Live From Mumbai!

We've arrived! After over 20 hours of flight Kris and I have arrived in Mumbai and are settling in at our friends Namita and Aneesh's house. We've had a bit of jetlag, but are so happy to have started our adventures. Our friends had a baby last November and he is amazingly cute and such a happy little guy. His name is Niel and we've had a great time hanging out with him.

Today we took a cab ride into town, a gut wrenching experience, as everyone drives looking out for their own, squeezing 4 cars across a 2 lane highway with pedestrians darting in between. That worked up quite an appetite for lunch at an amazing restaurant called Khyber. Before we left the U.S. a few people asked us if the Indian food in India was better than it was in the U.S., and now that we are here we know that the simple answer is yes, definitely yes! Our plates were piled high with kebabs, palak masala, nann and chicken tika masala... everything was amazingly delicious and we are still full, even though lunch was over 8 hours ago. After lunch we wandered around an area called Colaba, looking over street vendors stands selling fruit, jewelry, purses, T-shirts, you name it. And, I'm happy to report that we were approached not once but twice to star in a Bollywood film. Apparently we have a big future here and it's tempting to stay for our true calling, Bollywood.

We also made it to the gateway of India, a huge landmark where the English first arrived in India. It's right across from the Taj Hotel, where the terrorist attacks occurred in November of last year. We went inside the hotel and walked around some. They have a memorial statue up in the main lobby in tribute to all the staff and guests who lost their lives. Parts of the hotel that were used by the terrorists while the military tried to gain control of the situation were still closed off. The media reported that around 300 people were either injured or killed in the attacks, but our friends say that a more accurate number is closer to 1,000. Pretty sad. At first the media reported that there were 20 people responsible for the attacks, then 12 were captured or killed, after which the media changed the number of people responsible to 12. Needless to say, the media is not always to be trusted, but regardless of the fact it is truly a sad memory in Mumbai history.

After that we cabbed home, which in Mumbai traffic took 90 minutes to get the 12 miles back. And cabs are supposedly the most efficient way to get around. Tonight we' re going to spend the night at home catching up with our friends and sleeping off the rest of our jet lag. We have another 4 full days in the city to explore and wander, who knows whats next:)