A Taste of India

To Mumbai, India -- Day 1

Today we planned to leave at 9:30 in the morning to catch our Mumbai flight, so naturally, right before we climbed into the Uber taxi, Mom realized she forgot a small bag up in the hotel room.  Kylie and Dad kept the Uber driver company, while Mom and I went up to the twelfth floor getting both the bag and Mom’s Coke (Dad’s edit: very, very important!).  We got a nice message from my cousin Lauren on the way to the airport.  She made me feel a lot better about losing Lemme.

Hazy view of the Burj Khalifa

When we got to the airport, we were stunned that we could walk right up to the checkout counter, and, as a result, didn’t even have a chance to stuff our backpacks into our traveling duffels.  We couldn’t believe it.  Unlike most airports, there was hardly a soul there.  Just for fun, we rode the gigantic elevators with the glass walls up and down, then ate a nice snack before saying goodbye to Dubai. 

Giant Elevator

The King, Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan

Final snack

This was another Emirates Air flight, so the plane was nice and we had fun with the video games.  We also got two more stuffed animals: Kylie got a “penguin” called Eric the Eagle, and I got a hedgehog that I named, Hedge. 

When we landed in Mumbai, it wasn’t that different inside the airport, but when we went outside to find our pre paid taxi (Dad’s note: just for fun we opted for the low cost cab without air conditioning), there was a noticeable change.  Guards outside the doors had rifles, and there were rows and rows of identical, tiny blue cabs.  As we walked to zone 6, the cabs all changed to black and yellow.  I was relieved to see they all had four wheels.  When we found our cab, number 5388, it came as a shock to me that there was no room inside for our bags.  The driver pointed to the metal rack on the roof.  To be safe, Kylie quickly took Mr. Monster and Rocko from her bag before Dad hoisted it onto the roof.  Luckily, the driver did have some ropes to help secure the bags.

Ready to go

The traffic for me was a huge surprise.  People honked just because, and as for the car lanes, who needs them!  Cars, trucks and motorcycles took up every possible space there was.  Fortunately, all the vehicles were narrower than back home.  Cars were so close sometimes, I could have touched them through the open window.  Sometimes, I had to pull my head back in so I didn’t get hit.

It seemed to be a festive time, or maybe it’s always that way.  There were lots of colorful lights hanging all over the place and tons of people walking around.  We saw lots of stray dogs and cats and even a cow – holy cow!  You’d have to be pretty gutsy to cross the street because no one slows down.  We were all very grateful that we didn’t have to drive here.  I’ve watched a Top Gear episode when they were in India, but I thought it was just bad luck with all the traffic, but really, I think India is like this all the time.

When we finally arrived at our hotel, we found that it was one large room, but with only three places to sleep.  Oh well, I don't mind sleeping on the floor. 

I was not interested in going out for dinner, and Dad was tempted to leave me because of my bad mood, but I decided to come along anyway.  We walked a block to the Ideal Restaurant, literally, that’s the name.  We had butter and plain naan, chicken tikka masala, and a paneer butter masala.  It was awesome, and the flavors were great.  We all tried eating with just our right hands, but Mom and Dad used their forks and I used two hands.  Amazingly, Kylie finished the entire meal with just her right hand.  From now on, I will try too.  I can’t wait to see what chaotic traffic and delicious food we’ll have tomorrow.

End of dance party across from hotel