Day 22

I set out on my own into Mumbai today :D (kinda)

I got up and had breakfast of leftovers from the night before.

First uncle escorted me to have money exchanged- and insisted I'd be robbed so he kept part of the money. LoL.
Next he booked me a bus tour of the city as a gift for the next day (Wed).
Then uncle escorted me to the train station via share auto (rickshaw with multiple unrelated parties headed to the same place- or places close to one another). He made sure I punched the right number of coupons, and was on the right train (unnecessary but appreciated :) ).

I stood in the door with the English map at the top and amazingly almost always had a little bubble of space, and was never almost pushed out the door. Hena had told me repeatedly that I would have no personal space and not to stand near the door because they will push you out. Well I guess the train just wasn't busy enough when I was on it for these to occur- nice!

I got off the train at the Victoria Terminus. Let me tell you- Times Square would get a run for it's money on crowd size by this place! Since I was unsure which side and direction I needed to go first I just followed the crowd to the nearest exit and picked a direction to look for a cafe to buy water and sit and look at the Lonely Plant guide.

I found one, bought water, and looked at the book. Once I had determined the direction I needed to go I set off again. However the problem of maps not looking like the streets deterred me for a bit.
I ran into a group of girls who spoke English and asked them for clarification of the map and it turned out they were visiting Bombay also! So they pointed me to the bus stand since taxis, even though they use meters here, would be likely to try to rip me off since I am a foreigner.
So I walked to the bus stand and caught a bus all by myself! Woot!
The bus let me off at the Gateway of India which was built to welcome the King and Queen of England when they came to visit one time.
At this point I got a call from Hena in which I thought she said she'd be heading to meet me in 30 min. wait for her at the Gateway. So I waited...
This is a video I made while waiting...

There was a beggar girl and boy who came up at the same time soon. While the boy was distracting me by poking my backpack the girl tied a string of jasmine around my wrist and asked for a gift. I told them I was waiting on my friend who had my money and so they sat down to wait with me! The girl told me how their mother had sent them to Bombay alone to work for five months and then the man would send them home. I asked Hena about this later and she said it's probably true except the man will never send them home. They will beg on the streets, more than likely end up in brothels when they are just a little older, and then more than likely be dead soon after entering the brothels. Human trafficking is much more common than anyone wants to admit she said. And while I felt for them I was not going to give them money which they probably would not use for food like they said- they'd give it to "the man." Also, they were becoming much more strident in their demands for money, pulling at my clothes and arms - which no matter how young you are is not going to be ok with me. So I tore the bracelet carefully so she could tie it again and picked up my bag and left. I couldn't decide if I was relieved or wanted to cry.
So I sat under the Gateway and soon another young beggar was poking at my arm and bag. A gentleman nearby shooed him off and I fended off the many street salesmen. However when I realized there were a number of men standing around looking at me I picked up my bag and walked in the direction of a restaurant that looked promising in the book. Well I got a bit lost and when I found the restaurant took one look at the menu, thanked the waitress, and left- it was more than Rs. 300 for the cheapest appetizer.... so I wandered around for a while.
I went to check the Gateway for Hena because at this point it's been an hour and a half so I'm slightly worried.
She's not there so I wander around looking for some shade to sit in and cool down since Mumbai is uncharacteristically hot for the season (even according to the natives!).
I sit under a statue in the middle of a dry fountain drinking water, fending off another beggar child, and I get a call from Hena- meet me at Cafe Leopold, grab a taxi to get there, it's in the book if you need the address. Woot!
Well the taxi driver has never heard of this place. And there is no Cafe Leopold in the book for the area of Mumbai I'm in.... so I furiously flip through pages until I find a bar called Leopold's Cafe and Bar in the Greater Mumbai section... at which point the taxi driver says, "You just walk. Too near me drive."
WHAAAAT!?!
So I figure out where it is and walk there- it was on the sectional map- just under the other name :)
While I'm on the way there I run into two lost Australian girls who are visiting and once they have made use of my map we parted ways.
So I get there- fend off the street salesmen- and wait for Hena.
When Hena shows up she mentions this hole-in-the-wall restaurant down the row that has AC. AC!!!
So we had lunch at Which Latte in an room with wooonderfuly cold AC. While I was washing my hands and face I realized I'm sun burnt again- alas- but not badly.
Hena and I got two different sandwiches and split them. Roast beef on rye, and chicken on some yummy bread that I missed the name of. When we realized we were still hungry half way through we ordered curley fries. : )
and for dessert she got a chocolate mousse thingy and I got apple crumble- both of which were very good.

After lunch we headed back to the Gateway of India since Hena had never seen it. From there we roughly followed the walking tour of Mumbai in the Lonely Planet guide to the _ _ Synagogue. Coincidentally I almost got run over taking this picture... don't worry the SUV was going pretty slowly so they missed- I just got yelled and honked at- LoL. Every time I go into a synagogue I think of Mrs. Linda's family. So I paid the outrageous fee to take pictures of the inside which I will show them when I get home. : )

From there we got lost looking for Bull St. which is equivalent to our Wall St. We eventually found it and then from there we set off to find the St. Thomas' Cathedral which no one seemed to know where was...
While we were wandering lost another Australian woman- this one here for work- helped us on our way to the Cathedral for which we thanked her profusely.

Once in the Cathedral I was amazed by how many people are buried within the walls and floor of the church. We saw the memorial of all the soldiers form WWI that never made it back to India. And we saw the chairs King George and Queen Mary sat in for Mass when they came to visit India (reason the Gateway was built btw). Also was the pew that Mother Teressa (Saint Teressa now) sat in when she attended Mass there as well. Coincidentally this cathedral is also known as the Church of North India in contrast to the Church of South India I saw before with Muchu and Hena.

From the Cathedral we followed the scary looking exodus toward the Queen's Necklace/Marine Dr./lagoon although most people were going to a train station in that direction.
This is a video of the view... :)


After we sat there for a while we walked to Mocha an all in one restaurant and got a snack to hold us over 'til dinner of potato wedges we got to dip in melted cheddar and cottage cheese. Oh it sounds odd- but sooo good.

After that we walked to the Victoria Terminus, punched our tickets, and went home to another supper prepared by the amazing Auntie.