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With the wedding over, I'm now on my own. My plan was to tour Elephanta
Island. I'd been told one should get there early in the day, but I'd
gotten a very late start after a liesurely breakfast. Oddly, I'd gotten
the first honest cab driver since arriving in India. He inadvertently
shown me how the meters in cabs are SUPPOSED to work. Apparently the number
displayed by the meter is NOT the charge for the ride. It's a counter
showing what distance has been driven. The cabbie should then look on a
table to see what charge is appropriate for that distance. Instead of paying
500-800 Rupees for a ride to the Gate of India, I paid the proper fee of 174
Rupees. Go figure- We'd been overcharged all this time.
So as I approach the Gate of India (looking like a tourist), a man asks me "Do you want to go to Elephanta Island? I can arrange it." I was slightly suspicious of him, as MANY people try to be guides and charge too much. But he had proposed a reasonable price, and seemed reasonable. But he also said "You really don't want to go to the island now, though." When I asked why, he told me that it was hot there, and the sun was in the wrong position for the attraction of the island, a series of caves. Since the sun had moved past the east-facing door, it'd be DARK in the caves, and I wouldn't see much. This sounded plausible, and it was also an hour boat ride across polluted water each way. He offered a different possibility- A guided tour of the city in an air-conditioned car. "Only 1800 Rupees!" This sounded like a rip-off, so I said "No, too expensive." He persisted (as most there do), dropping his price to R1700. I said I didn't want to spend over R1000. "There's no way I could provide a trip like that for that little!" he exclaimed. I said "Okay, goodbye." Still, he was not deterred. "I can give you a shorter tour for R600." I said I'd think about it, and if he was still around there after I came back from lunch in the Taj Mahal Hotel, we'd talk. After a nice lunch, I left the hotel, and sure enough, there he was waiting for me. "Okay, R600 for the tour, and don't pay me now, pay at the end," implying that I'd pay what I thought it was worth. We went on the tour, and I did see some good things I wouldn't have ordinarily seen, though I had to kill numerous mosquitoes in the car. When it was done (after he tried to get me to go shopping at a store which undoubtedly gave him a kick-back), and I've given his driver a tip, I said "Here's your R600." He said "No, I said sixTEEN hundred Rupees!" I said "You did NOT, and you KNEW I didn't want to spend a thousand." I gave him a little more than R600, but didn't let him railroad me into an unfair price. I was learning how cabbies and guides behaved in this country! You'll see pictures of "The Ghats" below. This is a place for washing clothes. When hotels send laundry out, it comes here. Clothes go through successively cleaner tanks of water, starting out in fairly dirty water, and finishing clean. The clothes are beat on the walls to dislodge dirt. It's an amazing place. |
 Tour boats |
 Gate of India from Taj Hotel |
 Tour boats |
 Tour boats |
 Snack vendor |
 Shantytown |
 Shantytown |
 Shantytown |
 Shantytown |
 Ghats - Human powered washing machine |
 Ghats - Human powered washing machine |
 Ghats - Human powered washing machine |
 Ghats - Human powered washing machine |
 Ghats - Human powered washing machine |
 Polluted bay |
 Waterfront villas |
 Fishermen Village |
 Ghandi's home |
 Ghandi's home |
 Smoggy bay |
 Smoggy bay |
 Flowerbed at "Bubble Park" |
 Park built on "bubble" reservior |
 Park built on "bubble" reservior |
 Park built on "bubble" reservior |
 Muslim Crematorium bones/ashes go into the bay |
 Bubble Park |
 Kamala Nehru Park Cool and breezy |
 View from park |
 View from park |
 Bonsai garden |
 Beautiful park |
 Temple (complete with singing and chanting) |
 Temple (complete with singing and chanting) |
 Temple (complete with singing and chanting) |
 Temple (complete with singing and chanting) |
 Temple (complete with singing and chanting) |
 Traffic is common |
 Overloaded handcart IN TRAFFIC! |
 All's fair game on the roads |
 Residential skyline |
 Residential skyline |
 Residential skyline |
 Residential skyline |
 Interesting architecture |
 Natural dryer |
 Residential skyline |
 Sunset from my hotel room |
 Sunset from my hotel room |
 Sunset from my hotel room |