On to Mumbai

So much to tell

And I’m sure I won’t remember half of it.

Cochin

To me India is always a vibrant, richly colored place of bright smiles, different fragrances and odors, visual delights too unique to do justice through words, and so much more.

Oh No! It’s only 4 am

But whatever awakened me, I was stuck. So I went outside on the balcony in the pitch dark and saw tiny lights in a circle all around the area I could see seemingly spaced at equal intervals on the horizon. Were they buoys? Other ships? Fishing nets? I never knew.

Then the noise began

As the men began to prepare the front of the ship for mooring. It’s still dark but I can hear the cadence of the different languages (Tagalog? English for sure) interspersed with quiet laughter.

We berthed long before sunrise and at least 20 min before the 6 am predicted time of mooring.

Our immigration face to face

We were scheduled for 7:30 am but as we have found each time, they were ready for our group around 7:10. So we gathered our passports (including India visa: mine is a 10 yr visa in my previous passport so I am carrying both of them), our immigration form, and cruise card.

There were 5 immigration officers, all very efficient: not much hob nobbing here. I had brought the 500 and 1000 rupee bills along from previous visits. In the interim, Mr. Modi, the Prime Minister, has banned these bills in an attempt to expose the black market profits. I had been following it in the news when it happened but felt helpless to do anything about it from the US as we had no place to exchange our bills. So I presented them to the immigration official and asked him if there was a way to exchange them. Basically he said “tough luck” as did the bank van outside doing money changing. So I suppose these bills, along with the two Hong Kong bills will have to have a special home at some point with someone who loves old currency.

So our passports were again surrendered (they’ll give them to the ship), our cruise card was scanned (to show we had appeared before the immigration officers) and we were given a biz card sized card that says we are OK, plus a photo copy of our photo on a land pass (not what it’s called but I’ve already forgotten it’s name) which the officer had signed and given to me.

At the end of the day this last document had to be surrendered to ship’s staff. Not sure what we’ll do in Mumbai day after tomorrow but I’ll keep you up to date.

So then it’s off to a quick breakfast.

I’m ready to get off the ship and see the vendors outside the ship. I had seen their tents at dawn and they were ready for us along with the long line of taxis, tour busses, and tuk tuks. The latter are those ubiquitous little 3 wheel scooter type conveyances that are designed to carry two people comfortably but usually cram 4 or more into them.

Well Ed has a very different idea of time than others do. So it was an hour before he joined me outside with the vendors. I was not happy as the ground is very uneven and treacherous with my vision, I can’t really make out the products, and it was so hot and humid that by this time the sweat was dripping into my eyes.

We looked into a few tents with the usual: I had to buy as I was their first customer of the day, best price for you, blahblahblah. Their prices were unbelievable. Each wanted me to promise to come back to his tent.

Tour

We had to get onto the tour bus at around 9 am, and this wonderfully airconditioned, clean, comfortable, neat motorcoach was like a  womb. Eventually 32 souls congregated with their canes, bags, and other necessaries and we were off.

Ed and I have done this tour before but we enjoyed it even more this time. Not in any order:

We walked through the neighborhood and were told about the architecture and history of buildings many of which are now many of which are now hotels (sounds like How-tles).

We saw goats wandering freely and bleeting to each other. Traffic whizzed by us at astonishing speeds. We saw ladies in colorful saris and other types of local dress. Less men wore the skirt (don’t know local name). We saw muslims as well.

Despite the trash everywhere, and I do mean everywhere, we also saw ladies diligently sweeping up leaves (go figure).

Chinese fishing nets

Yes they are still here and the fish market right next to them was very busy (and very smelly). They were working the nets but much of the fish for sale had to come from farther out: shrimp (Ed remarked on their size: very large. Birds everywhere: many crows and some herons.

Dutch Palace

This area has been under many regimes in it’s history: Moguls, Portugese (thus the large number of Christians especially Catholics), Dutch, British of course. The architecture reflects all of this.

So this building started out as the palace of the local king or raj, who never married but had a harem on site. The ceiling reflect Portugese influence with teak, stained and polished ceilings with great designs. The walls all have murals depicting the lives of the Hindu gods and Buddha is on the wall too.

As we left, I recalled that my up (too) close and personal encounter with a snake charmer occurred here when I walked up on this scene inadvertently. Didn’t take me long to get away from that! But today, no snake charmer.

Synagogue

Oldest synagogue in India. It is quite lovely with much history and is located in Jew town (not perjorative term here). There are over 1000 hand painted tiles on the floor, all different. They remined me of Delft tiles. Thus we had to wear socks to go in.

St. Francis Church

The oldest church building in India built by the Portugese Catholics. It has changed hands many times through the years and is not actually Anglican. Vasco de Gama was reported to have been buried here when he died of malaria but many years later, his sons removed his remains back to Portugal.

Then we wandered the streets for a little while looking at the wares but didn’t buy anything except sodas. Well Ed had an ice cream was wasn’t smart. The little vendor was hardly a 5 star hotel standard.

Back to the ship

I did return to one stall where they had been very kind to me in the morning, offering me a chair to sit in the shade while I waited for Ed. Their prices had come down remarkably and I got a two piece outfit, colors not quite perfectly matched but it’ll do, and off we went but not before one of the other vendors confronted me saying that I had promised to buy from him!

Getting back onto the ship

At the gate are numerous Indian police. You have to present cruise card, landing card (?), and the photocopy they stamped this am.

You go a little further along the pier and the ship’s personnel check your cruise card. Yet a little further yet, and the ship’s personnel bring you very cold wet cloths to refresh your face and hands (much appreciated and we’ve come to look forward to it in these hot climates). And then there is very cold water for you to drink. (The busses also provide water ad lib). And by this time, you have now reached yet one more Indian officer and you must present the magical paper with your photo and the stamp before you  then go up the gangway. At the end of that, you cruise card is scanned, you and your belongings go through the metal detector and scanner, and on the other side you surrender that magical piece of paper.

We were so Tired.

Shower was the first order of business. Drink more water. Rest a few minutes and cool off a little.

Heat rash

After every trip in a hot environment we both wind up with heat rash ob our back. Jeesh.

Trivia

91people are on a trip to the taj Mahal so we joined other left overs and we had fun. Again this team missed the winning number by ONE! Yeech.

Dinner

Only one other couple but we had such fun. They didn’t get their India visas in time so they can’t leave the ship. So we got the news of what the ship was like as several others chose simply not to go ashore. Many people are unwilling to be exposed to the trash or poor people and beggars. We did have a few beggars today but they were inoffensive; the vendors are much more aggressive. However, Mombai is the worst in terms of poverty being so in your face and they are often very aggressive.

I usually order a fruit plate for dessert, so Francis, our Indian waiter, brought it with Durian, that awful stinky fruit. There was a little waft of that odor, but the consistency of like a custard and many folks absolutely love it. I can pass but could see how folks could love it.

Entertainment

An Aussie [BF1] fellow who has done a lot of musical theatre. Pleasant and enjoyable senough but his voice and style are not remarkable. Still a fun evening.

So I’m looking forward to a good night’s sleep!

---

 [BF1]