After late breakfast all packed and checked out of hotel, then off to Bombay Gate to get a ferry to Elephanta caves. The trip out on the ferry was very interesting, but on boarding you could be forgiven for wondering whether you would safely make it to the end of the journey. Well if an Italian cruise ship can sink by getting too close to the land then one of these boats could surely sink from crashing into one another!
The journey out took just over an hour and it was very interesting with us travelling across the harbour where we passed what looked to be either a prison, or perhaps some secret military complex.
Then further on we saw navy boats, huge oil tankers, rusty bulk cargo vessels and even complex rescue/support vessels. It was very interesting to watch the tugs providing support to the huge tankers.
The last photos show tugs just pushing the oil tanker against the side of the jetty. I assume this is to stop the boat moving with the tide whilst it's offloading oil via the booms. When we arrived at the island with the Elephanta caves we took a short train journey on a rackety old diesel engine loco that felt like it might slip off the rails any minute.
Then climbed up a mass of steps past hundreds of hawkers and tourist sellers eventually arriving at the World Heritage Site of the Elephanta Caves. These were certainly worth the effort of getting there with huge rock carvings of lots of different gods.
After returning back to Bombay Gate we walked back to our hotel where we picked up our luggage and made our way to Mumbai Central railway station and the "Flying Ranee" express to Navsari. On the platform we had chai and then a freshly prepared omelette sandwich whilst waiting for the train. It eventually crept into the station and stopped exactly on it's mark so that the coaches aligned with the named locations on the platform. Tried to send a short video but have not been successful posting videos (it should take you to youtube) so you will just have to make do with still photos. Eventually got our heavy luggage up onto the overhead storage area and settled in for the 5 hour journey. Nice journey with lots of chai and vegetable cutlet sandwiches. Only problem was knowing when to get off. As you pull into each station it is pretty dark and the signs indicating which station are not easy to spot. We got talking to a family close by and they were travelling to Navsari also. The husband kept rushing to the open corridors to try and get a better view and identify the station. Unlike in the UK the train arrived exactly at it's scheduled time of 21:40. No taxi's at the station so we ended up having to take two tut tut's to Dani's house. All settled in and ready for a good nights sleep. Savi and Geoff - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
The journey out took just over an hour and it was very interesting with us travelling across the harbour where we passed what looked to be either a prison, or perhaps some secret military complex.
Then further on we saw navy boats, huge oil tankers, rusty bulk cargo vessels and even complex rescue/support vessels. It was very interesting to watch the tugs providing support to the huge tankers.
The last photos show tugs just pushing the oil tanker against the side of the jetty. I assume this is to stop the boat moving with the tide whilst it's offloading oil via the booms. When we arrived at the island with the Elephanta caves we took a short train journey on a rackety old diesel engine loco that felt like it might slip off the rails any minute.
Then climbed up a mass of steps past hundreds of hawkers and tourist sellers eventually arriving at the World Heritage Site of the Elephanta Caves. These were certainly worth the effort of getting there with huge rock carvings of lots of different gods.
After returning back to Bombay Gate we walked back to our hotel where we picked up our luggage and made our way to Mumbai Central railway station and the "Flying Ranee" express to Navsari. On the platform we had chai and then a freshly prepared omelette sandwich whilst waiting for the train. It eventually crept into the station and stopped exactly on it's mark so that the coaches aligned with the named locations on the platform. Tried to send a short video but have not been successful posting videos (it should take you to youtube) so you will just have to make do with still photos. Eventually got our heavy luggage up onto the overhead storage area and settled in for the 5 hour journey. Nice journey with lots of chai and vegetable cutlet sandwiches. Only problem was knowing when to get off. As you pull into each station it is pretty dark and the signs indicating which station are not easy to spot. We got talking to a family close by and they were travelling to Navsari also. The husband kept rushing to the open corridors to try and get a better view and identify the station. Unlike in the UK the train arrived exactly at it's scheduled time of 21:40. No taxi's at the station so we ended up having to take two tut tut's to Dani's house. All settled in and ready for a good nights sleep. Savi and Geoff - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Navsari
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