Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya - the old name was easier for a westerner!

The Buddha

Ganesh

Painting of a challenge

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya

On Wednesday a few hours after arriving, and about four hours sleep, we lit out. I wanted to see the former Prince of Wales museum, now called the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya. It is a gorgeous old museum, with a stragely eclectic collection, spanning incredible Buddhist and Hindi sculpture and miniature paintings, an extensive collection of Chinese porcelain and jade (boring), and even a few galleries of western paintings by the like of William Gainsborough, Titian and Rubens' school, and even a painting of Lanky Abe Lincoln!

The museum has around 50,000 items from ancient Indian history and objects from elsewhere (Like Abe Lincoln). The museum is more or less divided into three parts: Art (largely western paiting), Archaeology and Natural History. The museum has thousands of Indus Valley Civilization artfacts, and other relics from ancient India from the time of the Guptas and Mauryas. As always, we were most interested in the archaeological artifacts--mostly scupltures, and the like. What we loved most were the ancient scupltures of Buddha and the various Hindu deities.

Since it was a holiday, the place was filled with Indians and only a small handful of tourists. One thing I found really heart-warming and amazing about Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya was how joyous and relaxed it was. The guards were smiling, and there was much talking and laughter--quite a contrast to our more staid and library-like museums. I bought a camera permit for a few dollars which allowed me to take all the photographs I wanted. I'll share as many as I can.

After much walking around town, we stopped for beers at the famous Leopold's (140 years old, a site where Indians, Africans, and Brit, German, and America tourists eat and drink together). Leopolds was the site of a terroist attack in 2008. You are wanded and your bags are checked before you enter. The beer and mint lime-ade was cold and cheap. Later Tuesday night, we had an awesoe vegetarian thalli, nan, and mineral water dinner down the street.

Back at the hotel, we chilled, drank much water, and fell out. I got in a few chapters of Rick Stieves Travel As A Political Act.
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Bombay calling! Getting there

We left Seattle at around 2pm Sunday.  We arrived in Bombay sometime around 3:30 am Tuesday. It took about 24 hours to get here on a Boeing 777...ten hours to Seoul Korea and a couple of hours there, then a nine hour trip from Seoul to Mumbai-Bombay. 

At the airport we took a wild ride (note: they are all wild rides!) to our hotel.  You ride through the famous slumdog slum, dodging may pope dog and other cars and taxis, beeping the horn whenever you near another vehicle or person.  There were maybe thirty red lights on the way; we did not stop for one.  More about traffic here later.  I wonder if any gringo is crazy enough to actually rent a car...

I walked around outside at 5am, and discovered literally dozens of people on our block, sleeping beside their stands or their trike-rickshaws.  As I discovered later, they mostly arise around 7 am, and begin their day.  More soon!  jack
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Travelogue --On the road and in the air to Southern India

The Ellora Caves, which, of course, will be a focus of our archaeological explorations.

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On Tuesday, All This Is That again becomes a travelogue for a couple of weeks, as I travel to India to visit Mumbai, Udaipur, Aurangabad, and Pune.  Some of my favorite posts on ATIT comes from my trips to NYC, Mexico, Great Britain, Florida, Turkey, and Greece. 

I'll try to start writing and posting photos Tuesday.  As always, I hope to rope in guest editors.  As always Pablo, will be providing political commentary...
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Travel shots: getting poked for health

I stopped in at the Dr. yesterday for eight shots in preparation for my trip to India in March (Mumbai, Aurangabad, Pune, Hyderabad, and Udaipur). I was pocked with eight various vaccines: Polio, a seasonal 'flu shot, H1N1, Diphtheria, Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Typhoid, Whooping Cough, and Tetanus. And I still have to go back for a couple of booster shots before I leave, and fill two prescriptions, one for Malaria, and another antibiotic for intestinal disorders.

You gotta wonder just a little what your body really thinks about the eight new vaccines swimming around in your system. Are there other cooties in there, going oh man, I can't even remain dormant with this stuff coming at me? Is there actually like a war of he bugs going on in your body? I mean the vaccines have to have something to do, right? Or do they just keep a benign watch, waiting for a polio or tetanus virus to sneak in?
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