Elephanta Island

Last Day in Mumbai and we decided to go to Elephanta Island. It's a small island just a few kilometers into the Arabian Sea near Mumbai. The boats leave every few minutes and the boat ride is fairly cheap. Elephanta Island itself houses a few amazing temples high up into the hills carved out of stone. I was under the impression (just viewing the temples) that they were Buddhist temples, but after reading some of the promo literature, I found that it was a Shiva temple carved in the 1500s after Buddhism had been absorbed into Hinduism. I forget the process by which this absorption happened, but suffice it to say, Hinduism is a religion which is amorphous enough to absorb most other religions (not islam) and just fold them into their ever growing mythologies...

Anyway, the temples were absolutely fantastic. I had a hard time enjoying it so much, because the day was so absolutely murderously hot. On top of that I couldn't eat much because I had spent most of the night worshiping the porcelain god by making offerings of Leopold's Fish and Chips... I have an issue with Mumbai on its climate. It's hot, it's India afterall. Mumbai, however, is also muggy as hell because it's basically an island in the arabian sea. The air, however, is not breezy like one might expect for an island, it's still. I was shocked at the stillness of the air. I'd hoped that Elephanta might give some reprieve. No such luck. Even when we got high up into the hills (200m up) the air was still and hot, just the same. The only difference was that the trash had thinned out a bit, but we could look down onto the bay and see the filth floating close to the island.

After walking around the temples, being hungry, but not being able to eat I was worn out (sorry yvonne for having to drag my ass around all day). We finally sat down for a spot of lunch and a cold "beer." The only "beer" they had that wasn't the indian-imitation-beer-flavored-soda-water was Foster's. Oh well. I gotta say, that first sip is instant mood improvement. In fact, my mood improved in the breeze (from the ceiling fan) and with the beer until I was actually able to taste it, then I sank back into heat induced depression.

So, the verdict it this. elephanta island is actually worth seeing. The temples way up top are freakin' amazing. I, however, recommend going in the middle of december or january, mid march is too hot. The boat is kind nice, the toy train (from the dock to the entrance of elephanta island) is fun to ride. One thing of which to be fully aware is that if you go to elephanta, you WILL get nickel and dimed a lot. Pay for the boat, then pay for the train, then pay (a lot) to enter the island, then pay another entrance fee to see the temples. Then, the restaurants will give you large menus with very few of the items actually in stock. So, it's pretty cool, but you have to be prepared to spend a lot of your cash for that trip.