Mumbai

Hey, Moms sorry it has been a while but yes we are still alive!!!.

Feb 3rd. Don and I are so glad to be finally on our last flight. Our flight to frankfurt was delayed an hour and as we were only scheduled for an hour wait in germany we were concerned that we would no make our connection. To our delight after a weird bus ride to the terminal and a mad sprint to our gate we got there before the line had all gone through. The plane we are on now is by far the biggest either of us has ever been on. There are two levels, and probably about twenty bathrooms. We are having trouble deciding whether to sleep but really there is no way to avoid the jet lag that is to come. The guy that is sitting with us on the plane is very friendly and eager to help. He chatted quite a bit with Don about good sites in India and told us that he was a shipman returning home to mumbai from spain after five months. - Lindsay

Feb 4th

So as it turns out I had never really experianced culture shock before. Today, likely because of sleep deprivation and the fact that we arrived in total darkness... I kind of freaked out... Don was fine though so it was easily overcome. The only problem with cuture shock is that it can be very hard to sleep... Which as it turns out is exactly what I need. When you arrive at night all you see is dirty walls, streets, and stray dogs, and boarded up shops with the occasional person sleeping in a lawnchair. It seemed quite desolate and alien. Now that I have slept, the sound of strange birds and incessant honking is far more exciting. Looking out the window of our hotel room, I can see all manner of traffic as well as some trees that appear to be growing through the building. -Lindsay

We don't know what to think! We are very jetlaged and to top it all off we both feel sick. (already!) I feel weak, dizzy and cranky. Which may be why neither of us have found much about mumbai that we like. People so far don't seem very friendly with the exception of the odd kid. And few seem to know much english. Today we took the adventurous cab ride from the airport to colaba (the region where you find piles of shops, the taj and the gateway to india). We walked there stopping at "mac donald" to eat (food didn't seem great but it is hard to tell when you are already sick) and then we promptly got lost. Mumbai has a very busy and repeating landscape with few street signs not to mention that the map we have is far from accurate. -Lindsay

Feb 5th

Today we found a new hotel (very budget) in a more interesting part of town. The first people we got a chance to interact with were tourists (our age) from the UK and Scotland. They were really nice and took us to a nice restaurant and really really lifted our spirits. Now is the first time we have felt good on the trip. We have decided that most of Lindsays ailments have been due to Malarone. Luckly they are supposed to be short lived. Today we are heading to the CST train station to try and get tickets to Dehli. -Don