Last Evening in Mumbai

We went on another organised walking tour this afternoon - to visit a fruit market, a flower market, a textile market and a cow sanctuary/temple

The timing was bad as most of the stallholders were sleeping having been very busy in the early morning and expecting to be busy later in the evening but we had a couple of hours walking around and we bought some spices and indian snacks.

We had an early meal at a restaurant/bar we've used a couple of times (they serve nice cold beers which are very welcome after the Mumbai heat).    We decided to walk back to the hotel via a different route and got a bit lost so ended up very hot and dusty by the time we found our way.    Consequently our plan to sit by the pool enjoying a glass of wine and the view over night-time Marine Parade has been thwarted.

We only have 20 mins paid time on the internet left so I'll just 'chuck in'a few piccies from our market walk and the rest will have to wait till we are back in the UK tomorrow evening

To be honest, these markets were quieter and not so interesting as others that we've seen in recent days/weeks 

Early season mangoes .. 

Afternoon 'siesta'

Such beautiful fabrics in the textile market

Ornate floral displays intended as offerings to the gods

Well, that's all I've got time for so will sign off now and add the last couple of posts in a day or so

Mahalaxmi Dhobi Ghat

These last few blogposts are being done very hurriedly as we're running out of time and I'm having to rush things a bit (including knocking some posts out at 2am whilst his lordship zzzzzzzs) so apologies for any typos etc., the blog is really just an aide memoire for us as we're already getting confused about where we've been and what we've done ... it all becomes a blur after a while

This morning we walked to Churchgate station again to purchase train tickets to Mahalaxmi station from where you can view the 140+ year old dhobi ghat (outdoor washing/laundry).   

The public isn't officially allowed into the working area and photos have to be taken from the bridge overlooking the laundry.   But I'd read on the internet that its sometimes possible to go down the steps and one of the workers would turn a blind eye (in return for a few hundred rupees).   Whilst buying tickets we bumped into a couple of the guides from Reality tours who 'knew a man inside the laundry' and they phoned ahead so he could look out for us ... for a modest 400 rupees (£4) this guy handed us over to one of the workers who had a smattering of English and we got whizzed along on a 15 minute tour of the place

Photos of the Dhobi Ghat from above (this was around 9.30am - 5 hours after the dhobis started work so many of the wash bays are empty at this time

Hundreds of dhobis (washermen/women) start work around 4.30am cleaning sheets and garments from factories and hospitals etc.    There are some industrial washing machines/spin dryers there but most work is done by hand (or foot).

they don't use pegs, the clothes are held in place between two twisted lengths of rope

Saris 

 Water is boiled in the these containers over charcoal in order to thoroughly clean the laundry from nearby hospitals

I don't blame him for sleeping on this barrow ... we saw the two small rooms shared by 20 men for living/sleeping quarters - no privacy or personal space there

Pressing clothes with a charcoal heated iron

So this is what an iron looks like?

This is where the handwashing is done .... beating the garments on the stone walls.   We saw the men constantly washing themselves and our 'guide' explained that the washing water contains bleach which leads to skin/feet problems so they rinse it off frequently but still its not a very good working environment for them

and this guy is working on stain removal from soiled hotel linen

I'm pleased to say this is the only child we saw on our brief visit .. we're told that the children all attend school which is good news.

Evening street food tour

We joined a lovely young couple (she was from Munich and he was from Switzerland) and an American lady for a street food tour.

All the tours we're doing are organised by a company called Reality Tours.   The Guides are from the slums but all speak perfect English and are well educated, able to drive etc.   It reinforces what we were told on the slum tour we took, that there is a very strong community bond and most young people don't want to leave it despite being educated to a standard where they could probably move onwards and upwards.

Our guide had a bottle of hand gel with him and ensured we all cleaned our hands before and after each 'tasting'.    This tour, and the Slum Tour we did on Wednesday are their two most popular ones and take place daily.

First of all we had a veggie snack from a stall at the railway station where we met.   It was called a Vada Pav and resembled a veggie burger (the filling was made with a mix of mashed potato and chickpea with lots of wonderful spice flavours).   These cost just 12 rupees (12 pence) each

We then took a train for a couple of stops to reach Chowpatty beach at around 6pm

We'd briefly visited this place on the Night Tour but spent longer here trying 4 different savoury veggie snacks and a selection of flavoured kulfi pieces (Indian ice cream flavoured with pistachio, mango and orange).

Chowpatty is very popular once the heat of the day subsides and there's a lovely atmosphere there

making the Pav Bajhi (kind of very spicy veggie/gravy mix with spiced and buttered soft rolls and raw onion/lime juice side dressing)

Then from the veggie food stalls we took a car to a big market where the non-veggie food stalls are located.  It was absolute mayhem there and the noise was deafening- a real assault on all senses!  Indians blast away on car and motorcycle horns, cyclists ring bells non stop and there are soooo many people around the market area, shopping or selling or moving stock on wooden carts (or carrying enormous loads on their heads).  Its the city that never sleeps and takes some getting used to - particularly areas like this. 

We've now more or less mastered crossing roads in Mumbai, having done a lot of walking over the last few days.   You have to be bold and 'go for it' .... he who hesitates is doomed never to get anywhere.

We briefly stopped to take a look at the outside of another Jain Temple - again intricately carved marble and very beautiful - just a few sections of the carvings.

Then, more food ! but not from this guy who was cooking offal - not to our taste at all

These dishes were fabulous ... the German couple found the dish on the left of this pic a little too spicy for their liking so I got double helpings!  But it was all absolutely scrummy

After the savouries we had a 10 minute trek through the market to the Muslim area which specialises in sweets and desserts.     I am not a dessert person but we had ice-creams to die for and we all agreed we'd never tasted better ones anywhere.    Sabrina (German girl) and I had mango flavour and the others had strawberry, liche and orange. 

Then another 10 minute walk for the final desserts which were incredibly sticky, sweet battered/friend things (that looked like dog turds as David put it)!   Its a big operation and people were queuing behind us to buy them

Here they are being made ... and the finished sweets are on a tray on the right of the picture

We've found with all the Reality tours, they take much longer than the advertised times.    This was supposed to be 5.30pm to 9.30pm but we were out for more like 5 hours - which was nice as we had train journeys, taxis and plenty of walking/sightseeing between the food tasting sessions.

We walked to Churchgate station this morning (and sneaked onto a platform) to await the arrival of the Dabbawallas

David and street dog waiting patiently

Whilst waiting, I photographed a sign on a train carriage ... it allows Tiffin Box carriers to travel at certain times of the day

More than 4000 dabbawallas are involved in collecting freshly prepared meals in tiffin boxes from workers' homes and transporting them by train to central Mumbai where they are sorted by the local dabbawalas who then deliver them to the recipients either by bike or on wooden carts.     The dabbas (boxes/bags) have colours/marks on them to show the destinations

All meals are delivered by 1pm and then later the empty dabbas are collected and returned by the dabbawallas to the owners' houses

We were told that the error ratio is 1 in 16 million transactions!

Excitement as the first dabbawallas alight from the trains and battle through the crowds to unload the boxes in the street (this mainly happens between 11.30am and Noon)

 

organised chaos

Loading up the bikes ready for local delivery

and the wooden carts ...

It looks very disorganised but these guys have been working in the way for years and know what they're doing

heading out into the Mumbai traffic

a few of the dabbawallas