We got up early this morning as this was our last full day in Mumbai and we wanted to see the Elephanta caves.
While we were buying tickets we were told that because of the smog we'd be best advised to visit in the afternoon due to poor visibility and location of sun.
So we decided instead to go shopping for a bit.
At 12 we boarded a boat for Elephanta island and arrived shortly after 13:00.
The caves were impressive and we got some very good pictures albeit with a lot of Indians too as the island was pretty busy.
At the end Claire was caught up in the usual tourist trap of posing with a couple of locals and having her picture taken. Of course I had to come to the rescue and do damage control to haggle their subsequent R.200 price tag down to R.20 under the threat of deleting picture - so we both learnt a lesson in scams and haggling aggressively :-)
We left around 15:00 and were back at hotel at 16:00 where we relaxed for a while before going for dinner.
After some discussion back and forth we decided to try a new place called Indigo, which was also highly recommended in the Lonely Planet. Unfortunately the guide let us down big time, food was substandard while really expensive. For instance Claire's lamb was so cremated/over-cooked that you couldn't separate the bones. We complained, which is very unusual, and the chef gave us one ice cream. It was also pretty had as it was crystalised from multiple thaws and we simply paid the bill and left.
As this was our last night we ended up in the Taj bar where Claire had fancy cocktails and I stuck to pairs of Kingfisher draught and Sambuka with nice coffee beans. I failed to realize that Kingfisher is a fair bit stronger than the usual European brew and black stuff, so I was well trollied and merry by the time we left the bars in the hotel around 1:00 :-)
Notes:
- It is worth keeping in mind that the Elephanta caves are closed on Mondays and that a lot of Indians typically make picknicks for family and friends over weekends so the most quiet time to visit is Tue-Fri.
While we were buying tickets we were told that because of the smog we'd be best advised to visit in the afternoon due to poor visibility and location of sun.
So we decided instead to go shopping for a bit.
At 12 we boarded a boat for Elephanta island and arrived shortly after 13:00.
The caves were impressive and we got some very good pictures albeit with a lot of Indians too as the island was pretty busy.
At the end Claire was caught up in the usual tourist trap of posing with a couple of locals and having her picture taken. Of course I had to come to the rescue and do damage control to haggle their subsequent R.200 price tag down to R.20 under the threat of deleting picture - so we both learnt a lesson in scams and haggling aggressively :-)
We left around 15:00 and were back at hotel at 16:00 where we relaxed for a while before going for dinner.
After some discussion back and forth we decided to try a new place called Indigo, which was also highly recommended in the Lonely Planet. Unfortunately the guide let us down big time, food was substandard while really expensive. For instance Claire's lamb was so cremated/over-cooked that you couldn't separate the bones. We complained, which is very unusual, and the chef gave us one ice cream. It was also pretty had as it was crystalised from multiple thaws and we simply paid the bill and left.
As this was our last night we ended up in the Taj bar where Claire had fancy cocktails and I stuck to pairs of Kingfisher draught and Sambuka with nice coffee beans. I failed to realize that Kingfisher is a fair bit stronger than the usual European brew and black stuff, so I was well trollied and merry by the time we left the bars in the hotel around 1:00 :-)
Notes:
- It is worth keeping in mind that the Elephanta caves are closed on Mondays and that a lot of Indians typically make picknicks for family and friends over weekends so the most quiet time to visit is Tue-Fri.
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| Claire getting Scammed by locals at Elephanta Caves |
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