We arrived last night in Mumbai and it was immediately obvious that we were not in Kansas – ie Chiang Mai – any more. For example:

*We flew over miles of slums on the way in

*Nobody allowed us to leave our seat row on the airplane to get our bags when we landed – I had to explain to the kids that in India you need to push your way through

*The taxi dispatcher demanded a tip, and went so far as to say it should be 50 rupees.

*Honking is a way of life. The horn is used constantly and means “get the hell out of my way” or “I’m passing on your left” or “I’m passing on your right” or “Screw you!”. In Thailand, honking is practically forbidden except to say a very occasional “hello” to someone you know.

*Whereas in Thailand, the roads are hectic, in India they are total chaos. There are no lines and it is a complete free for all. Louis has some video which we’ll insert later.

On the upside:

*We decided to spend our fist night in style at the Taj Mahal Hotel – a gorgeous and high end landmark near the harbor. They were a little surprised to see the four of us piling into one king sized bed but they rolled nicely with the plan without forcing us to purchase another room as I thought they might. They festooned us with bindis and a lovely smelling rose of some sort.

 

*We all love the food (sadly, not the case in Thailand – Tess doesn’t care for it)!

*We are totally excited for our journey to the other side. We are off to tour Mumbai this morning and we’ll head to Kochin on the coast tonight for four days.

*We have each picked our family “Secret Santas” out of a napkin and will be on the lookout to buy them a gift with our 1000 Rupee ($18) allowance in the markets. We’ll exchange them on Christmas morning.