Fuel Strike!

I flew into Mumbai during a terrorist attack and on Thursday, the day before I left, the fuel drivers went on strike! I booked a taxi to leave the hotel at 2am and at 1am the manager called to say the taxi I booked was out of gas and he managed to find me one but I needed to come now! I jumped up, dressed, finished packing up and rushed out to see the streets of Mumbai completely quiet without any traffic.... This was for real. I immediately wondered about about plane fuel - hmmm, how is this going to work? I got in the cab to be informed that the price was now $700 rupees instead of the standard $350. This was a problem, I did not have that cash, nor did I want to walk to an ATM at that time. When I asked him via the manager translating if he would take visa he asked the manager what was a visa - oh dear god, I knew I was in trouble! Needless to say when I showed him my wallet was empty after giving him $450 he relented and we started on our way! There were hundreds of cabs lining the streets by the gas stations with the drivers sleeping and the airport was madness with people stranded. It was a quick trip though!

My earlier worry was substantiated as the flight was 1.5 hours late leaving in order to ration the fuel amongst all the flights that had to leave before 8am... At this point I was hoping we were not going to drop out of the sky - no seriously, we ended up landing in Bangkok to refuel to make it to Hong Kong which is where I am right now writing my last blog of this most amazing trip!

I hope you enjoyed vicariously travelling with me. I thoroughly enjoyed my first go at blogging and have already started to think about my next journey and the blog title :) For those of you in Vancouver; see you over the next week or so. For those from elsewhere chat to you in the live soon!

Om Shanti (peace),
Tracy xoxo

Millionaire Slumdog

Yesterday I took a tour to Dharavi Slum in the center of Mumbai. Over half of Mumbai live in slums and Dharavi is the largest with over 1million people living in 1.7 sq km. The slum was established in the mid 1800's and the generations continue on. The land is government owned but the physical structures are their own. The city now provides electricity and water as of 1995 I believe. The annual turnover is $665 million US and the factory conditions are unbelievable. I have not worn Nike since 1992 as they are repeatidly being charged with poor factory conditions and child labour. Well, I am not quite sure how I am going to eat cooking oil, use paint or anything plastic again..........

On average 6 people live in 100 sq feet and 1% have their own toilet. 72% use the community toilet which gets cleaned twice a month, 1% pay 1 rupee a day to use the pay per use toilet which is cleaned daily and the remainder use the great outdoors. Whenever I have taken a train from Mumbai I have seen people using the 'washroom' near the tracks. Well, now I know why. The slum is between the two main railway tracks and 26% of them use the tracks as their toilet! Needless to say, I almost pee'd myself on the tour!

Many people never leave the slum IN THEIR LIFE as it has everything. Having said that, many government employees live in the slum as this is all they can afford in Mumbai as well.... The people (mainly men) who work in the slum factories earn 100 rupees (2.50 cdn) a day and usually provide for a family of 6 on this. This is why they never get out.

The main industries are recycling, making clay pots, bakeries, leather tanning and poppadom making. We got to watch the plastic recycling business from the start which is any scrap plastic including computer monitors from North America to the shredding, cleaning, drying, coloring, stringing and then the final product of plastic pellets which over 2000 products are then made from. When you see this in action and the other factories I realized why the motto which you hear on a regular basis in India is 'everything is possible.'

Really, everything I have ever thought about India and the reasons why I come to India were captured in Dharavi Slum. From my first post: "There is something magical about India's spirituality, almost like an open air church! The culture fascinates me and it is a land of great diversity; poverty and richness, love and hate, tolerance for most but yet a caste system which is alive and thriving. I feel like I learn so much about humanity when I am there and it gives me time to continue to learn about myself and life in general." Dharavi Slum is all of that and so much more....

80% of the NGO's profits go back to the slum via english classes, computer classes and recreational activities for the children. I feel very certain my $400 rupees will be put to excellent use!

(Millionaire Slumdog is a movie which has been nominated for 4(?) Golden Globes. It is about and filmed in a Mumbai slum!)

Mumbai madness...

