Visit To Haji Ali Mosque and Tomb

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Visit To Haji Ali Mosque and Tomb So we decided to visit the Haji Ali Mosque and tomb. It is on a little islet off the coast of Mumbai. It looks really beautiful like a palace floating out on the water. You get to it by a boardwalk over the ocean to it. During high tide the whole boardwalk floods and it is inaccessible. I read that there are many beggars lining the boardwalk, many of them maimed and dismembered. I also read that Thursday evening and Fridays were popular days to go. So wanting to see the Mosque in its full splendor we decide to go on Thursday evening when Del gets off of work. We take a cab and first stop at the Haji Ali Juice Center. Getting our of the cab, the area is bursting with energy. There are vendors all around and people everywhere. The driver dropped us on the opposite side of the road so we go through an underground tunnel. There are beggars in the tunnel and people going to a fro. We come out on the other side where all of the action is. We eat some spicy pizza and have some juice at the juice center before heading down an ally to make our way to the boardwalk to the mosque. There is a small mosque on our right and I look inside it is underground. I see men washing their feet in a line of sinks before going in. We pass through a metal detector and head to the boardwalk. There are so many vendors and people! The vendors are selling mostly plastic china garbage so we keep walking. There is a lot of trash in the water. We see a family of goats and stop to say hi. As we walk we can see the lights of the mosque over the water and it is beautiful. Drake is asleep and Del and I pass him back and forth, he is getting so heavy! There are many beggars but none really say anything to us. One guy is under a blanket and repeating a chant. As we get close to the mosque there are food vendors and chai vendors. You enter  a courtyard before entering the mosque and it is so beautiful people are stopping to take pictures. When we get to the mosque there is a man taking care of everyone's shoes. So we take off our shoes and leave them with him. There is a front entrance for the men and a side entrance for the ladies. Del has Draven and Drake and I see him go in. He talks with the holy man in there and explains that Draven and Drake are boys. I cover my head and walk toward the side entrance. As I walk in I am overwhelmed by the smell of powerful incense. There is a man with a small hand broom brushing everything off.  The tomb is roped off and it is covered by a red shroud in the middle of the room. Standing there surrounded by all these women in this holy place I became overwhelmed by emotion and began to cry a little. There is something amazing and holy about this place and though I do not practice Islam, I am so grateful to be having this experience. The awareness that all religions should be treated with respect and honored came to my understanding. I look at the men's side and I see Draven and Drake. I also see a man reach over and grab the shroud and bury his face in it with such emotion and intensity. The whole experience was beautiful.  I walk out and get my shoes and give the man a tip. We go and sit on the courtyard wall and relax with some chai tea. People come up to us to say hi and then we start to head back. This is when all the beggars start to ask for money, on the way back. We walk down the boardwalk and take one final look back at this beautiful place that I am grateful to have been able to visit.

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Ellora and Ajanta Caves by Train

Ok, so my blog is officially out of order but I wanted to post about our weekend escape to the caves/temples of Ellora and Ajanta. Del has Sundays off and he came here to work so any weekend excursions need to be done pretty quickly. You can book trains in advance and they are much cheaper than flying so they get booked up quickly. So I booked two overnight trains to get there and back. We left Saturday night and came home Monday night, to Auragabad. The town is the gateway to the caves. So our train was to leave at 11:00pm and arrive at 4:00am. We take a cab to the train station known as VT to the locals and the place is crazy! There are people sleeping on the floor and goats and lots of people. You go through a metal detector and your bags go through a scanning just like at the airport. The place is huge and crazy. We got there early and found on an electric board what platform our train is to arrive on. So we go there, Drake is asleep and really heavy! We find our train and think we find the first class car. So they are supposed to put a paper on the train that tells you which berth is yours. Eventually the paper gets posted and we know which berth we are in. On first class there is a little room with a locking door and 4 berths, two lower and two upper. We get one lower and the two upper. There is a man in the other lower berth, a bigger man that we find out is an engineer. We get  Drake settled and Draven, Del and I look out the window and watch as the train leaves. Draven eventually falls asleep. Del and I don't really sleep the whole night. We look out the window at the different villages that pass by and see people living in these little metal huts along the train tracks. So I sleep a little, but I am so concerned we are going to miss our stop as there is no announcement and the train stops for about 2 minutes. Del goes walking around and comes back to tell me that the doors of the train are left open and he was able to hang out in the dark and there were a million stars. He said it was so awesome he howled! We watch out the window together for most of the night until a giant fart roars in the silence, coming from our Engineer friend, we just laugh quietly. So we arrive at Auragabad get a taxi to our hotel which is really nice with a pool. We sleep a little, go to breakfast and then get a car and driver to visit the caves. The first caves are 2 hours away. We get about 10 min from the hotel when Drake proceeds to vomit all over the back seat. I mean, not a little a lot. It goes all over including the drivers door panel. Del asks the driver to take us back to the hotel. I ask Del if we should cancel the trip, he says no that whatever bothered Drake is out and we should clean him up and head back out. So we stop on the way back and get Drake a coconut from the roadside stand. When we arrive at the hotel, Del gives the driver a big tip and tells him to have the car cleaned and come back and pick us up in 20 minutes. The driver says he needs at least an hour and a half to clean the car, as he checks his shirt for vomit, and that don't call him, he will call us! The driver did pick us up and we headed to the caves. The driving in Auragabad was a little crazier that the driving here in that the cars go totally into head on traffic when passing. The little villages we drove through were amazing and the caves were too. I will post pics. I had a bad stomach for one day, diarreah and had the pleasure of using a pit toilet. I forgot my toilet paper with Del and couldn't really go back so I went "Indian Style" with a hose. The biggest adventure was on the way back. Our train was supposed to leave at 11pm and was 2 hours late. When it got there we were trying to find our car, the train man with the papers started to lead us away from our car when the train started to leave. We had 2 sleeping kids and 5 bags (we did a little shopping in Auragabad). So I jump on with Drake sleeping in the Ergo and the backpack. Del jumps on just to throw his bags on and was about to jump off and get Draven when the porter picked him up and handed him to Del before he jumped on himself. Seems this is a common occurrence, but it really shook Del up, he was angry which is understandable. So we were waitlisted and ended up with one upper bunk in first class for the kids and I and Del had a bunk in second class, but believe it or not, we all slept soundly! In the morning I watch out the window, many people live along side the tracks and I see several people squatting on the tracks tacking their morning crap. We finally arrive in Mumbai and all I can say is that if your stomach is queasy in the morning like mine is, do not make the mistake of looking down at the tracks in the morning, I almost vomited, but was able to control myself. Needless to say, I am headed to Goa tonight by myself with the kids on another overnight train. We are tired of the city, honking, smog, and spicy food and are ready for our little hut on the beach!