Today was my first opportunity to head out and see more of Mumbai. I have two volunteer roommates and one of them came with me which made my first excursion less scary. First we took a rickshaw to the train station. It was slightly chaotic and there are beggars positioned at strategic locations throughout the terminal. We had to run to catch our train, but managed to get on just in time. The local trains have a "women only car" making the 30 minute ride quite relaxing. We ventured south to another district of Mumbai to take in some architecture. Here are a few of the pictures.
This museum of art was 300 rupees to enter (the conversion is approximately 62 rupees to one Canadian dollar) and not knowing exactly what types of things we would find or how long it would take to walk through, we opted to pass on going in.
I'm not sure what this building is, but it was appealing to me so I had to include it! It is quite incredible to visit a country with such beautiful historic buildings.
This statue/monument was located in the middle of a traffic circle. As we were making a mad dash to cross the road without being hit by a bus/motorcycle/car/rickshaw/taxi, I didn't have time to look for a marker. We came across other interesting landmarks, but the plaques were in Hindi.
After taking in a decadent dessert at a western-style book shop (which, by the way had toilet paper in the washroom!) we rode the train back to our area of Mumbai to locate Mount Mary Basilica. The rickshaw drivers always insist they don't have change despite the fact that they run steadily. The ride from the train station to the church was 33 rupees. To encourage the driver to give me change, I said that I would give him a tip if he broke my 100 rupee note. I told him to give me just 60 back. He handed me 67 and when I tried to give him the 7 rupee tip, he refused to take it. My roommate was shocked and I chuckled at the look on her face. I think maybe he just appreciated the fact that I tried to carry on a bit of a conversation with him during our trip. Back to the church story...I couldn't find a date of construction. I suspect it was constructed in phases. It mentions that one of the bells is inscribed with 1892. For anyone interested in seeing the inside, you can check out this link: http://mountmarybasilicabandra.in/architecture (I didn't want to take pictures inside). This is quite the tourist attraction, with many booths located outside selling all sorts of Catholic/Christian paraphernalia. Following is a another outside angle.
We decided to walk from the church back to where we thought our apartment was. The streets here are very confusing, none seem to run in a straight line and very few seem to be labelled with English. It was starting to get quite dark and we just kept turning and right, going with our gut feel. After 20 minutes we stumbled (not) by accident at the entrance to the apartment! It was a great way to finish off a great day.
Thanks for stopping by!
This museum of art was 300 rupees to enter (the conversion is approximately 62 rupees to one Canadian dollar) and not knowing exactly what types of things we would find or how long it would take to walk through, we opted to pass on going in.
I'm not sure what this building is, but it was appealing to me so I had to include it! It is quite incredible to visit a country with such beautiful historic buildings.
This statue/monument was located in the middle of a traffic circle. As we were making a mad dash to cross the road without being hit by a bus/motorcycle/car/rickshaw/taxi, I didn't have time to look for a marker. We came across other interesting landmarks, but the plaques were in Hindi.
After taking in a decadent dessert at a western-style book shop (which, by the way had toilet paper in the washroom!) we rode the train back to our area of Mumbai to locate Mount Mary Basilica. The rickshaw drivers always insist they don't have change despite the fact that they run steadily. The ride from the train station to the church was 33 rupees. To encourage the driver to give me change, I said that I would give him a tip if he broke my 100 rupee note. I told him to give me just 60 back. He handed me 67 and when I tried to give him the 7 rupee tip, he refused to take it. My roommate was shocked and I chuckled at the look on her face. I think maybe he just appreciated the fact that I tried to carry on a bit of a conversation with him during our trip. Back to the church story...I couldn't find a date of construction. I suspect it was constructed in phases. It mentions that one of the bells is inscribed with 1892. For anyone interested in seeing the inside, you can check out this link: http://mountmarybasilicabandra.in/architecture (I didn't want to take pictures inside). This is quite the tourist attraction, with many booths located outside selling all sorts of Catholic/Christian paraphernalia. Following is a another outside angle.
We decided to walk from the church back to where we thought our apartment was. The streets here are very confusing, none seem to run in a straight line and very few seem to be labelled with English. It was starting to get quite dark and we just kept turning and right, going with our gut feel. After 20 minutes we stumbled (not) by accident at the entrance to the apartment! It was a great way to finish off a great day.
Thanks for stopping by!
1 comment:
Sounds like it was a fun day. Those are beautiful buildings. How did you like the rickshaw? It must have seemed a little strange at first.
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