This really is a great city! I arrived very late two nights ago due to my flight being cancelled over a year ago (yes, that is correct)... and I have been non stop since my eyeballs opened yesterday morning!

This is the beautiful Taj Hotel. You cannot really see the damage in this picture but it is under construction due to the bombings. Colaba which was the main area bombed, is alive and thriving and it is nice to see life going on here.


After Colaba I jumped on the local train and headed north to Mahalaxmi station so I could check out the 136 year old laundry ghats. Everywhere in India you can drop off your laundry at the 'laundry service' and magically it comes back the same evening clean as a whistle and ironed beautifully. Well, I heard about the Mumbai service and needed to witness it for myself! As I got off the train I was greeted by this group of laundry people who were returning laundry to it's intended destination.


And before it is folded and ironed here are the beautiful clothes lines which are made of rope and they don't use pegs! I love clothes lines.....

To the right of the green sheets are the actual troughs, there are 1026 of them to be exact! They are filled with what looks like dirty water to me and the men literally beat the laundry against the trough walls to clean it then dunk it in a trough of stratchy water! Ahhhh this is why it presses so nicely! The amazing part is your laundry is not identified and I have yet to have a piece go missing....

After observing the laundry service I meandered for about an hour and made my way to Haji Ali Mosque. This Mosque was built to hold Saint Haji Ali's tomb. The legend has it that Haji Ali died while on a pilgrimage to Mecca and his casket miraculously floated back to this spot!

Thousands of pilgrams cross the walkway to the mosque but at high tide the water (Arabian Sea) covers the causeway.

Yesterday was a great day and today I went to Asia's largest slum! More on that tomorrow....

Happy Birthday Mom!

Mom, I tried to give you an elephant ride for your birthday but the truck broke down on the way! Have a great day. Love Tracy xoxo

Mumbai Bound

Tonight is my last night and I am off to Mumbai tomorrow!!! I am looking forward to my time there as it was a bit hurried when I arrived. I will be staying at Hotel Oasis for the duration as I check out the city of 19 million! I have lots planned so it will be a fun way to end my trip!

Tea anyone?

The alcohol laws in India are odd and Kerala state is no exception. In Goa you can buy alcohol at restaurants legally and cheap (a tall Kingfisher beer is $1cdn). Here in Varkala it is another story!

The evening begins with a walk along the cliff, deciding on a restaurant and then picking the catch of your choice:

Once settled at a cliff side table you have a teapot of beer! Really, do you think tea would make you smile like this? Sam and Simon are from Australia and I met them at the ashram. We had a few lovely dinners together here in Varkala and the odd pot of beer! Beer tastes quite refreshing when served from a teapot!!!


My time is winding down here, it has been a great week with good food, sun, sand, relaxation and beautiful sunsets....

Varkala

Varkala is tiny and beautiful. The beaches are outstanding, the water is warm and salty enough to float me and the food is great! The days have gone something like this: wakeup to birds singing, meditate and do a little yoga, head to Cafe Del Mar for breakfast and then hit the beach until after sunset! Go back to Skylark Guesthouse and wash away the evils of the day :) and then head back out for an amazing supper! It is a terribly arduous schedule but I am managing to keep up! The main beach is the above picture and the actual town is perched on the clifftop. The stairs back up at the end of the day are very tiring!!!



Black beach is much more quiet and I spent a few days here until I found the little secluded beaches! They are so beautiful....



I could not resist taking this picture and have titled it 'An Indian Bathing Suit.' I have not seen one Indian women in a 'western' bathing suit. Needless to say there are many gawkers on the beach but the police quickly move them along....

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all my family and friends!



New year's eve was wonderful! I hope all of yours was as well! I spent the day at a secluded beach with only a handful of people around and watched the final sunset of the year. It was beautiful. The evening was spent eating one of the best meals I have had since arriving in India- barracuda cooked in banana leaf, shrimps in a spicy curry, squid with loads of garlic and JUMBO tiger prawns! It was fab!!!! The only item missing was a medium rare steak!