in for a treat!

We touched down in Mumbai, grabbed our bags, jumped into our 1970's black and yellow cab and headed for our hotel, the Grand Hotel. On driving from the airport both Lara and I sat and absorbed the sites, sounds and smells and for the next 1 1/2 hours in our cab we just stared in amazement and tried to lap everything up that we were seeing, hearing and smelling.

After doing lots of research on India we had prepared ourselves for pretty much anything. Two words that we had been warned about though were: Culture shock.

Wikitravel describes travelling in India as follows:

"…

Many visitors expecting maharajas and fabulous palaces are shocked when their first impressions are dominated by poverty instead. Prepare for the following:

• Attention.
○ Some people will unabashedly stare at foreign tourists, who can also be magnets for persistent touts and beggars.
○ Beggars, especially malnourished children and the badly deformed, can be particularly disturbing.
• Filth.
○ Dirt, garbage and insects abound in the cities.
○ Roadsides can sometimes be a urinal.
• Noise.
○ Drivers lean on horns, radios and TVs blare Bollywood tracks, even temples, mosques and churches use loudspeakers to spread their message.
• Pollution.
○ All Indian cities suffer badly.
○ Exhaust combined with dust can make the drier seasons a nightmare for asthma sufferers.
• Crowds.
○ Indian streets, markets, and bazaars are jam-packed with people, vehicles and at certain times, animals, and streets tend to be narrow.

Most visitors get inured quite fast and start seeing the good sides too, but take it easy on your first few days and schedule some time to get away from it all.

…"

Getting away from it all was not what we were going to do! We started things off head on in Mumbai, where you certainly can't just get away from it all, as it has an estimated metropolitan population of 21 million, making it one of the largest cities in the world.

Driving from the airport we jumped straight in the deep end and experienced many things with the very first noticeable thing being the extreme wealth with the latest BMW's driving past us and extreme poverty where hundreds of people were literally passed out and sleeping on the pavements. Crazy times. And very sad.

Driving from the airport to our hotel, which was about 30 km away, took us a good 1 1/2 hours which gave us plenty of time to become acclimatised to what was in store for us.

One of the things we noticed was that almost without exception on commercial vehicles like trucks, buses or local taxis is a phrase that is commonly painted on the back of these vehicles:
'Horn OK please'

After a bit of research we found out that the purpose of the phrase is to alert a driver of a vehicle approaching from behind to sound their horn in case they wish to overtake. Apparently there are a lot of cars wanting to overtake as there is a lot of hooting! Let me repeat: a lot.

We eventually arrived at the Grand Hotel - which looked like it was still in the 1980's - and were greeted by the front desk manager. After filling in a mountain of paperwork we were handed the keys to our room. We then started asking the front desk manager a number of questions which were all met with what only can be described as the "Indian head wobble".

With a bit more research we found out that the Indian head wobble is the source of much confusion and wonderment amongst foreigners. It looks like a cross between a nod and shake, but does it mean yes? Or does it mean no? What we found out though is that in essence the head wobble is the non-verbal equivalent of that multipurpose and omnipresent Hindi word "accha". It can mean anything from "good" to "I understand". Once we discovered the meaning of the head wobble and its many uses, what's really surprising is how infectious this gesture becomes!

So we dropped our bags in our very 1980's hotel room and joined up with the Van Alvins and the Herriotts, who had arrived earlier, to hit the streets of Mumbai and do some exploring.

After topping up the kitty with the new currency that filled our pockets, Indian rupees, we grabbed a taxi and headed for the beginning of the Walking Tour of Mumbai.

