Mumbai

Flight to Mumbai about an hour and a half delayed - but arrived no problems...except for Miriam leaving her camera bag on the plane. fortunately Kingfisher Airlines staff were quickly dispatched and returned it post haste! Our driver was there waiting for us and we are now in the very chic suburb of Juhu - wwhere we had tea and are going to sightsee for a bit - have dinner - and head back to the international airport.

I am happy though because AT LAST I can access data on my iphone so at the airport will be madly posting those photos I have on the phone. You can now see Shakkeer and if you scroll way back, to December at last a photo I attempted to send from Chennai is posted!!! Better late than never - but I plan to keep myself awaake in the wee hours by using the data I have already paid for.

Even at the Cochin airport it seemed very strange to see so many Western faces (maybe a dozen or 2) and the snack bar looked very odd with its assortment of brownies, muffins and sandwiches (along with a few samosas)...but we have not seen these Western foods in over a month. Most strange of all - they were out of tea (to which I have become addicted with hot milk and a TON of sugar) and only had coffee. Can you believe it - in India...I chose to forego the tea...but getting it was our first stop in Mumbai.

I can only imagine how alien things will seem in Paris and DC. Anyway - just made this internet stop to print my boarding passes and will be off to get a little flavor of Mumbai. Already it is SO different from Chennai - with a much more cosmopolitan feel - fancy boutiques, lots of big buildings, wide boulevards, etc...but definitely India. The balconies of the high rises have laundry hanging everywhere - as it is also disssplayed on the metal fences on the median strips of the boulevards. I guess people trust that no one will steal it. There appear to be many more people living on sidewalks than we saw in Chennai, and we have had beggars coming to the car.

But, of course, it is a huge city and, like the blind men exploring the elephant - our impression will only be of the small slice of the city that we see in our few hours here.