Sunday, August 14, 2011

Sunday Drive

Well...more like a Sunday walk actually.  Today,  Tully had gone to the Breach Candy Swim Club with the family who lives upstairs and Larani was dealing with a bit of Bombay Belly.  So, Rick and I headed out on foot to explore a different section of our neighborhood.

We are pretty familiar with the road that takes us down to the sea front, otherwise known as "Sweet Street" due the ridiculous number of dessert shops that line the road.  We often walk down Sweet Street to the promenade that lines the Arabian Sea for an evening stroll.  Today, we took a good look at a Google Map of our neighborhood and went a different direction!  Union Park Road is a one way street (which really doesn't mean a thing in India!) that runs in front of Petit School for Girls.  We were very pleasantly surprised to find a little grocery market and a popular restaurant called Candies just at that intersection!  Nice to know there is a place to pick up a "box" of milk or a loaf of bread so close by!  (although, we usually just call Choice, tell them what we need, and they deliver it to our door in about half an hour or less!)  We took a right and walked a short distance to a great clothing store called Fab India.  Rick and I both purchased an Indian kurtas, and I got some pants called  salwars.   Rick got some cotton draw string pants that look SO comfy!
Coincidentially, Fab India is just 2 buildings away from the flat where we were invited to dinner tonight, we took the opportunity to make sure we knew where we were going!

Upon leaving Fab India, we hailed a rickshaw and had the driver take us to Pali Market.  This is the area where we do all of our grocery shopping.  It took all of about 2 minutes to get there!  Another pleasant surprise!  We have been take rickshaws to the market, not realized how close it really is! We picked out a few things we needed from Choice, asked to have them delivered and then circled back around Pali Hill to home. It was on a 10 - 15 minute walk!

It was a great day for a Sunday walk and we continue to enjoy finding our place in Mumbai.  We ended our day going to dinner with new friends who have a son that goes to school with Tully.  We had a beautiful evening stroll back home.  While it is still monsoon, and it did rain several times today, we were blessed to avoid getting rained on!  The funny thing is, even if we would have gotten rained on, it would have been ok.  Being in Mumbai really puts things into a different perspective.  In Rogers, I never would have walked to the store, or walked home from a friends house at 10:00 at night.  I am loving our new home and neighborhood and can't wait to turn right at the top of Sweet Street and see what awaits us in that direction!

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Birthday in Bombay

Today was my 48th birthday and we celebrated it Bombay-style!  I had made plans with Jodie Atherton (my principal's wife), TyAnne Rezac (my mentor/predecessor), and Megan Looney (my literacy coach) to spend the day shopping in South Mumbai.  Jodie arranged for a school van and driver to pick us up at our flat at 10:00 and  away we went, south, into the heart of Bombay.  Along the way, our driver, Milind, pointed out interesting sights along the way.  One that fascinates me is the Ambani House, well, if you can call it that!  Mukesh Ambani is the richest man in Asia and the 5th richest man in the world, and the proud owner of the most expensive home in the world!  The "house" is 60 stories tall, but actually ONLY 27 floors.  He built Antilla at a cost of $2 billion!  Milind drove us right down the street in front of the house so we have a great view looking up at the place.  This is a photo from the web, as I wasn't able to get a good picture from the van.
To read more about Ambani Home, click here.

Once we arrived in South Mumbai (about an hour drive from Bandra), our first stop was Oberoi Shopping Arcade.  The Oberoi is a beautiful hotel and the back side is a shopping mall.  We visited a few shops and Jodie introduced us to the shop keepers as "new teachers from ASB" so we can get the "best price."  I will definitely be going back to visit the leather store, the framing shop and many more!

Next stop was Chinanlal's, a stationary store.  Oh. My. Gosh.  I was in heaven!  I have never seen so many hand stamped cards, envelopes, gift cards, bags, and tags.  They had bangle boxes, pencil holders, trash cans, picture frames, book marks...all made from folded and hand stamped paper!  Here's what I brought home, all at a cost of 850 rps, which is less than $20!

Birthday lunch was at Le Pain Quotidien.  They had a variety of fresh baked breads and serves salads and "tartines" which is a kind of open-faced sandwich.  I had a yummy chicken, cheese, apple and pesto tartine. 

