Today (after having our yellow cruise passenger immigration cards checked twice by armed guards) we toured Mumbai.

Once we had cleared the port gates and after we had a quick photo stop at the central railway station, we headed for our first official stop – the Dhobi Ghat . The Dhobi Ghat is a large outdoor laundry where the Dhobi's collect and wash many, many items everyday. Items for washing a collected from houses and hotels, taking to the Ghat for washing and drying, then returned to the original owner.

Our guide said that the system the Dhobi’s use to keep track of each item of the clothing has a 6 sigma rating, that is they only make one mistake for each 6 million items they handle. It would appear that the secret of their success lies in the small markings they place in permanent ink on each item – the Dhobi’s mark.

After politely declining for the fifth time to purchase from a small child 10 postcards for $1, we boarded the bus for the short trip to our next highlight.

Next stop on the itinerary was the Gandhi Museum. The house where Mahatma Gandhi stayed while in Mumbai is now a small museum dedicated to his life and his philosophy. The museum houses a small reference library that contains books that either align with his philosophy of non violence or reference what he said . They have also left the room where he stayed as it was and have sealed if off so people can have a look at how he lived. There was also a series of dioramas that show his life from small child caught stealing and seeking forgiveness from his father through to his assassination.

Next it was time to get a little bit of culture at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (or the Prince of Wales Museum). The museum has religious carvings, miniature paintings and a nature section. It was a good museum. Interestingly at the first entrance to the museum grounds only the men had to proceed through the metal detector, while we were able to walk straight in. When we got to the second entrance that lead into the actual museum, we all had to go through a metal detector and we were patted down by a female guard.

The second last stop on the tour was the Gateway of India and the Taj Mahal Hotel. The gateway is a legacy of the Raj, it was built to commemorate the imperial visit of King George V in 1911 . It stands 85 feet high and was designed with both Hindu and Muslim architecture. When ships used to arrive, the first thing they would see is the gateway. When the Suez Canal opened, Mumbai became a key port of call for ships going through the canal.

The Taj Mahal Hotel was built after wealthy Indian businessman was denied entry into the 'white only’ Watsons. Needless to say while the Taj is still going strong, Watson’s has long folded. The Taj Mahal Hotel was also the site for terrorist attack that happened in 2008.

Our final stop of the tour was the Colaba Causeway. While most people in the bus spent the time we had at the Causeway shopping, we opted to find an Indian restaurant to have lunch. We were both looking forward to Mumbai for the food, so making sure we ate in town was very important.

After a short search and a quick exchange of currencies, we sat down at the Dehli Darbar for lunch . We opted for a mutton Rogan Ghosh, Naan and Rice. I also had a tasty (yet high risk) Strawberry Lassi. Everything was delicious. Being the only obvious tourists in the joint, we were watched while we ate lunch and every so often we would hear something in Hindi followed by Australians.

Fed and watered we headed back out on to the Causeway to do some shopping at the street stalls. This was a bit of an experience as everything we slowed down to briefly look at something we were jumped on by the surround stall holders. Mum ended up buying a carved Ganesha, while I later on bought a jade one.

Back on the ship it was time for quite unwind before heading up to the pool deck for sail away and a drink. We waved India and the Indian Navy ships that were also docked near us goodbye as the sun began to set.

Fun fact:
Mumbai – the initial city was made up of 7 islands that were traditionally fishing colonies. It has a natural deep water harbour that today handles 50%25 of the countries cargo ship.