Day 28 - . . .but it's not as bad as Delhi

I have noticed the theme of this leg of our trip has been ". . . but it is not as bad as Delhi". We have all been saying that phrase a lot since we came to Mumbai. When we got in Sunday night, we were talking about how we might actually eat at some of the restaurants along the streets that we saw. The poverty doesn't seem to be as bad here either.




We went out today to visit the Prince of Wales Museum. Well, actually that is its former name. It is now the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya. I'm ok with its former name. It is within walking distance of our hotel. It is a beautiful building, designed by the same man who designed the Gateway to India (see the picture below). There was a wing devoted to natural history that the boys really enjoyed. One of the exhibits was a king cobra display. According to the information cards one way to tell if a snake is venomous is to look at the arrangement of scales on their belly. I thought to myself, why would anyone do that? I am not getting anywhere close enough to look at the belly of any snake, poisonous or otherwise!!!! By the time you checked it out you would be dead!



There were tons of other exhibits, but I found myself in the Nepalese exhibit. We noticed a Buddhist priest's apron in one of the cases that was made out of human bone! There were all sorts of other artifacts, Hindu and Buddhist, from Nepal. I really have a hard time keeping up with either of them.



As we walked along through the museum, it didn't take long to notice there was no air conditioning. Occasionally we would walk past a standing fan, and pause to catch our breaths from the heat. Melissa made the comment about wondering what it would be like in July. No kidding!



As a sidenote, Paul and Elaine, per your suggestion I went to the bookstore and purchased Siddhartha. I intend on sitting by the pool and reading it.



I'll leave you with a few pics from Mumbai!

View of Gateway to India from my room.

View of the sea from my room.

Silver carriage on the street.

Rooster on the side of the road. I noticed the menus here say "corn fed chicken". I guess that is opposed to the "trash fed chicken" we see on the streets.