Monday 28th November
This was not the best time to visit India (moneywise), as it is very difficult for tourists to change money. There are still extremely long queues at the banks and most ATMs are quickly exhausted of money. I managed to change money only twice during my stay in 2 hotels, but then only for small amounts and at a bad rate, but I was glad to have some cash.
Unfortunately we did not have authentic Indian food during our trip, but that’s another story. During the flight from Cochin to Mumbai, when the flight attendant came around dishing out a vegetarian meal, I felt as though I was released from jail and if there was room I would have danced for joy in the aisle to celebrate my first Indian meal in India. The meal was delicious, and this was only an airline meal! As I had ordered a vegetarian meal on the return flight to the UK (this evening) the anticipated excitement of eating my second Indian meal is sky high!
We spent the day in Mumbai. The traffic here was bumper to bumper on all the roads. We were told by the guide that 500 new cars come onto the roads in Mumbai every day. Again we saw a demonstration against demonetisation. Thousands of people demonstrating and the traffic was not moving at all.
What has surprised me throughout this journey is that despite the number of cars on the road, the appearance of the lack of traffic rules, people crossing the road weaving in and out between the cars, I have not seen one, not even one, accident. The drivers are very tolerant here.
We visited 2 shuls in Mumbai, both built towards the end of the 19th century. There are about 5,000 Jews left in the Mumbai area. We ended the day by visiting the Chabad house for our last meal in India. We were given a tour of the Chabad House and told in detail of the atrocity that took place here 8 years ago. The bullet holes were still visible and the child’s room was left intact. The building is undergoing a complete refurbishment and security is extremely high. In fact I noticed that security was high throughout the country. For example, every hotel had a security port where one had to pass in order to enter.
I had ordered a special vegetarian meal on the return flight to London. Seeing as we were travelling from India I had expected an Indian vegetarian meal. It turned out to be an ordinary vegetarian meal. When the ordinary meals were distributed there was a vegetarian option – this meal was a curry! You win some, you lose some.
In conclusion: The trip was amazing – we saw so much. It was well organised. The group was great – nice people, and everyone was on time all of the time – we hardly had to wait ages for people to gather, which I imagine could be frustrating. The only downside was the lack of authentic Indian food.
Wednesday 30th November
I’m delighted that I took another day off work as I slept 14 hours last night.