Feb 2nd - 7th 2009.
Got on the plane in Halifax and took off more or less on time . . . would have arrived on time too but, unfortunately, after worrying all week about whether it would snow in Halifax and delay our leaving (and perhaps our connection to India) the weather from Halifax was clear and fair - but not so London. While we were flying, 8-12 inches of snow was falling over England - in London the biggest snow fall in 20 years. . . so there was chaos. Initially our pilot told us, say 1/2 hour out from London, that London airport was closed and it looked like we were diverting to Shannon. Well, we thought, we are close to London - India flight not 'til tomorrow, and never been to Ireland . . . though they probably would never have let us off the plane.
Anyway, he came back on and said that Shannon would allow us to refuel, but would not service passengers (ie not let us off the plane) so he said that although British Airways had cancelled all flights, some other international flights were able to land - so he was going to risk going to Heathrow and get in a holding pattern over Heathrow until we were at a fuel level that would require going back to Shannon. So we circled London for two hours (at one point we were told that we were being diverted to Manchester, but our pilot hung in there, at least we could land somewhere if the fuel got too low.) Eventually about 2 hours later were actually able to land in Heathrow. We had been flying all night and had little sleep - but some - as the plane was not full and we had a seat between us. We had free food and blankets and pillows too. (Just too used to flying in Canada with no amenities!)
So, at Heathrow, we discovered that not just the airport, but all of London, was basically shut down. Schools were closed. The tube was not operating, buses were not operating. We had planned to take the tube to the hotel, but given that we had no boots we decided to take the "Hoppa" bus. (that was before we knew that tube was shut) The Hotel Hoppa was running - we did have to wait a while, but it came and got us to the hotel - where we were able to check in right away (about noon London time.) We tried to go out to a pub but there was none within walking distance (well the hotel told us where there was one - but we met some guys outside smoking when we started to walk - they said it was fine for a drink but they wouldn't eat there and they didn't serve any "traditional English pub food" just hamburgers and things.) So we abandoned that idea and went back into the hotel where we had a drink, and nachos and a Caesar salad - small and not to write home about. That was about 4:00pm.
By 7:00 pm luckily were asleep as we had to get up at 4:00 am to go to Heathrow for an 8:45 flight - we tried calling an Air India contact number, a couple of times in the evening and they had no info about flight delays, and the in the morning there was no answer. So, we got the first Hotel Hoppa at 5:00am and went off to Heathrow. There was a long line for check in at Heathrow. . . mostly Indian families. I went for breakfast at a coffee place (that was outside the actual airport departures area, and very cold) and got a grilled ham and cheese sandwich (two pieces of white bead with pieces of ham in what became melted cheese) grilled in a panini maker and a very large double shot cafe latte - which Kevin and I shared while standing in line.
We got our boarding passes but never checked where we were sitting, and no one mentioned it. There was no gate on the boarding passes - we were told "just check the screens for the boarding gate close to the departure time." Flight was supposed to depart at 8:45 am. Lots to do in the Heathrow airport. Huge duty free (Kevin bought a bottle of Laphroiag) It was early and we were hungry and tired, and kind of cold. We went through security without any issues at all - they seemed less officious and more good humoured than Canadian Security at airports.
We had bagels and a drink at the bagel place and they were great. Checked out the stores and generally people watched, wasting time. 8:30 came and went, I asked a guy at an information desk, as I felt a little panicky that we were missing something and he said that in the 9 years he had worked there, Air India never left on time. Finally about 10:00 o'clock it said proceed to gate . . . We hustled off the gate where we waited in long line and then in a waiting lounge with insufficient seats for another hour or two.
Finally got on the flight, and it took off eventually - we discovered that we were sitting in the same aisle on the plane but on opposite sides of a 747. Kevin was between two people and I was on the aisle - mine was supposed to be a window seat but this was my first encounter with the difficulties of communications in a country where people speak a ton of different languages and only the educated speak English - the lingua franca.
Even the flight attendant could not make the woman understand that her baby could not have a seat. Eventually someone who spoke Gujarati, came to the aid of then flight attendant and I took the aisle seat. Since I now had an aisle seat - I offered it to Kevin and we switched. The man sitting beside Kevin was very old and found his seatbelt a mystery - woman at the window was drugging the baby to keep her asleep (for all of a nine hour flight) and so there was little that could be negotiated. I sat between an American woman originally from India (Gujurat) - who changed into a salwar kameez before we landed, though she was barely accented and had been in the U.S. for twenty five years; and an Indian dentist who was in London getting certified as a dental surgeon in Britain. He said he did not plan to move to the U.K. it just allowed him to charge more and have foreign patients in Mumbai.
Flight had originated in New Jersey - stopped for a couple of hours in London to pick up passengers and then got underway again. The "western Toilets" are apparently a mystery to some Indian's even though the flight had originated in New Jersey and London ( so wouldn't you have been using western toilets?) and at least 5 of the toilets were closed by the time we were headed into land and the others, although open, were mostly a disaster - interestingly it was not quite as bad on the return trip.
We arrived very late in Mumbai - flight was supposed to arrive at 10:45 but in fact did not get in until about 1:00-1:30am. We had no trouble getting rupees from a cash machine, and getting a pre-paid taxi - it was more for a "big" taxi - so we opted for a small one - four wheels but not a whole bigger than an auto-rickshaw, as it turned out. It was hot, but we were not dying, although Kevin did find it too humid. It was not as hot as I had anticipated though certainly a big change from February in Nova Scotia or London.
