Elephanta caves are recommended to everyone who goes to Mumbai. We got ferry tickets from the sellers near the Gateway to India. The ferry ride was great especially since I snuck onto the roof (extra charge my ass), the view was great as was the cool wind blowing in my hair and we where out on the ocean (actually just a huge harbour and the water wasn’t that clean. It was just nice being out on a boat. We arrived but didn’t dare take the mini train as It looked so unsafe, we where standing there lifting he rails with our feet, trustworthy. After paying tourist tax then fighting our way through about 100 shops selling the same things and relatively expensive foreign tickets it was time to see some caves. They where amazing. Huge Shiva statues carved out of the rock. Unfortunately many things had been repaired with cement in contrast to the very beautiful original statues all about 1400 years old. Monkeys cute and pesky hang around, monkey photos opportunities but they steal your things. We took a walk up to the top of Elephanta island. Huge WWII cannons sit atop these hills now totally useless. The views where pretty awesome from the top, across Mumbai Harbour, the ships the city and the ocean. The caves felt so old, the Island was so beautiful. I just sat there trying to imagine coming to the island and seeing the island 500 years earlier. The daydream reinforced the reality that although it was beautiful only a few of the caves get proper offerings and are still worshipped at. The trip back was great extra roof charge my ass once again and I was back enjoying the breeze and the unclean Mumbai sea air again. When we got back to the Mainland we decided to check out the famous and US$300 per nite Taj Mahal Hotel. It was fantastic, a classy establishment. There are few places where not only is the bathroom door opened for you but the tap turned on and soap squeezed into your hands to was them. Back at Sagar city we met all our new room mates An Austrian girl, an Icelandic guy, a girl from Peru and a girl half German half Polish (don’t ask her if she is more one than the other). We laughed and joked and it was such a great atmosphere and 15th floor views of Rio style slums are awesome.