After lunch, we headed to Bhagham India, otherwise known as "Harry's" by the ASB crowd.  Harry and his family take very good care of the ASB teachers who need carpets, jewelry, furniture or lovely Indian gifts.  Doing business in Mumbai is so different than in the states!  Here is a prime example:  We are looking to buy a carpet for the living room floor of our flat.  We looked at this gorgeous Prussian rug, but knew we would have to wait until payday to pick it up.  No, our new friend/salesman Prakash insisted that we take the rug home.  Try it out, see if we like it.  If we like it, we buy it. If not, he will send someone to pick it up.  Really?  No kidding!  Here's what we brought home.  What do you think?
Tully placed a table with his new chess set on the 8 x 10 rug

LOVE this 6' round rug for under the table!
Silk scarves to send home to my friends and family from Bhagham
At Harry's, TyAnne got on the van with us and Jodie and Megan headed back to Bandra.  Milind then drove us deeper into the heart of South Mumbai to Chor Bazaar, otherwise known as Thieves Market.  It is said to be a place where tourist rummage for Ming vases and Muranos at throwaway prices.  TyAnne introduced us to many of her vendor friends and we were in awe at the treasures that abounded in the antique furniture stores.  We can't wait to go back and dig even deeper into the furniture at Chor Bazaar!  Here's our first treasures - 
 This corner chair is made with square wooden nails.  It will be cleaned up, stripped and refinished.  The upholstery will be replaced with cane, woven by hand.
We plan to use this for a shoe rack just inside the front door.  Both pieces are made of teak wood.  This piece will also be stripped, refinished and delivered to our flat when they are finished.  So excited to buy things that will eventually end up in our forever home!


Here's a few more pictures from out time at Chor Bazaar.
Larani on Mutton Street
Tully and his new friend, Azis, who was so proud to have his picture taken with Tully!
And what's a birthday without a present or two?  The journal was a gift from Tully from the stationary store and the elephant was from Prakash at Harry's.  He said it would bring me luck.  Well, I think I will choose to call it blessed!

Monday, August 8, 2011

Elephanta Island

Off the coast of South Mumbai lie several islands.  On Sunday, we took an hour long boat ride across the Arabian Sea to one of them.  Elephanta Island is home to a complex of ancient temple caves, thought to date back to the 6th or 7th century.  The temples, columns and statues were carved right out of the mountain, with hammer and chisel from the top down and served as a place for Hindi worship until the 1500's.  At that time, the Portuguese discovered the island and gave it the name, Elephanta Island, for the  large stone elephant at the entrance.  Unfortunately, the Portuguese had little respect for Lord Shiva and used the statues for target practice, resulting in the loss of many arms and legs!
It was great to get away from the city for the day.  The island wasn't nearly as crowded as the city, there was lots of grass and fresher air.  It was a real "touristy" kind of way to spend the day, but we all enjoyed it and learned a lot about the history of this beautiful island.
Tully and Mom on the boat ride over


Our first glimpse of the big cave


In front of Shiva

The three faces of Shiva

carved from the top down


Here you can see how the temple is literally carved right out of the rock





This reminded me of the Lion in front of Baxter High School!

Larani, Rick, Tully, Kelli, Bobbi Jo, Zach and Nancy




Tully in the window of the "museum"

The amazing wilting plant:  touch it and it wilts right in front of your eyes

Cool refreshment after the tour:  Fresh lime soda for me and a Kingfisher for Rick!


To Learn more about Elephanta Island, click here:http://www.sacred-destinations.com/india/elephanta-caves

Monkey'ing Around



We all know and love King Louie from The Jungle Book and don't we all think that monkeys are just the cutest?  How many of you, at one point or another in your life, thought it would be so cool to have a monkey for a pet?  Be honest!  I certainly have...that is until recently!

Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, Mumbai

On Sunday, Rick, Larani, Tully and I joined some of our new friends, Bobbie Jo, Nancy and Zach, for a true Bombay adventure!  We made our way to South Mumbai, first stopping at the Taj Hotel to use the very fancy facilities before crossing over to the Gateway to India and then, onto the boat for a trip out to Elephanta Island!

While there are no elephants on Elephanta Island, there are monkeys! (and goats, and cows, and dogs, and chickens, and crocodiles (according to our local tour guide, at least!))




We met our first monkey shortly after our arrival.  Our tour guide, Krisha, had warned us that the monkeys were quite aggressive and to keep our cokes and chips either out of sight or tightly in our grip.  We began our assent up the 120 steps, which are lined with vendors selling everything from snacks, to clothes, to carved items, when suddenly, in front of Rick and I, there was a commotion.  I wasn't really sure what was happening at first...a squeal, the small group of people in front of us jumped backwards, nearly knocking Rick down!.  Then I saw it!  An aggressive little monkey had swung from a nearby tree, swiped the unopened 20 ounce Coke bottle from a person's hand and was crouched on the sidewalk right in front of us!  He had "his" Coke tucked under his arm and was glaring at the former owner---just daring him to try to take that soda back!  When no one offered to rescue The Real Thing from the angry primate, he proceeded to leap to the top of the rock wall and twist the cap.  Pop spewed from the bottle like an erupting volcano!  The monkey ran to the closest tree and scampered up to a low hanging branch, where he proceeded to have a Coke and smile!











OK, so we went a little Ape Crazy taking pictures of the monkeys, but let's face it...they are adorable!  I just wouldn't want one for a pet!