Mumbai and Delhi – two big, hot cities

Continuing on our escapades, we headed for the biggest and craziest city in India – Mumbai. Okay, we actually couchsurfed in a quiet suburb and left the very next day for Aurangabad. But don’t worry, we’ll be back to Mumbai soon enough.

We went to Aurangabad to see the Ellora caves, a system of man made cave temples made by Buddhist, Hindu and Jain disciples starting 1300 years ago. The 34 cave temples were cut directly out of a cliff side, meaning every room, column and intricate sculpture are actually one piece of continuous rock – truly something that has to been seen to be believed. The caves were fucking awesome but the real highlight of our trip were the train rides.

Our travel coincided with the summer school holiday and due to the huge influx of traveling families, getting a train reservation can be next to impossible. We were “fortunate” enough to get 2nd class, non-AC reserved seats. Explaining the different classes and reservation system of the rail system would be another blog entry in itself, but suffice it to say there were pretty cheap. At least they were seats and not unreserved tickets (read: sitting on the floor in front of the bathroom), so we thought we were okay. Unfortunately, for every person in our car with a seat, there were about 3 without. The result was that I got to ride with a kid in my lap, one under my feet and a few others crammed strategically around me. When you share space like this, you can’t help but get to know you mosh pit-mates. They ended up being very friendly people with children so cute, you almost forgot the elbow in your rib or the breathing down your neck. We were also privvy to a carnival-esque variety of food and beverage choices, served in chaotic Indian fashion. Whether it was fried something-or-other being tossed through the windows or the chai walla navigating the aisles while balancing piping hot tea on his head, we enjoyed it all. With so much stimulus, the 7 hours passed relatively quickly.

Back in Mumbai, we decided to stay in the travelers mecca of Colaba, also the location the of November 26, 2008 terrorists attacks (referred to the 26/11 attacks here). We did the requisite sightseeing –  Gateway of India and Taj Majal Hotel, still badly damaged by the fire during the attack. Pretty much every night was spent at Leopold’s Cafe to enjoy their decent DJ (Kim may testify to this if she’s in the mood to give another DJ props) and air-conditioned bar. Leopold’s was another target of the 26/11 terrorists and is still riddled with AK-47 bullet holes,  a scary reminder of the attacks that killed several people there. We were approached on the street and offered roles as extras in a few Bollywood films, but we declined due to the previously mentioned desire to chill, and we heard such experienced may consist of standing in full makeup and costume for hours on a hot set, not really our bag.

We arrived in Delhi to a sweltering 45 C (113 F). Immediately, we started talking about when we would leave. On the first night, our friend Joji  brought us to this great place to eat run by the former cooks of the last king of India. I think we ate a whole goat – meaty deliciousness. We did some sightseeing, checking out the crowded markets and largest mosque in India but the heat made it tough. Accustomed to California’s mild weather, we didn’t know how much more we could take. We decided to make like all the other summer travelers in India and head to the hills. Don’t worry we’ll be back, our camera is still there.