The rest of the day was very busy with many sites and it panned out as follows:

• Fort
○ Area of the old British built fort
○ Established commercial hub of Mumbai
• Fashion Street
○ A street lined with shops like a flea market where the girls stocked up on clothes for India
• The Oval
○ India is a cricket-obsessed country and cricket is in the blood of most Indians
○ The Oval was fill of kids playing cricket with rubber balls and makeshift wickets
• Mumbai University
○ Beautiful clock towers and green open spaces
• High Court
○ Lined with the army and their rifles
• Flora Fountain
• St Thomas Cathedral
• Horniman Circle
• Street markets
• David Sassoon Library
○ A private library where the Mumbai elite spend the afternoon reading
• Police Headquarters
• Bollywood
○ I got handed a card for "Casting Planet (Agency for Foreign Models)" and got asked if I wanted to be an extra in a Bollywood movie
○ Unfortunately we did not have enough time else it would have been great fun
• Gateway of India
○ Built to commemorate the visit in 1911 of King George
○ It overlooks the sea on one side at the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower on the other
• Taj Mahal Palace and Tower
○ Built by one of the city's greatest Parsi patrons, J.N. Tata in 1903
○ This was the centre of the Mumbai attacks and it is still being restored at the moment to its former glory
○ It is very well protected with army patrols and metal detectors
• Leopold Cafe and Bar
○ For anyone who has read "Shantaram" this is a great café for ice cold beers and people watching
○ This was also at the centre of the Mumbai attacks in 2008
• Bagdadi Restaurant
○ Excellent food!
○ We dined with the local Indians in a local restaurant with no knives and forks - just our hands
○ Ask any Indian, and he will say that in order to completely enjoy Indian food, it must be eaten with one's fingers. Most Indians maintain that eating food with the hands is far easier than eating with cutlery no matter how habituated one may be to using forks, spoons, or knives. In defense of the practice of eating with the fingers it may be said that this leads to a certain minimum level of hygiene. It forces people to wash their hands before and after meals.
○ One thing that should be noted is that Indians eat only with the right hand. The left hand is considered unclean, and eating with it is frowned upon. However, while serving food or while passing a dish to someone else, it is the left hand that should be used.
○ There is a philosophy behind this Indian practice of eating with the fingers. In India, eating is perceived as being a sensual activity. The idea is that one should be able to enjoy the process of eating with as many of the senses as possible - taste, smell, sight, and touch. Ask any Indian, and he will say that Indian food tastes best when eaten with the fingers.

That summed up a very busy day in Mumbai and after another few after dinner beers at Leopold's the travel crew were tired and we headed back to the Grand Hotel to hit the sack.

You can see our photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=386020&id=713415257&l=15f356e330

Day 2:

The next morning over breakfast we planned out the rest of our India trip and what we wanted to see and do. After a good few phone calls and multiple hotel and train bookings we hit the streets again to finish off the rest of what we wanted to see in Mumbai before leaving for Jaipur later that evening.

This is what we got up to:

• Marine Drive
○ Runs along the shoreline of the Arabian Sea
○ Known as the Queen's necklace, this curved promenade is literally like one with its dazzling lights
○ Built on land reclaimed from Back Bay in 1920
○ One of Mumbai's favourite sunset watching spots
• Chowpatty Beach
○ Quiet during the day but transforms into a magical fair ground in the evenings
○ Beach was frequented by freedom fighters in the Quiet India movement
○ Forget about taking a dip: the water is toxic!
• Mani Bhavan Museum
○ Mani Bhavan, was the residence of Gandhi during his visits to Mumbai from 1917 to 1934.
○ It became the epicentre of India's struggle for freedom when Mahatma Gandhi directed the destiny of the nation from Mani Bhavan whenever he was in Mumbai.
○ Prominent leaders used to visit Mani Bhavan for consultations with Gandhi. It became the hub of the Indian National Congress and India's freedom movement.
○ In 1955 the building was dedicated as a memorial to Gandhi. It became a source of inspiration to the lovers of freedom and peace the world over.
○ I have included a few paragraphs on Gandhi below:
§ Who was Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi?
§ Gandhi's Life
• Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST)
○ Better known as Victoria Terminus
○ Splendid example of Gothic architecture
○ Been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site
• Local black and yellow taxi ride
○ On our way back to the hotel - the taxi that Lara, Greg and I were in - had an accident!
○ No stopping to exchange details occurred just a lot of screaming and shouting and that was it
○ We're still alive and kicking so everything is OK
• Dharavi Slum
○ On the way to the airport we drove passed the Dharavi slum and we were reminded of the extreme poverty and that 40% of Mumbai's population live in slums

Unfortunately that was it for our time in Mumbai and as we drove to the Chhatrapati Shivaji Airport we all agreed that no matter how crazy Mumbai was - it could make you laugh and cry at the same time - we were able to start seeing the good side of it. Definitely an experience.

