Where we were staying was right around the corner from the Gateway of India, so we took a walk there one day to see what it was all about. It's a pretty monument, but for me that was all there really was to it. It was super crowded (it's in Mumbai, what did we expect?!), and it seemed that people wanted to take almost as many photos of us as they did of the Gateway.
The Gateway of India, built to honor the visit of King George V and Queen Mary in 1911
A grate by the Gateway, full of stains from paan spit
From behind the Gateway, we got a boat to Elephanta island for 160 rupees return, to go and explore the caves. The boat wasn't bad, but was definitely made better with the fact that it had a rabbit onboard! We didnt clock it at first, but after about 20 minutes we noticed something bright white our of the corner of our eyes... a little albino bunny! Haha! No idea how it got there or who it belonged to, but it seemed very happy to bounce around and be petted by everyone. When we got to Elephanta island, we went past multiple stalls, stands and shops until we eventually got to the caves.
Boats behind the Gateway, ready to take you to Elephanta Island
The boat mascot
The island is souvenir heaven. From t-shirt, to trinkets, to paintings... it's all here!
The entrance fee is 250 rupees for tourists, and a much less amount for locals. Lots of Indians had tried to talk to Ash in Hindi and other Indian languages during our trip, thinking he was Indian, so when he went to buy our tickets he jokingly asked for one tourist and one foreigner... and it kind of worked! We paid somewhere in between what it would have been with one local or with two foreigners, so got a random discount, but pretty good anyway! The caves were pretty cool, with the first one that we went in definitely being the best. It had loads of Gods and faces carved into the rock, and some were massive!
The first cave at the site was by far the most interesting, with lots of carved rock sculptures
You can see why this place is a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Some of the carvings were pretty huge!
It was just a really cool cave!
It was a bit disappointing to see not much happening in the rest of the caves, after having such a good welcome to the caves. They were still nice to wander around, but pretty unimpressive after being spoilt with the first cave.
The outside of one of the caves
People were going inside here, touching the stone and praying. Some also left money on the stone.
Found this mythological head floating around
On the way down from the caves back to the pier, we noticed some chairs that we didn't see on the way up. It took us a few seconds to realise what they were, but when we saw the long logs attached to the sides we realised that they were to carry people up to the caves! I think it was only about 50 rupees to do this, but the poor men who have to carry you :( I suppose it's good if you can't deal with the steep hill and steps, but I would just feel so mean!
Wild puppies using the chairs to stay out of the sun
There seemed to be loads more animals on the way down too. There were a lot of monkeys by the caves, but the number of dogs and cows seemed to have definitely gone up when we returned from the caves.
Monkeys doing what they do best
Got ourselves some corn for the journey back. They don't do butter and salt here, but rub with a lime and then sprinkle masala flavouring on instead.
These cows followed us as soon as we had the corn, so Ash fed them the leftover cob