After some interesting information of Laurens about the economy of India, I will tell you something about the tourism here. We are still in the city with the most population of India, Bombay ! (Or Mumbai in Indian.) It has a population of 12,5 million people !
After our breakfast, we first walked a bit in the big city of Mumbai. It was impressive to see that the architecture was very different of each building or monument. Sometimes you saw Gothic Revival or some Art Deco, . There are also some European influences such as Romance arches,
After a little walk, we decided to take the typical way of transportation in India, a Rickshaw ! This is a motor vehicle on three wheels ! It was very fun and rather cheap to take this kind of transportation. The driver drove us to the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus. Because we saw in our book that it was a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The building is a historic railway station and it is the headquarters of the Central Railways. Thats why it is also one of the busiest railway stations of India. The architecture of the building was so impressive to see. It was designed in Victorian Gothic with a mix of traditional Indian architecture. After visiting the station, we went to a little park nearby to have a little pick nick !
After our little bite in the park, we took a Rickshaw for the second time and went to Girgaum Chowpatty. On our way to this very known beach, our driver of the Rickshaw took a few shorter roads and we could see a little bit of the suburb of the big city. It was rather sad to see that some people had to live in such bad circumstances. It was a horrible smell, very small and filthy slums, . Our driver told us that Mumbai suffers a lot of some urbanization problems such as poverty and unemployment.
Eventually we arrived at Girgaum Chowpatty. This is one of the famous beaches of Mumbai. It is especially known for Ganesh Chaturthi. This is the Hindu festival of Ganesh. This is a big religious person for the Hindus. It is the god of wisdom, prosperity and good fortune. After our walk on the beach, we saw a few young people having a little party. We started talking with them and eventually we had dinner with them. It was a lot of fun and they said we definitely have to come back to celebrate the festival with them ! After our cozy beach party, we went back to the city with the bus.
The Mumbais culture also has traditional festivals and theatres. You also have the Mumbai International Film Festival and the award ceremony of the Filmfare Awards. These are the oldest film awards given for Hindi films. This al happens in Mumbai because it is the birthplace of Indian cinema. Because Mumbai has such a big titles about their films and theatre, we had to go and see one ! So after our beach dinner and when the evening was falling, we went to a theatre and saw a beautiful film about an Indian girl who fell in love with a prince. Anne, Emilie and I loved the movie but Laurens already fell asleep after only 15 minutes
This was our day in the big city of Bombay ! I hope you enjoy reading our stories.. Tomorrow we are travelling the whole day to get in New Delhi !
Last
evening we went dining in the Pateela restaurant in Mumbai. This is a typical
Indian restaurant that serves different types of the Indian cuisine such as
Indian, Mughlai and Punjabi.
We asked the restaurant chef for some extra information about the different
types of cuisine they serve.
Moghlai Cuisine originates from the kitchens of the Mogul Empire. This type of
cuisine is influenced by the Middle-Eastern cuisine and is found in
Nothern-India. I chose to eat something spicy of the Mughlai cuisine just to
try outsomething typical.
Because Anne is a vegetarian, the chef suggested she ordered something from the
Punjabi cuisine. Because Punjabi cuisine has a diverse range of dishes for
vegetarians but also for non-vegetarians. Typical about the Punjabi cuisine is
that its prepared with large amounts of clarified butter, which is called
ghee. Also the use of whole wheat, rice and other ingredients flavoured with
masalas (a sort of spices) is typical for the Punjabi cuisine. An example of
the preparation of rice is Roh Di Kheer. Roh Di Kheer is rice that is cooked
for a long time in sugar cane juice.
Miet and Laurens ordered a dish with Tandoori chicken. Tandoori chicken is a
popular Indian dish consisting of roasted chicken, yoghurt and spices. The chef
warned her that it is a very spicy dish and that in most Western nations they
are prepared with less spices. So when we eat Tandoori chicken in our country
it isnt that spicy as in India itself. The spices that Tandoori chicken
usually contains are cayenne pepper, red chilli powder or kashmiri red chilli
powder.
Here you can see a picture of the Tandoori chicken that Miet and Laurens ordered:
I've also tasted it but in my opinion it is a little too spicy.
Beside our individual dish we also ordered some Indian bread. Bread in India is
eaten more in the northern regions of the country because of its dry climate.
We could chose between a variety of breads on the menu: roti, naan and paratha.
