<![CDATA[

Mumbai (Bombay), India

Well, my trip started on December 20th, with my flight from London-Bombay to meet my family. Unfortunately, we had some unwelcome “excitement” (excitement is not the right word, but I’m not sure what is…) Tragedy struck for one family when a member of their group passed away in-flight. I felt bad for not offering my services as a first aider, however, after 30 mins of attempting to resuscitate the man (I believe), the pilot broke the news to his family. And we were only 1.5 hrs in. From some of the people who did try to help, it sounds like it was a heart attack, and there was really nothing that could be done. That being said, the crew handled the situation wonderfully, staying calm, comforting the family, but not worrying the rest of the flight. As the flight was FULLY booked, they couldn’t even move people. One person in business class must have moved, as they put the body there (in one of the nice, single seats) for the remaining 7 hrs. I felt really bad for the family, having to be stuck on a plane. What an awful way to either start or end a holiday. Once we landed, we had to remain on the plane until the medical crew was able to remove the body and allow the family off.

Getting into India was fun. Customs lady was not happy that my paper was not impeccable, and I had to refill it, and get back in line. As I landed an hour earlier than the rest of my family, I wasn’t too concerned, trying to hang out and wait for them. It took forever for them to get their bags though. I found another girl (German) who was also waiting for the flight from Frankfurt to land to meet her mom. By the time everyone got there, and we got to the hotel, it was 3:30 am. Mark, Kathryn and I got a suite (as we were a triple room). We got luxuries our parents didn’t!!

As tired as I was, I still had to take melatonin to sleep! You would think that being awake for more than 24hrs would allow you to sleep well, but apparently my body has gotten used to being up for long periods of time (record is almost 48hrs, during travel or 72hrs with 8 hrs of sleep total in 3 days).

Anyways, at 1pm the next (well, technically same) afternoon, we dragged ourselves down to meet our driver and guide for tour around Mumbai. We started out at the Dhobi Ghats, or the Laundry area. This is basically only a highlight for tourists, as Indians would rather not associate with the lowest caste. It is very neat how they wash everything. Nowadays, as most people have in home washing machines, the Ghats are now primarily used for hotel, hostel and restaurant laundry. It takes a lot of work to do this all by hand.

From here, we went through one of the richest neighbourhoods (although 5 star hotels have shanties right next to them). One multimillionaire has a $1billion house (I think), with 27 floors, complete with a helipad and in home gym. And this is for a family of 5. It’s amazing how the extremely rich are right alongside the poor. I’m surprised there has not been a revolt.

At the Hanging gardens, we got a lovely view of the Queen’s necklace (Marine Drive) and also got a very disturbing description of why the hanging gardens exist. They are not hanging, per say, but are covering a water reservoir. The reason they had to cover the reservoir, is that one of the religious groups, the Parsis, leave their dead to the elements, so that the bodies can be returned to the earth. The problem was that vultures would take pieces of the flesh, and then come to the reservoir to drink, and sometimes drop pieces into the water, thus contaminating it. Lovely :S We did end up with a temporary pet dog, as he followed us around.

After this, we headed down to the Gateway of India and the Taj Palace hotel. It is quite busy here, with some vendors before security. I guess there were terrorist attacks here in 2008? so now, everyone has to go through security. Men and women separately. It is one time where being a female is advantageous. There are so many more men here, that the lines for women are shorter. The gateway is quite beautiful, very intricate. The Taj Palace is also a sight to see. I guess it was built after an Indian business man was not allowed into another hotel, due to the colour of his skin. He vowed to build a more grand hotel, and did so. Now, the other hotel is abandoned.

Finally by this point, we were tired and ready to go home. We stopped at some grossly overpriced tourist shops and drove past the Victoria Terminus train station and the Ali Dargha mosque as the sun was setting.

We were so tired that we had dinner at the hotel. It was fine dining, but also came at a fine dining price. The restaurant is new, called Le Cirque, and there are only a few others, one in NY and one in New Delhi. The food was delicious, but it hurt the pocketbook!

]]>