Salaam, Bombay!

With our fantastic July/August 2008 issue long gone (and boy was it a lot of work. Keep your eyes peeled for it: There’s some fabu info on romantic destinations across the globe, including one of my fave places Valencia, Espana; a super in-depth roundup of the best beaches across the Caribbean; an unbelievably cool Hawaiian honeymoon giveaway, plus I scored some big budgeting and money-saving tips for you all out there.), I’ve been a little slow on the upswing to get the next one moving. And quite honestly, I’ve been procrastinating a bit on writing a story on my Darjeeling Limited-esque adventures in India. And to get inspiration, I sifted through the few hundred photos my amigito Daniel took of our two-week jaunt across the Maharashtra region of the subcontinent. Here are some (ok a lot) of my faves, that totes probs won’t make it into the issue. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Here I am with my pals Daniel and Jimmy Im in the lobby of the old wing of the ultraluxe Taj Hotel in Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay) . The flower necklaces and red saffron dots are given as welcome gifts to ‘important and distinguished guests.’ (Regular readers of this blog will note I’ve got my failsafe traveling gear on—cotton dress, silk scarf and a cardi.).

This is the view from my room at the Taj. A monster case of jet lag meant that we were able to get amazing (!) shots of the sunrise over the famed Gateway to India. It’s a Gujurat-style arch that was constructed to commemorate the arrival of King George V and Queen Mary.

And this is a look at both the Taj (Did I mention that Brad, Ange and the kids slept here? As did Beyonce and Shakira?) and the Gateway to India via a shuttle boat to the island of Elephanta. The small island is home to monkeys and a series of cool temples.

Mahesamurti is the most recognizable carving in the Elephanta caves and it depicts the different manifest forms of Lord Siva. The entire temple structure is a monoith. Which means that everything is a single piece of stone. I know, crazy! This image also happens to be the tourism symbol for the entire Maharashtra region.

The gang doing our best ANTM at Elephanta.

Gandhi slept here! This is the room where Gandhi read, wrote and gave speeches from whenever he was in town. He was a wealthy lawyer, but he renounced all of his riches to seek equality for Indians. The story goes that he was traveling in South Africa by train and was told that he couldn’t sit in the whites-only section. When he pled his case, he was kicked off the train. Thus began his peaceful revolt against white rule. He also spun his cotton clothing in this room. The Brits were buying silk from the subcontinent and then marking it waaaay up so that Indians had to pay a huge premium. Gandhi encouraged his people to renounce dependence on colonists and that’s why he spun his own clothes. Today, cotton is one of the more expensive materials in all of India.

And here’s a shot of a cotton factory we passed in the countryside. At first, we thought it was snow.

Stay tuned for more photos from Incredible India. xoxo

Posted by Jenna at 11:30 a.m.