26 February - last night we were at the Riverside Resort in Karjat - another place built as a 5-star resort but maintained as if it is 3-star, broken tiles and garbage at the foot of one set of steps near the pool in otherwise beautiful grounds. Pool is fancy, but half the entry points into the pool were fenced off and what was open had 2-inch diameter chromed rungs, slippy, hard on feet, no flat step on any if them, just not up to 5-star. Lots of space for lounge chairs, not even a straight one in sight. Maybe we're out-of-season for India?
Rae feeling well today though still not back to normal eating. It's a 100 km ride to a ferry to take us into Mumbai. Again, a mix of good and bad and really bad road surfaces. Lunch was at 75 km so a relatively short ride to the ferry, but again the road that was reportedly smooth two years ago the last time the Hippie Trail was run, that road is no longer smooth and had as much rough and pot-holed surface as it did smooth. We seriously wish we had our mountain bikes with the front suspension, and that's the first time you'd hear us saying that since we did Africa. Not even the Dempster Highway in the Yukon/NWT needed a mountain bike.
Some interesting scenery on the way.
Village pond...
...wash the cart and the oxen...
...and don't mind the garbage...
A number of now-derelict industrial sites and some active ones - petroleum and steel...
...and we eventually reach salt water...
...and go around a bay to a passenger ferry terminal to cross the opening of the natural harbour into Mumbai...
 |
| ...that's our boat coming alongside now |
People feed the seagulls, so lots of poor formation flying and evasive maneuvers alongside the boat...
...approaching the 'Gateway of India' which dominates the waterfront at the ferry terminal...
...and in this photo the Taj Mahal Hotel on the right.
So now we're in Mumbai for a two day rest. Beautiful city. And after the rough roads, everybody is enjoying two days of the bikes.
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