We had two days in Mumbai, which seemed to be an ideal amount of time to see the highlights of the city. We loved Mumbai. To us, it felt a bit like the Sydney of India. Pretty tree-lined streets, hilly areas, water outlooks.
Walking through a train station. We caught the train to Dharavi slum, where we went on a walking tour. Ethan sat this one out given it involved about 3 hours of walking. Dhavari is one of the largest slums in Asia. Out of respect to the residents we opted not to take pictures. David and I found the tour very interesting. We were taken to different businesses/industry, which included pottery, leather, recycling and poppadum making. The girls really enjoyed visiting a local school. Some of the children were in the schoolyard playing. They crowded around Clara and started throwing a ball to her. They cheered whenever she threw it back. If you would like to see some pictures of Dhavari there are some on this website..https://www.tripsavvy.com/mumbai-dharavi-slum-tours-4072927
I cant' recall the name of this building.
We also visited Dhobi Ghat, which is a giant open-air laundry.
Ethan opted to join us for this tour. I think if he didn't already live in India he perhaps wouldn't have felt so comfortable doing things like this with a broken ankle. He hopped all the way down those stairs.
Then used his crutches to manoeuvre through areas like this. Just looking at these pictures makes me feel a little on edge again. For most of the time David and I walked directly in front and behind him, so if he stumbled we could grab him quickly, but there were no issues.
We were told that these barrels are used for sterilising washing such as sheets from hospitals.
One of the dhobis cleaning laundry. The clothes were scrubbed and then smacked repeatedly against the concrete. There are then hung to dry. We were told that they never loose any laundry - not sure whether I really believe that. David has had multiple items misplaced when sending laundry out from Indian hotels.
No pegs used.
This is the home of the richest man in India. One family (and their staff) live here.
Outside Ghandi's house. Very pretty streets.
Not a great shot, but that is Ghandi's house behind us. We were able to look inside at the exhibits. Both David and Ethan have studied Ghandi at school, so found the experience to be particularly interesting.
Clara in a Hare Krishna temple.
There was a wedding being performed that day at the temple. The priest invited us to watch. Clara found the wedding to be fascinating. We have now accidentally crashed multiple weddings in temples in Asia. Nobody seems to care at all about our unexpected presence. In fact, most of the time we are actively encouraged to join in and guests come to chat with us.
We visited a step well in Mumbai. I think the step wells in India are pretty cool. Ethan wanted to see the step well, but was not interested in trying to get down and back up those stairs. He stood at the top and observed.
After this we were welcomed to visit the home of a local family who live close by. We give a donation to the family in exchange for their hospitality. Again though, we don't take pictures in this scenario as we feel like it is an invasion of their privacy. The family had a little girl similar in age to Clara. At the end of the video above, our guide tells Clara to be careful because he doesn't know how to swim. Clara responds "I do" :)
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