On My Way to Solving World Hunger

Leaving our beach haven in Palolem Beach behind, we moved 70 km's north to Panjim, the capital of the small Goa state. The Portuguese influence was very evident in the old quarter of Fontainhaus where we stayed for 3 nights.......some nice older, well maintained homes and other ones that were a sad memory of their former self. On one day we took the local bus to Old Goa (10 km's) where there were several massive churches (and nearby convents) all within a hundred meters of each other. They were built in the 16th and 17th centuries when the population (250,000) exceeded the number of people living in Lisbon. Unfortunately, plagues took their toll on the city (malaria, cholera) and in 1850 the capital was shifted to Panjim. Now there are less than 10,000 people living there, mostly catering to the tourist industry. There were also several large churches in Panjim, although that was balanced by the many floating casinos on the wide Mandovi River, near where it emptied into the Arabian Sea. We found a great Indian restaurant close to our small hotel, and we ate there every day. Prior to departing we said goodbye to our friends, Neal and Linda, as our paths were about to diverge after spending 3 weeks together. It was fun travelling with them.

We took an 11 hour train ride to Mumbai, choosing that mode because of the scenic ride along the way, and the fact that we had been able to secure an air-conditioned sleeper cabin (more room) for our journey. Sometimes they are 2 person cabins, and 4 people on other occasions......the price is the same ($60 for two of us on this trip) but you never know until you get on the train. For this trip it was a 4 person cabin, and our 'guests' boarded the train at the station after ours. Ramesh (India) and Elizabeth (Sweden) turned out to be nice people and we had some good conversations along the way. One of these discussions surrounded the growing concern of farmers converting their rice fields (an Indian staple) into more lucrative cash crops such as avocados (new to India), palm trees (palm oil) and grapes (burgeoning wine industry). My line of thinking, which I must admit has been challenged on more than one occasion, was that growing more grapes might actually solve more problems than it creates. First of all, there many people out there (including many of you reading this blog), who enjoy drinking wine and would prefer an extra glass at dinner rather than a second helping. Following this logic, a surplus of wine would be more beneficial than having too much food. If the trend continued and the amount of available food declined then it might also help solve the over-population problem, and those that survived would certainly be happy people. You see, there are solutions to every problem that people think there are today......just ask me.....after I have consumed several glasses of wine, of course.

Now where were we?........oh yeah, we were on a train to Mumbai, on our own again. No chance of being lonely in this city of almost 21 million people though. Rhonda had pre-purchased a breathing mask in anticipation of poor air quality but we were pleasantly surprised......it wasn't great but it wasn't nearly as bad as '6 cigarettes a day' Bangalore. Perhaps it was because we spent our two full days in the Fort area near the south end of island (Mumbai is connected to the mainland by bridges). We spent our first day walking around the east side.....the Gateway of India (King George V visit commemorative), Taj Mahal Hotel (2008 terrorist attack and now security checks tighter than an airport), and many of their architectural gems in the Fort area. Today we walked over to the west side and along the Marine Drive promenade to Chowatty Beach which our Lonely Planet described as toxic water and had bad smells (according to my partner who can still smell things like that). That didn't seem to stop some locals from venturing into the water however. We also toured the house where Ghandi lived from 1917-1934, which had a wonderful photographic record of his life, including original letters that he wrote to Hitler and Roosevelt in an attempt to stop World War II. After that we went to Mahalaxmi Dhobi Ghat, Mumbai's oldest and largest human-powered washing machine(32 acres). We watched hundreds of people (males) washing and then beating the dirt out of the wet clothes against the concrete surfaces beside the tubs. Then they hung the clothes to dry on the roofs above which were right beside a busy railway station and traffic bridge. I have gained a new appreciation for our North American process.

Tomorrow we will be boarding another train, this time to Aurangabad which is 7 hours inland and a good base for exploring Ellora and Ajanta which have World Heritage listed temple caves dating back to the 2nd century BC. I have a bottle of wine with me for the train ride in case anyone on board tells me they have a problem that needs to be solved.

Panjim, Goa - The Hospederia Abrigo de Bothelho where we stayed for 3 nights. Our two rooms were on the upper floor at the front so we shared the front balcony with Neal and Linda. We had our breakfasts in the garden at the back. The owner (Roy) was very friendly and helpful.....we wish him well.

Spotted this as we walked through the old quarter of Fontainhaus.

Old Goa - Se Cathedral. The largest church in Asia, completed in 1652, 90 years after construction began.

The Last Supper - at our favourite restaurant, Viva Panjim.

Mumbai - Taj Mahal Palace. Security was extremely tight, with a barricade to check the trunk and under the hood of any vehicle wanting to enter the main entranceway to drop off passengers. Would have been nice to stay there but at $600-900 a night we might have had to return home sooner :-)

Street parking chaos on our walkabout. Hope none of the curbside vehicles hope to leave anytime soon because there were two additional lanes of abandoned cars. That still left 3 lanes for traffic to pass through, (or perhaps start one more parking lane).

One of the many busy traffic circles in Mumbai - even a pedestrian going with the flow.



Chowatty Beach - a small beach with "toxic water" according to our Lonely Planet. We took a pass.

An amazing man that you appreciate even more every time you learn something new about him.

Amazing view from the traffic bridge next to the busy train station. Not sure how clean the clothes are after hanging in what passes for fresh air but they have been doing this for 140 years and people keep sending their laundry there, so there must be some magic formula.