Today we leave Mumbai, and that is a very good thing. Yesterday, we reached the limit of massive tourism action, and it is time for some better air quality and less fraught roadways.
First off, we hit the formerly known as Prince of Wales museum (it has been renamed, but my books fail to list the new moniker which is at least five words long, and anyway, typing it here would do no one any good). It had some interesting sculpture, one very fancy box, and a wing full of sad looking taxidermied animalitos. The building itself and the grounds were gorgeous. After that, we headed to lunch, which was a chicken leg in some greenish curry sauce in a hole in the wall Parsi place with a sign on the back wall that read “Sorry for Onions.” I can only guess that this was directed towards any Jain guests who can’t eat onions, rather than just a blanket apology for onions in general ( tho they do occasionally make us cry).
At the hottest part of the day we boarded a launch for Elephanta Island. It took an eternity to get out there, and depressingly, the bay was as polluted as the air ( we could not see the island from the shore because of the heavy haze). The island is famous for caves from about 600 AD that contain some stunning sculptures of Hindu deities, such as our main man Shiva and friends. Luckily, it wasn’t all that cave-like, more like a grand, pillar-supported hall that just happens to be carved out of rock. Adding entertainment (and some suspense) to the day were the bands of ugly little monkeys that roamed the place. A monkey fight is a terrible thing, and these fellas weren’t getting along. Once the screeching began, we rolled out of there.
Dinner was chinese. Why? Exhaustion. How was it? O.K.
Next stop is Goa. We’ve been promised internets there. Pictures are finally loading this morning. Trying to post some of the backlog!
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