Catch up Part One - more photos!

Right, today I went into Bandra (residential suburb quite close to the hotel) and managed to get my photos put onto a CD so I can now get them onto my laptop and therefore onto my blog. This means that I can go back and write about the things I have done with the added bonus of photo illustration!

OK, so the first thing I haven't talked about yet is my trip to Elephanta Island, which happened on March 17th. Elephanta is the first 'Highlight' in my Lonely Planet - Best of Mumbai guide so I have been meaning to go to it for ages. However, you have to get a boat from the Gateway of India (which is in the South - about an hour from my hotel in clear traffic) so I hadn't got around to it.

Anyway, Elephanta Island is, according the Lonely Planet "home to Mumbai's most important historical attraction. Carved into the basalt bedrockof the island is a series of Hindu caves containing some of the finest temple carvings in India. This is easily the most popular sight in Mumbai and thousands of visitors flock here daily to admire the carvings and enjoy the leisurely boat ride across Mumbai harbour." The caves are pretty amazing and on a huge scale - if you want to find out more about them then you can click here to see the Wikipedia entry on them.

The trip over on the boat was nice if a bit long (it's about an hour) and it was really getting hot (things are beginning to heat up here on the way into Summer). When we landed on the island we got a little train (on proper tracks, not like the motorised trains you get at the seaside) for the princely sum of Rs. 8 (about 10p) to take us down the jetty to the island proper. It was especially good as it was a return ticket and we were much more hot and tired on the way back...

To get to the caves on Elephanta you have to walk up a lot of steps. A lot. And it was really hot. All the way up the steps there are stalls trying to sell you all sorts of things - mostly carved elephants and other nik-naks. Also there were some very welcome restaurants selling cold drinks and food (although for obvious reasons I stayed away from the food). There were a lot of monkeys (I will save the photos of them for another animal special!).

I won't write about the caves because there is already a lot written about them elsewhere and I daresay I won't add anything of academic value. They were pretty impressive and I would recommend a visit to anyone going to Mumbai. As long as you are OK on the water and climbing lots of steps. Anyway, I took some rather dodgy photos on the way back, including this one which looks suspiciously like the Taj Towers is about to fall on top of the Gateway of India. A digital camera does not a photographer make...