Ok, this is about our last full day in Mumbai (Well right now as I am writing, we are in Jaipur - actually Nepal – it was Monday in Jaipur and we ran into e-mailing difficulties. Just to get my head on straight- we flew from Miami on Tuesday afternoon took two flights to the other side of the world and stayed in a wonderful hotel. Perhaps the best one in Mumbai! The same hotel in which President Obama and his entourage will stay when he visits India at the end of October / beginning of November – the COPY-CAT!. Check it out on the internet – The Taj Majal in Mumbai.WOW!!!
Since that first night on which we being so tired, we slept until 1:30 in the afternoon of the following day – THURSDAY! Yeah, that’s what I asked too – where did Wednesday go? - The whole explanation seemed like that old bit by Abbott and Costello - “Who’s on First!” but any how, we first toured Mumbai with the young guides on day #1. Then FRIDAY we went with an adult Indian women to Elephanta Island by boat. It is a tourist site, about 7 to 8 miles from the harbor of Mumbai. UNESCO has declared it a World Heritage site. By the way if any one expect me to write about elephants, hold on - since you are wrong! The island has caves filled with massive Hindu religious statutory similar in general design to a natural material bas-relief appearance in that they were hacked out of the natural stone some twelve to fourteen hundred years ago.
Well back to the actual tourist visit +/- 60 minute boat ride on a vessel which didn’t meet any USCG standards except testing how many people could het on board. Once at the island (and after I put my rosaries away) we had to climb up stairway that was not too stable, up to a dock, buy some tickets for a railroad system whose cars were possibly 4 X HO gauge and into which six to eight people were expected to comfortably to sit even if built to seat four! That 5-10 minute ride took us to the base of another Indian means of transportation - climbing up a never ending flight of landings and stairs. Now not being a complainer but climbing up some 125+ steps + landings, really challenged my “No Complaint Mantra Policy.” But there always, well maybe not always, a silver lining! The stairs were bordered on both sides by tables, filled with creative but absolutely un-necessary items to force we,tourist, to remember these challenging stairs or to pick up and get latch on to these items for some unexplainable reason or as I did - to “leaned upon” the tables while climbing up the stairs and raised platforms, I finally and if I say so myself – surprisingly- I made it to the top. The natural rock has been chiseled away and great rooms have been created with columns and statues, which like Michelangelo said, buried in the rock waiting to come out through the hand of the artisan. I will try to attach some pictures which I find to be representative of this wonderful site. Wish me luck!
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