We didnt knew what to chose so we asked the chef again for some advice. He
told us that roti is thin and made of whole wheat, naan is soft and fluffy and
is made from plain flour with a little bit of yeast. Parathas are layered breads
made of wheat flour but fried in a bit of oil. We ordered roti.
After the very spicy dinner we gave the chef a big tip for his advice and
explanations.
Then we went back to our hotel Fariyas. Because we were so thirsty we went to
the bar that is linked to our hotel to quench our thirst with a fresh beer. It
was a lovely evening but we were so tired that wealready went to bed at 11P.M.
In India,
over 1.1 billion people live (and its growing every year with 1.5%)
India has
the worlds 12th largest economy, and the 3rd largest
economy of Asia (after China and Japan).
There are
three important sectors in India: the service sector (54%), the industry (29%) and
the agriculture (18%)
I also
looked up some numbers and other important info for my loyal readers about the
economy of india:
-The
GDP of India was 1.21 trillion USD. Thats 1.210 billion USD.
-The
real growth of India in 2008 was 6.6%.
-The
GDP per capita (PPP) of india in 2088 was 2.900 USD.
-The
natural resources of India are coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
chromite, thorium, limestone, barite, titanium ore, diamonds and crude oil.
-The agriculture in India (18% of the total GDP)
produces wheat, rice, coarse grains, oilseeds, sugar, cotton, jute and tea.
-The industry in India (29% of GDP) produces
textiles, jute, processed food, steel, machinery, transport equipment, cement,
aluminum, fertilizers, mining, petroleum, chemicals and computer software.
-The market share of services and transportation
is 54% of the GDP of India
-India
exported for 176.4 billion USD in 2008. The most important export products are engineering
goods, petroleum products, precious stones, cotton apparel and fabrics, gems
and jewelry, handicrafts and tea. The software
exports in 2008 was 22 billion USD.
-India imported for
303 billion USD in 2008. The most important import products are petroleum,
machinery and transport equipment, electronic goods, edible oils, fertilizers,
chemicals, gold, textiles, iron and steel
-The major trade
partners of India are the United States, China, The United Arabian Emirates,
the European Union, Russia and Japan.
This are
great numbers, but 700 million Indian people live with less than 2 dollars a
day.
The middle
class in India (50 million people) is earning money very fast. They get up to
1.000.000 rupees per year (21.000 USD).
Because of the accident we had a few days ago, we didnt feel so safe to walk alone in the big city of Bangkok. So we asked the guide of two days ago, if he wanted to lead us around the city for one more time. Today we learned a lot of the politics in Thailand. The country is a kingdom and a constitutional monarchy with the current king, Bhumibol Adulyadej.
The history all began in 1782, when the general Chakri became the first king of the Chakri-dynasty. He called hisself King Rama 1. This dynasty still rules. Because the current king is king Bhumibol Adulyadej. He is the ninth king of the Chakri-origin, so you can also call him Rama 9. King Bhumibol Adulyadej is the person who is the longest-serving head of state and the longest-reigning monarchin Thai history.
The guide also told us that there has been some political reforms in Thailand a long time ago. In 1932, they changed the absolute monarchy into a constitutional one. Because of this change, they have built a big art deco-monument, The Democracy Monument.
The monument is settled in the middle of the centre of Bangkok. It was a beautiful and extraordinarily thing to see. It exists of 4 wings of angels, of 24 meters high, in a circle. The wings were so high, because they represent the date of the revolution, namely the 24th of June. The wings signify the freedom and rights of the people because of the change. One of the designers was the Italian Corrado Ferroci, he also made some monuments for the dictator Mussolini.
After seeing this amazing piece of art, we took a lot at the Grand Palace and Wat Phrae Kaeo. It is the official palace and temple complex of the king Bhumibol and queen Sirikit. This building was built in 1782 for the foundation of Bangkok. There were beautiful gardens and a lot of impressive buildings. We could really see that Thailand is very much into their religion, Buddhism. During our visit at the palace and temple, we had to cover ourselves in respect for the population and their religion.
After the interesting day, we went back to the hotel to get as much sleep as possible. Because tomorrow early in the morning, we are taking a plane from Bangkok to Bombay with the airline Bangkok Airways. (In India, they say Mumbai instead of Bombay.) (http://www.bangkokair.com/en/index.php)
