Back in India!

It is most wonderful to be back in India. I believe this is my sixth time here (I need to check my passport, as my work trips were such a blur). I thought coming back would take a few days of adjustment, but it seems I've slipped into my 'dealing-with-India' mode with ease. I think this due, in large part, to being in Africa for two months before hand :) Egypt has many of the same sights, sounds, and traffic. While Tanzania is clearly third-world and also totally messed up by the British - so there are many common themes. Mumbai so far has been quite delightful, and so far we've not been caught out in the rain. Though its only a matter of time before we get a solid dousing...

Many times people have horrible experiences arriving in the country. I had been worried about this but thankfully our first night went quite smooth. Our plane was on time and the Mumbai airport is far nicer than the hovel that is Bangalore International. Our bags came up (last, but still they arrived) and we made it through Customs without any hassle. This is unlike previous adventures I've had importing computer equipment for work that I'd rather not spell out here... :)

Our hotel (Hotel Benzy Palace) had a nice English speaking driver to pick us up. And we got checked in without hassle at 2:00am. Three cheers for my Mom for finding a decent place to stay right next to the airport for cheap! (well, $50, but this is cheap for airport accommodation).

We are currently staying at a funny place called the Railway Hotel which besides our neighbor and someone's annoying cell phone, is working out great. It is also right next to the railway station, which is handy as we went over there three times to get a ticket booked south to Goa. Remarkably, our dealing with the largest employer and bureaucracy in India (the Railway system) went quite nicely once we found the Tourist Counter. For $50 we have two first class tickets (2AC, to be exact) south to Goa. I'm excited for the ride, and thankfully, it is not going to be an overnight ride (see Alicia's previous post).

I'm super glad to have our arrangements for Goa figured out. We've been working on endless options for what to do for my birthday for what seems like a week now. The plan is currently to go to the town on Anjuna on the beach. This is usually filled with crazy backpackers (mostly Israeli's recently out of the Army who go a bit nuts), but since we are going super-off-season we should have the town mostly to ourselves and the torrential rains.

So travel agent time is done and exploring Mumbai time shall begin after this post (we've so far covered only about a 2km walk). First stop will likely be Leapold's in Colaba - main location for happenings in one of our favorite books Shantaram.