The taxi driver had trouble finding the hotel - there seem to be no real addresses with numbers in India - everything is on a street either between two streets or sometimes with a landmark -
Anyway, eventually he found the hotel (which seemed to be signless) by asking some other cab drivers - Bentley's with the "our pick" for budget hotels in Lonely Planet. We went into an office where we had to wake people. First they said we had no reservation (but I had an email confirmation) then I pointed to my name in the book (Margaret A, rather than McHugh) and suddenly someone was hoisting one of our bags over his shoulder and walking down the street - apparently we were to follow. We did so and went around two corners and up a dark stairwell. . . the room was not AC and Kevin actually got mad. The guy in the hotel had not said too much -- and I had to register with a guy in the hall, who seemed a little shady to us - where the hell were we anyway? - and who wanted our passports. . . It was very dim, the room was very small - I sent Kevin back to the room to lie under the fan, which worked fine and got us checked in. . . Room was 1175 R - I had expected to pay 2200-2600R so it was cheap, if small and, at the time, not providing a feeling of safety! Everyone had minimal English and just kept saying - take it up with "the hotel" in the morning. So we went to our room and tried to sleep.
I cannot remember if Kevin slept - I did not, or not for more than dozing on and off for an hour or two. I was in a kind of fugue state lying on the bed, wishing I could sleep for a while - when the horns started at around 5:30 - they worked their way up to a fewer pitch by 7:00 but by then I was used to it - following that, there was suddenly a whole lot of kid's voices yelling and I had the thought that there was a gang of street urchins outside our window - but, it turned out what was outside our window was a school - and the noise was the sound of small children, mostly, but not exclusively boys, outside and getting into a classroom with the doors thrown open. It was very sweet.
The hotel was supposed to provide "breakfast" so we asked for that (I think it was available 8-10 am or something) and we got tea and toast - not exactly breakfast but enough sustenance to have one face the day. After breakfast we were going to go out, but as I passed the desk (which is what it now seemed in the light of day) with an obvious attendant - he asked did we want to change rooms, because they would like us to do so in the morning. We went back over to the main building and they had someone show us a few rooms with AC. Now this all seems like it would be easy, but in fact there was little English and this was all communicated with a word here or there - yes madame and follow me. . . If you have a look at Bentley's Hotel website - you will see what we were expecting at : http://www.bentleyshotel.com/picturegallery.htm We had booked a large room with AC - but that did not seem to be available and there was no sign of a "garden".
This is the actual room that we finally got at Bentley's - did have AC and a TV but was small and still not on the same street as the hotel. It was not filthy by Indian standards but was less than we expected and at the time we didn't have "Indian Standards".
We stayed three nights at Bentley's, and in the end, I felt fine about it, though I wished the staff could speak English, and Kevin never really liked it, and did not want to stay there again.
We looked at a few other Lonely Planet "budget hotels" before we left town, and decided that we would "move up" on the return trip to Mumbai, and just pay more.
In Mubai we elected not to go on a "tour" as we could not figure out how not to get "ripped off" and we only had a few days and I had some things I wanted to see. . . not the Dharavi slum (which has tours!) nor the big fields of washing. . . You can see a great story on the Dharavi slum though, in National Geographic at : http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/05/dharavi-mumbai-slum/jacobson-text
We went to markets and to elephanta island, and we walked around Colaba - touristy area in the south of Mumbai that got shot up in November 08.
goes on and on as far as the eye can see.
Gives you the scale of Elephanta - a huge temple completely excavated and carved out of solid rock. The Portuguese shot it up badly and the locals were very big on the British who drove out the Portuguese and who may not have shared their religion but at least appreciated "art".
We had a great time in the train station as it took hours of waiting to get through the line at the "tourist quota" train station. The trains are always booked but they have special tickets for tourists - called emergency tickets or tourist quota - if you are from outside the country you can always get a ticket it seems. They don't queue for things much in India and the "foreigners" soon learn that too - so I was bossing then line as kevin says - making sure that everyone got their turn fairly and in order! In order to buy train tickets (which you have to do in cash) you have to prove that you got the cash from a bank machine or bank in India - so you have to keep your receipts - technically they can always ask - but we were never asked except that once int he train station in Mumbai. You do have to give your passport to everyone - to use a phone, the internet, buy a train ticket, a cell phone, or check into a hotel and they will write down all of your information in triplicate - they have an astounding bureaucracy , few computers and many pieces of carbon paper!
One tip for Mumbai - Lonely Planet said to ask for the meter in a cab - but the taxi meters end up being 1-3 rupees and clearly that was not right - so the driver would pout on the meter but would then ask for 200 or 300 rupees - we knew that both were wrong - turns out there is a fare card that translates those few rupees into what you should pay - most auto-rickshaw rides were around 25-50 rupees, but we paid a lot more until we figured it out. After we had it figured out some cabs would not take us "on the fare card". There are larger air conditioned taxi's called cool cabs - hard to find (basically cannot flag one on the street, they are parked outside expensive hotels and at the airport.) - and the one that we booked to pick us up on Friday morning and take us to the train station "forgot us", and left us scrambling for an auto rickshaw or small cab on the main street at 6:00 am! It all worked out though.
We arrived on Wednesday morning in Mumbai and Friday morning we left to take the train to Goa and to meet up with Peter and Marisa.
No comments:
Post a Comment