Our 2nd day in Mumbai we thought it would be fun to go and do some exploring and so we took a drive out to where the Gateway of India is. The gateway is considered the Taj Mahal of Mumbai and was built in 1911 to welcome and commemorate the landing of King George V, and Queen Mary. Afterwards we took a ferry out to Elephanta island where ancient ruins and temples were built right into the mountains. It was so fun getting to see more of Mumbai and the awesome hidden jewels within it.
Below are some views we saw while driving in the car on the way to the Gateway.
We had to laugh when all 4 kids fell asleep on the way. They were bushed!
Love this shot of the bridge we went over that Adam took!
When we arrived near the Gateway, Amits driver let us off and we began walking to where we needed to buy tickets. As we were walking this sweet girl started talking to me and asked all about our family and America. She later asked if we would help her by buying some formula for her baby nephew who she was watching for her brother. We were happy to help and walked to a nearby store to buy a months worth of food for this little guy. He was so cute!
And here we are at the Gateway to India! This is right on the Arabian sea and is a very popular access point to get into India. Adam has pictures here with Amit that he took when he visited Mumbai last year.
And behind us here is actually just a fancy 5 star hotel called the Taj Mahal Palace. We went into the lobby after our ferry ride to Elephanta island and it is as beautiful inside as it is on the outside. And oh how we lovd the A/C! 🙂
Do you see how the ferry boats are right next to each other? Well sometimes they get 3 or 4 deep and you actually have to hop from one ferry to the other. On our way home from Elephanta we had to actually go through 2 other boats besides ours to finally make it to the dock. So funny!
On the ferry ready for our hour long ride to the island!
On the way back we had a bit of a storm roll in and the waves were just huge! Adam and the kids sat on the side of the boat while Brans and I sat in the middle of the boat. That ended up being a really good idea on our part because the waves were so huge that they started splashing all the people on either side of the boat and the passengers sitting in those seats got SOAKED from head to toe. At first it was just on the right side of the boat and Adam, Harry, Daws, and Adalynn didn’t really get wet, but then either the winds shifted or the boat did because they ended up soaking! All the kids ended up over by me, and Brans and I both ended up sea sick because the boat was rocking so much. Luckily I was able to keep my cookies at bay, but Branson ended up losing his. Once again I was so grateful for our blue throw up bags we brought from the U.S. They have saved us now probably about 20 times over!
A view of the palace hotel from the ferry!
And the front of the Gateway to India.
This little girl kinda melts my heart in a million and one ways…
Some of the views from our ferry ride.
After we got off the ferry, they had a super cheap train that you could take into town to avoid having to walk as far. We normally don’t mind walking, but anytime there is an option for the kids to get on a train, they are all for it! 🙂
The island was beautiful, but unfortunately also quite dirty and lined with garbage. I hope that someday the Indian government will up its game and figure out a better way to take care of all the garbage that gets thrown by the wayside by providing bins for people to put stuff in. It is almost impossible to find a garbage can anywhere along streets and roadways – and therefore people just throw there stuff by the wayside. 🙁
We love how many animal friends we always run into on the streets.
This guy cracked us up because he was literally following Adam and Branson around because they both had food. If Adam turned to the right so did the cow. If Brans ran in circles so did the cow. I wish I would have thought to get a video. It had us all giggling uncontrollably. It was so funny!
Adam did decide to share a bit of what he had since the cow was obviously very determined!
The cow especially wanted Bransons corn husk! 🙂
I just had to get a picture with him since he was so friendly and all!
You had to also be careful of the monkeys on the island as they were even more aggressive then the cows! 🙂
In order to get to the Elephant caves, you had to walk up a long staircase with vendors on each side. I actually loved seeing all the fun things they were selling and took some pictures as we went. We aren’t big souvenir people anymore, but we do like snapping pictures of all the hand crafted items. 🙂
LOVED the colorful Indian artwork!
All these are hand made out of stone! I can’t believe all the work and intricate details!
Some of India’s folktales and stories!
I do have to say that we all really enjoyed the temples! We loved how they were built right into caves and had no idea there were so many or were so large! They were so fun to visit.
Here are some of the statues inside the temples. Still standing remarkably well for how old they are.
I am completely in love with these moss covered mountains. Have you ever seen anything so pretty?
I had to laugh because almost every time I tried taking a picture of the kids – Indian tourists would almost instantly jump in my picture and want to take pictures of their own with the kids. We literally have this happen everywhere we go. But since they wouldn’t get out of my picture for me to take one of JUST my kids, I decided just to take a few with them in it. This usually only lasts so long though as Ady freaks out the moment she realizes someone she doesn’t know is standing by her! And its usually her they want a picture with!
There is another good story that goes with this smiley lady. When we came up the stairs (which are behind her) I saw here here with water on her head and assumed she was selling it. We were all DYING of thirst when we were done with the caves (if felt like it was over 100 degrees that day with humidity) and so when I saw her I instantly went and gave her some rupees for a bottle of water. Little did I realize that her bottle of water was just “tap water” that she had been filling up from the water fountain nearby! ha ha! Whoops. And since we can’t drink tap water here in India – the water did us no good. I ended up giving it to one of the merchants selling goods on our way back down the stairs. Thankfully Adam found a little lunch place open and was able to get us some REAL drinking water, and cold water at that. We felt like we were given a taste of heaven. Cold water never tasted so good!
Sure was a fun day exploring Mumbai and the Elephanta island! What beautiful treasures India has!