India Part 2

January 24, 2017

India Part 2

Again, I don't even know where to start! What an amazing beautiful day! Started out at the Temple of Shiva. Such a beautiful and peaceful place 🤗 People come here to pray before they work if I recall correctly... so much information to remember, I might mix up a couple facts, sorry in advance! Hindu people bring flowers, water and milk to pour over the Shiva statue to 'calm him' because he gets very angry if you cross him or tell him you're mad at him. The holy water then flows into the ocean and the flowers laid on the statue are taken out into the ocean and poured into the water. Lots of beautiful colors, yummy incense smells and very sweet people 😊

We went to the flower and fish markets after. These places are amazing! The flowers are so colorful and there are sooooo many fish! The trucks drive in very early in the morning because they keep the fish on ice in the trucks. After that I got to feed a sacred cow! It was so cool! All cows are sacred in India but people will bring their cows to the markets and on the streets and people will feed them for good luck.

Went to a leather shop where I got two real leather purses made in India! Naav found a super fancy leather jacket, gym bag and belt 🤗

Got to see the lunch bag boys delivery! So when men go to work in India, the wives stay at home and cook them lunch then the 'lunch bag boys' deliver the boxes all throughout Mumbai! How cool is that? They have them delivered because the trains are very hot and crowded and a lot of people have hours of commuting and the food will go bad before they eat it. The lunch bag boys have been doing this for years and the service is passed down through generations.

Got to see the thieves market which is so amazing! This is where second hand items are sold and cars are broken down to sell them for parts. You can actually buy all the parts to put together your own car here! They also had tons of antiques, old coins and furniture for sale.

The food was delicious! So yummy and so many spices! All of the food is from local farms that families bring into the city to sell at markets. If you accidentally run out of food and get hungry at midnight and want some veges, you have to wait until the market opens in the morning! Even the hotel food was authentic and delicious! I could see the kitchen staff chopping onions on what looked like wooden planks outside my window 🤗

Went to a beautiful cloth market! I just walked in like an ignorant American and said 'can I buy that dress' and they looked at me very confused lol They only sell the fabric and YOU have to sew the dress together... I did not buy any fabric because I have no idea how to sew 😁 I might be able to sew back on a button but that's it! Tons of exotic animals and adorable puppies for sale in the Crawford market. I fell in love with an adorable little puppy but apparently the 'crossing of the US/India boarder' for puppies has been banned 😩

The traffic here makes Atlanta look like nothing! There are no lanes, just a general direction that everyone is going. There are tons of scooters, cars, bicycles and pedestrians going all over the road and the cars are always beeping 😂 AND there's no cross walks for pedestrians. I think technically they're there but no one uses them! You just start walking right out in the middle of traffic and people just swerve or slams on their brakes! Terrifying and super cool at the same time 😎

It was humid and about 90 degrees both days and this is their winter 😂 some people were wearing light jackets?! Everyone I met was super sweet and smiling, everyone was just so happy! I wanted to take tons of pictures with everyone and people would just jump in and smile big 😁 Mumbai is completely different than anything I've ever seen in America and I loved it! 🤗 Complete culture shock! Almost everyone spoke at least broken English which was very helpful! Even some of the signs in the airport and around town were in English.

Uber is super cheap here! An hour long trip in traffic is about $7!

There are a lot of stray dogs in Mumbai. Veterinarians will spay/neuter them then clip one of their ears to signify that this was done. This helps keep the homeless dog population down.

If you ever want to visit Mumbai you should definitely let Naav show you around (Grand Mumbai Tours)👍🤗 I felt completely safe the entire time on the tour! 🤗 He knows so many people in Mumbai so you get to talk to a lot of people that live there and ask them to take pictures with you 🤗 Naav is such a sweet and wonderful person 😘 He knows so much about Mumbai and has so many great stories! I posted tons of pics and links to videos that he made during my visit 😁 Best trip I've ever been on!

Naav, if any of this is just completely incorrect please let me know and I'll fix it 😘