captdini737

SFO777, if you found the story on HRH Prince Phillip amusing, check these out:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/ar...us-gaffes.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...st-gaffes.html

Regards,

Dinshaw.

pricesquire

Good to hear you used Peirce & Leslie. Great company - one of the few I'll send people to India with.

hkskyline

Every time I go to India, I feel guilty that while I enjoy so much luxury and good food at international prices, one meal could easily feed a whole village in squalor surviving just outside the hotel's walls.

HMPS

SFO777. &others : Just a heads up. many, many stores similar to the carpet store you went to are " marketed "as Govt. Co OP, Poor Widows cottage Industry, martyred military families etc ". most of these are shams. Yes there are State operated stores, the tell tale signs are, if there are good salesmen it is NOT !

BTW. Pashmina shawls, stoles, carpets are banned items! A real pashmina shawl can be tested by trying to pull it thru a ring......if it bunches up and does not pass end to end, it is NOT pashmina. A true Pashmina stole will sell for upwards of $2000 . If you can find a reliable trusted source.

GUWonder

Shahtoosh and pashmina are not the same thing. Pashmina is not banned; and the legendary ring test is traditionally for shahtoosh, not pashmina generally.

https://www.fws.gov/lab/idnotes/shahtoosh-web.pdf

SFO777

Off to Mumbai

After lunch, we headed directly to the airport arriving about 75 minutes before departure. With Jet Airways' IT is light years ahead of Air India, I had no problem checking in online and printing our boarding passes at the hotel. As with all Indian airports, only passengers with tickets can enter the terminal. Our local P&L rep collared a Jet rep to escort to security. Not that difficult at this small airport but what the heck.





Once thru security, we headed to Gate 1A and 1B, aka the bus gates.





I left Mrs. SFO at the gate area and headed off to explore the rest of the terminal.









The C.I.P. Lounge, perhaps open for international flights.



The view from the terminal to the tarmac gate positions.



And back downstairs.



Where the gate lice are already lining up. Whoa, and I thought United gate lice was bad. Hey folks, this is just to get on the bus.



Joining the queue.





Jaipur to Mumbai
Jet Airways (9W) 2054
737-800 BSI
4:40p-6:30p
February 22, 2016
Seats 2DF





Three rows on Business Class seats. Not the most comfortable but fine for a short domestic flight.











Today's menu. Having just eaten, we declined as did most other pax that I could see.

















On approach to BOM...





And naturally to a remote stand.









And the short ride across the tarmac to the domestic arrivals lobby.











And outside to the chaotic domestic pick-up area. Crazy.



And the roughly hour long drive south to Marine Drive and The Oberoi.







Not a great pic but apparently the world's most expensive residence at the end of the street.



Much better pic from Vanity Fair...

Antilia, owned by Reliance Industries' Mukesh Ambani. The twenty-seven story, 400,000-square foot skyscraper residence, named after a mythical island in the Atlantic, has six underground levels of parking, three helicopter pads, a 'health' level, and reportedly requires about 600 staff to run it. It is the world's most expensive home far and away with construction costs topping $1 billion.

SFO777

The Oberoi Mumbai

Nice business hotel in an excellent location. Some pics from this trip and from three years ago.













Well, by now Mrs. SFO has reached her limit on exotic places. And after two great upgrades, Mrs. SFO is not happy about the room, apparently in disbelief and denial that we didn't get another upgrade tonight. LOL.













After we settled into to our crappy room, LOL, we headed downstairs for dinner at much-heralded Ziya and 2 Michelin Star Chef Vineet Bhatia.



Pic from the Oberoi Mumbai website.



Great setting, service and delicious contemporary Indian cuisine.

SFO777

Thanks Dinshaw. HRH definitely has a way with words.

Thank you pricesquire. This is our third experience with P&L (2nd in India and also Nepal) and they are outstanding.

Thanks HMPS and GUWonder for the information.

offerendum

OK - I would say it´s at least the grottiest looking most expensive home in the world

SFO777

In room breakfast the next morning before heading out on our tour.





Technically, it is an Ocean View, or at least a Sea View... of the Arabian Sea.



Although a pretty ugly one...





We met our guide Nina and driver and headed out to the The Gateway of India and our "private cruise" to Elephanta Island. But first some sights of Mumbai. I'm thinking that the British were here. LOL. Some pics from this trip and my last visit.

























And The Gateway of India at southern end of South Mumbai.













And our private luxury liner to Elephanta. Private as in a regular ferry where we are the only pax. And a crew of 5!











OK, these sea gulls are no dummies. They know there's a meal to be had.



And the "evil eye" pic of the trip. LOL.







Meal time.



Got it!











There is a shuttle train from the pier to "town" but we were in between, so we walked while it was still reasonably cool.







Wow, let's gouge the tourists. 10 rupees for Indians, 250 rupees for foreigners. At nearly 70 rupees to the dollar, pretty cheap.



After a 15 minute uphill walk, we arrived at the caves of Elephanta Island, with a temple complex over 1,200 years ago. Dedicated to the trinity of Indian dieties _ Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, it is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Some of the sculptures were damaged when the island was used by the Portugese as a base, where these used the images as target practice.



























You get to and from the caves by stairs/walkway lined all the way with hawker stalls, where apparently most of the island's residents work.









Now approaching +30C, we took the mini-train back to our boat for the return to Mumbai.





You probably don't want to go swimming here.















And despite the perpetual haze and smog, shockingly good air quality today. I guess everything is relative.







And back to the hotel for a late lunch. After 5 days of India food, we both decided to go western today.







Then up to our room to relax before our 8pm airport pick-up.

HMPS

SFO777 Good pics from Elephanta Caves. Reminded me that we have not returned there since 2000. Next visit.

If you like these sculptures, you must see Khajuraho and Ellora Ajanta. A lot more work and well preserved ( Ajanta cave paintings have faded ).

Plan it sans Princess for next Jan , will take you around....
Wish we can find F on EY at least one way Knock it off the bucket list.

Culture Guru

SFO, fantastic TR as always.

By the way - which camera do you use. perhaps 2 of them - mobile + DSLR?

SFO777

Thanks HMPS. Yeah, I think sans Princess is the only way I'll be going back to India.
Keep checking EY where F inventory seems to be like the weather, ever changing. There was loads of January First inventory just last week. Now nothing. Strange.

Thanks very much Culture Guru. I do use 2 cameras, both my iPhone 5S and Canon 60D.

CHOPCHOP767

What is it with the ME3's ground experience? Sheesh. Makes the Dr Pepper on ice in the AA FLs look almost acceptable

I've enjoyed Bombay and the Oberoi looks fantastic, even without the upgrade, lol! I found the Hyatt and Four Seasons in Bombay both to be a let down, whereas the JW Marriott was pretty solid. Well, except for the Indian wines that were on offer in the Club Lounge; in a word: scary.

Should we read something into the change from 'Free Agent' to 'Disgruntled EXP'?

stevie

I also feel this when there. The enormous divide between the way they live and my family do, and the things we take for granted....it is somewhat humbling and a reminder of how some people are forced to live in the world.