Thank you India

My third train-the-trainer session was in Mumbai, India.  It was a fascinating experience.

Driving in India is not for the feint hearted.  They cram at least 7 cars across a 4 lane carriage way and are constantly hooting their horns at each other!  

The poverty is plain to see.  People live on the foot path in make shift lodgings and spend most of their day sitting around the road.  Some don't even have a roof over their heads.  All this in one of the fastest developing economies in the world at the moment.

While there we had a tour of the City.  Here you can see Dhobi Ghat which is where most of the city hotel's laundry is done. You can see it hanging out to try right below the overcrowded train!

Families live and work here.  They move from their shacks to their concrete pens where they soak the linens in sudsy water before beating them on the concrete blocks to start the drying process.  It is a hereditary occupation meaning that the same families have been doing this for generations.

We also visited a Hindu temple.  It was a strange experience.  Hard to believe that people spend so much time and effort bowing before idols they made themselves.
I discovered my cameras macro function at the hanging gardens.  There is nothing hanging in these gardens.  The name is given as the gardens sit on top of the main reservoir for the city.
This cheeky monkey was one of many we found during a trip to Elephanta Island.  We took a boat trip to the island where we saw some ancient Hindu caves.  It was a hot day so on the way back to the boat we got the little train.  When we arrived at the dock the visitors who just arrived hardly gave us a chance to get off the train before barging on.  They pushed on in a style not dissimilar to the way they drive.  It was like it was the last train out of town.

Back at the hotel the restaurant staff got to know us well.  So much so that when we left they gave us a cake which was iced with 'Thank you, come back soon!'.  Here we are with the chef and a few of the waiters.