You can see our photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=386022&id=713415257&l=f1a6eed85a

Final thought:
After finding out a lot about Gandhi, visiting a museum dedicated to his life and watching a movie on his life it is interesting to say that being a South African we have managed to imprison two of the greatest men of all time: Nelson Mandela and Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.

Next stop:
Jaipur, India.

Until next time,
Leise + Lara

Who was Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi?

• Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was the pre-eminent political and spiritual leader of India during the Indian independence movement. He was the pioneer of satyagraha - resistance to tyranny through mass civil disobedience, a philosophy firmly founded upon ahimsa or total nonviolence - which led India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world.
• Gandhi is commonly known around the world as Mahatma Gandhi (or "Great Soul"), and in India also as Bapu (or "Father").

Gandhi's Life

• Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on 2 October 1869 in Porbandar, a coastal town in present-day Gujarat, India.
• On 4 September 1888, less than a month shy of his 19th birthday, Gandhi traveled to London, England, to study law at University College London and to train as a barrister. His time in London, the Imperial capital, was influenced by a vow he had made to his mother in the presence of the Jain monk Becharji, upon leaving India, to observe the Hindu precepts of abstinence from meat, alcohol, and promiscuity.
• Gandhi was called to the bar on June 10, 1891 and left London for India on June 12, 1891, where he learned that his mother had died while he was in London, his family having kept the news from him. His attempts at establishing a law practice in Mumbai failed and, later, after applying and being turned down for a part-time job as a high school teacher, he ended up returning to Rajkot to make a modest living drafting petitions for litigants, a business he was forced to close when he ran afoul of a British officer.
• It was in this climate that, in April 1893, he accepted a year-long contract from Dada Abdulla & Co., an Indian firm, to a post in the Colony of Natal, South Africa, then part of the British Empire.
• South Africa became the land of his adoption from 1893 - 1914.
• During his stay in South Africa, the racial discrimination in the society startled him and cut him to the quick (he was initially alerted to this after being thrown off a train in Pietermaritzburg for being in the 'whites only' section). The spiritual urge within him became a living force and his life became truth intoxicated. He practiced self restraint and renounced his worldly possessions for the community. He clearly saw that an aspirant after a life devoted to service must accept poverty as a constant companion and observe celibacy.
• Gandhi extended his original period of stay in South Africa to assist Indians in opposing a bill to deny them the right to vote. Though unable to halt the bill's passage, his campaign was successful in drawing attention to the grievances of Indians in South Africa.
• In 1915, Gandhi returned from South Africa to live in India.
• Gandhi continued his great work in India and became the greatest Indian man of all time being fundamental in India obtaining their independence from Britain. This included a number of hunger strikes.
• 30 January 1948 is known as the blackest day in India's history, but for Mahatma, it was the supreme moment of his life. The epic life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi came to an end. He met his death facing the forces of darkness and hatred with compassion and love. He had said, "If I am to die by the bullet of a mad man, I must do so smiling. There must be no anger within me. God must be in my heart and on my lips." He bowed to his assassin and died with the name of God on his lips. He was the Victorious One in death as in life. Gandhi was shot at point-blank range while having his nightly public walk on the grounds of the Birla Bhavan (Birla House) in New Delhi. The assassin, Nathuram Godse, was a Hindu nationalist with links to the extremist Hindu Mahasabha, who held Gandhi responsible for weakening India by insisting upon a payment to Pakistan.