It's just after midnight here...at the end of our first full day...we arrived in Mumbai the 19th (actually very early on the 20th) after a long day/night of travel...the best thing about the trip here was that both legs of the flight were very smooth...we were delayed getting out of Amsterdam so we were about 45 minutes late getting into Mumbai...it was very warm and muggy and there were people everywhere...the bags took quite a while to show up - there were about 18 of us on the same flight...by the time we all collected our stuff, got through, customs, and got out of the airport - it was around 2 am...the waiting area out side the airport was absolutely packed all along the holding rail...people calling trying to get you to go with them, people with signs with names on them...others waiting for family/friends...nothing like I've seen at any other airport - especially at that time of night/morning...finding Amit's smiling face in the crowd was a huge relief for us all...he had a huge, airconditioned bus waiting for us. We all piled in, exhausted for the ride to the hotel...
The trip in from the airport was an eye-opener for us all...we rode for miles - probably 20 minutes or so...through an area unlike any we had seen before...one hears about people living in such conditions, but it is certainly one thing to hear about it and another to see it....people living in miles and miles of what appears to be shelters put together with whatever they find...lots of people sleeping on the sidewalks - some with only the clothes they wore, some had a blanket, some sleeping on a small triangle of an island where 2 roads come together - cars racing by, horns honking, people walking or riding a bicycle...women alone, children alone...
Imagine our surprise when the bus stops and begins to back up into what looks like an alley in a 'neighborhood' like we had been seeing and it turns out to be our hotel...we were even more surprised when the hotel turned out to be very nice...what a contrast...
We finally made it to bed around 3:30 this morning and had to be up by 8:30 for breakfast...then we were off around 11:15 for an adventure...and since it is well after midnight and we have to be up for breakfast by 7 and loaded in the bus by 8...I'm going to have to continue whenever I can get on-line again...the jet lag hit me at dinner - it started hitting some this afternoon...
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Sounds like a real experience!! Keep posting. Hugs, Christine
ReplyDeletefinally caught up with your blog. Wow...it sounds like visiting Mumbai has already been a life changing experience. I to have seen films and pictures of how poorly so many live, but to actually be in it. I bet you wished you could jump out and give everyone a blanket and food. "Ah but for the grace of God go I....". Am looking forward to your next post. You posted on December 20th, and it showed up in Oregon on December 19th...how does it feel to be a time traveler?
ReplyDeleteKelsey