24 Hours In A "War Zone"

Up at 4 AM yesterday to get to the airport to catch out flight to Mumbai.  We were led to believe from reports in the news that the whole city was locked down, with machine gun turrets placed on strategic corners manned by vigilant mustache-heavy elite troops.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

We waltzed through immigration with nary a hiccup, and when we approached the secondary bag screening station, we actually got pulled from the line and told to just walk on through.  I guess it was because we were white people, and weren't even on the terrorist radar.  It was a  little disconcerting.  Fortunately, our guy was waiting for us with a crude "Laurel Bailey" sign, and after having our carts hijacked by a couple of airport porters/extortionists, we piled into a deluxe AC taxi.   At least that was how it was billed. 

The boys fell asleep immediately, and on the way in, all the memories of the India I knew came back in spades.  The dense traffic, where use of the horn is the rule as opposed to the exception.  The painted lines that provide the merest hint of lane organization.  The diverse mix of Mercedes and ox carts.   The casual public pissing.   And the smell...

We arrived at the hotel after an hour, and basically hunkered down.   The streets were busy, and from what I could tell, it was business as usual for the people of Mumbai.  We took a brief and somewhat hallucinogenic walk around the neighborhood, but we were in such a sleep-deprived blood sugar crisis zone, we basically went back to the hotel and had something to eat in the hotel restaurant, thereby violating every rule of international travel.  

Around 5 PM, Emma showed up at our door to our great delight.  We just basically crashed after that, and tried our best to get enough sleep to take us through this day's flight to Cochin.  Enough time zone changes already!  We just want to hunker down and chill after this.  We're all really tired of being constantly on the move.  Hopefully next week, we'll be able to find a proper place to live.

And set up a kitchen so we can cook again!