Tin Amigos - Mumbai!

Mumbai was a great place to recover from our crushed Kerala expectations. We flew "The Good Times" and arrived on a lovely Tuesday morning. After some cranky cabbie negotiations, we were soon our our way to the Taj Mahal Palace and Towers. I think I've been forever spoiled. When you start with one of the best hotels in town, how do you ever downgrade? Our rooms were on the 17th floor, overlooking the Gateway of India and the harbor - just beautiful.

We spent the afternoon wandering the Colaba Causeway and having a few beers and some snacks at Leopold's (Shantaram fans will recognize the famous bar from the novel). It's smaller than it seems in the book, but definitely a local expat hang-out and a great place to while away your afternoon. We even strolled through Sassoon docks where the fishing boats come in. This is high on my list of things that I would NOT have been doing without Kevin along, and it may have been the most odoriferous mile in Mumbai, but the waterfront was still pretty, with brightly colored boats and trucks pulling up with their loads of fish.

I have to pause here and say that, although this is probably not technically true, I felt as hot as I have ever been in my life in Mumbai. It's just steamy; you can't step outside without immediately feeling like a dim sum bun. We would practically dive through the revolving doors at the Taj each time we got back. Thankfully, the Taj has a great pool, so we were able to cool down every evening before tackling the trek to dinner. Our first night, we ate in the Taj at Wasabi by Morimoto, which is owned by Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto. The night we ate there, Chef Morimoto himself was in residence, supervising the making of our sushi. It's the first time that I've seen someone star-struck by a chef. We tried to get Kevin to ask for a photo, or "snap" as they say here, but our shy guy was having none of it.

Our second day in Mumbai was spent over breakfast buffet and on a ferry ride to Elephanta Island to see the cave temples. Being out on the water was a nice break from the closeness of the city. I think I lost half the water in my body on the way up to the cave temples, but they were beautiful (and cool) once we got there. It definitely whetted my appetite to go and see the cave temples at Ellora and Ajanta, which are UNESCO sites and supposedly phenomenal. By the time we got back to the Taj, we had our first travel casualty...Kevin got sick and was down for the count (about 24 hours). Do you still call it Delhi Belly in Mumbai? Shannon, Lauren and I entertained ourselves with dinner at Indigo in Colaba, and by a solid day of massages and sunning ourselves by the pool - life is rough all over.

We rounded out our Mumbai experience with dinner at Bademiya, a hoppin' street cafe in Colaba, and an evening of bootleg Bollywood in our hotel room. Little did I know that Shannon would sucker for the melodrama, action, and hot bods that is Bollywood - I've created an addict. With Kevin slowly rejoining the living, we packed up and headed for Udaipur, and the next leg of the adventure.

3 Amigos - Mumbai

The Tin Amigos

I've had my first visitors from home! Mad props to Kevin, Lauren and Shannon for trekking halfway around the world to see little ol' me. It was so great to have familiar faces around (and jokes, and harrassment). I took a week and a half off of work and we set out to see a fair chunk of India. This is the first of several installments of the Adventures of the Tin Amigos (3 amigos).

Kevin, Lauren and Shannon arrived on Sunday the 13th of April. Their first 48 hours in India were typical in that nothing happened exactly as it was planned to happen, and I had my first real face-to-face encounter with the vagaries of Indian travel. Their first day, we rented and rode an elephant, spent 5 hours at champagne brunch, made three trips to the airport to try and find their lost luggage, and went clothes (and bikini) shopping, in anticipation that their luggage wouldn't arrive (which it didn't).

The next morning, with four wardrobes cobbled together from my closet, the Janpath mini-market, and Ambiance Mall, we showed up at the New Delhi domestic terminal to catch our plane to Cochin for beach-going and houseboating. Here's something of the conversation I had as I tried to check us in for our flight:
Jet Airways dude: "Ma'am, you've missed your flight; it left two hours early..."
Me: "Umm....It's 6:30 am and no one notified us that the flight time changed...?"
Jet Airways dude: "Go see the woman at the first desk and she will assist you."
(I explain the situation to Jet Airways woman #1, she passes me to Jet Airways woman #2)
Jet Airways woman #2: "Ma'am, the Cochin airport has been closed and your flight has been cancelled."
Me: "Oh, ok. When will the airport re-open?" (I'm thinking 2-3 hours here)
Jet Airways woman #2: "Ma'am, it will be closed for at least 2 or 3 months."

Our first well-laid plan bites the dust - BIG time. No Kerala for the Tin Amigos. We retreated to the guesthouse to regroup and plan. After some discussion, we booked the best hotel in Mumbai and made a plane reservation on Kingfisher airlines (yes, it's a beer and an airline - 'Flying the Good times') to go a day early, extending our stay to three nights. We then headed off to sightsee in Delhi - Humayun's tomb, Qutub Minar, a little shopping at Dilli Haat and Punjabi By Nature for dinner. Kevin and Lauren fell asleep sitting up as we drive home from dinner - T-r-o-o-p-e-r-s. The next day, Tuesday, we hop a mid-morning flight to Mumbai without incident, and without Tin Amigos' luggage - Yay Kingfisher! We love the Good Times! Boo British Airways baggage handling and American Airlines flight delays. And, yes Mom, I really do have enough clothes for four people.

Ending Radio Silence

So, if you read my blog semi-frequently, you've probably been wondering if I fell off of the face of the earth, or finally met my maker in an autorickshaw, or went AWOL somewhere deep in the Indian hinterland. None of these in fact occurred, but my best creative efforts have been a bit stunted by about five rounds of Delhi Belly. The only blog titles I could think of ran along the lines of, "Sick and Tired, of Being Sick and Tired," and who wants to read that? But, I'm getting back on the blogging bandwagon, and for those of you who like my ramblings, more content is coming soon to a theater near you. In short, in the past 6-8 weeks, I've:

• earned myself the nickname "Petri" and developed an intimate understanding of the Indian antibiotic spectrum
  
• explored three new cities (Mumbai, Udaipur, and Agra) and miles of countryside in between - I love a Rajasthani road trip!
• hosted three friends from the US for a two-week, whirlwind tour of India
• seen TIGERS!
• had at least 3 boozy brunches
• ridden an elephant (again)
• bought enough kurti and chapals (sandals) to open my own store (as per our house staff - "Dad, did you tip them off - are they going to start calling me 'Imelda' too?...")
• ridden the Delhi Metro - the most fun a girl can have for 6 rupees
• and much, much more...

And so, I promise to get busy blogging very soon, and as you can see from the above, there's lots to talk about!