Leg Three: Hong Kong to Mumbai

Orchid Hotel, Mumbai
August 12-13, 2010

The trip to Mumbai was pretty awesome. We were on a super-cool, newer aircraft. We were seated in the center four seats of the airplane (in big jets like this, there are three seats on each side, with four in the middle) so I couldn't look out the window; that was okay, as we had finally caught up with night, and it was getting dark as we took off.

Moist air blew out of vents above the overhead storage compartments on the plane, and you could see it streaming out like steam from a tea kettle, only cool. The flight attendant came by with a cool, damp cloth for us to wipe our face with. It felt very good.

I will say that Jet Airways has the best looking flight attendants of any airline I've ever seen. The men are very handsome, and the women are beautiful, with perfect hair. The women wear bright yellow jackets which compliment their golden skin and dark hair.

The Jet Airways seats are much more comfortable than on United. There seems to be a little more leg room, and we have our own T.V. screens, right on the back of the seat in front of us. We get to choose what we want to watch. We could choose from Bollywood, Hollywood, or other foreign movies (Chinese martial arts movies, for example), or we could listen to music, read news, or even e-mail, although that last one costs money.

I had bought a fashion magazine in Hong Kong (it was expensive: $10 American, but I wanted a souvenir.) I looked through it for a while.

We had dinner on the airplane, and I have to say that Jet Airways also has the best airplane food I have ever tasted. The dinner was served on a tray, with real silverware and a thick, soft paper napkin. They gave us a choice of fish, chicken curry, or veggie curry. I chose the chicken. It was very good. The curry (chicken in a spicy sauce) was served with rice, roti (a flat, fried bread), raita (yogurt/cucumber sauce), hot peppers on the side (no, thank you), a small salad (mostly carrots) with Italian dressing, and a sweet, dense cake for dessert. There was also a choice of beverages, but I just drank bottled water. Rolled up in the napkin was a packet of sugar and a small package of "mints" which was really roasted fennel seeds mixed with a few candy-coated fennel seeds, and maybe some coconut. Fennel tastes like licorice, and I love it. I don't know the Tamil word for it, but in Hindi, it's called saunf.

All of the announcements and signs on the plane were in both Hindi and English. It was fun trying to decipher the words, though I have to tell you that since I haven't really studied Hindi since last summer, I couldn't recognize as much as I used to. That's sad. I should go back and practice some more.

After dinner I watched a Bollywood movie called "Wake Up Sid", about a spoiled rich guy who is forced to get a life. It was a sappy love story, of course, but I enjoyed it. I started to watch part of another movie, but I fell asleep. I woke up after about a half hour, turned it off, and switched it to music instead. I fell asleep for about another hour. When I woke up, I watched part of "Benny and Joon", an American movie I've seen many times before, but it has Johnny Depp in it, so I could probably watch it a hundred more times and never get sick of it.

The plane actually arrived in Mumbai about 45 minutes earlier than expected, but there were so many flights coming in and out of the airport that we ended up circling the airport for about 50 minutes before we could land. Even then, all of the jet lanes (airplane "parking spaces") were full, so we just parked right in the middle of the runway! A bus came to pick us up and take us to the terminal. We had to walk down a long metal stairway to the tarmac. When I stepped out of the plane, the first thing I noticed was the heat. The air was hot and damp. Oddly enough, the air smelled sort of like bacon. Soon, however, it shifted to that familiar scent of humidity. Once again, I was reminded of my summer on the east coast. In humid places, the heavy air seems to capture and hold scents. One moment, the smell of cooking food. A few moments later, the rich and deep perfume of flowers, and then, perhaps, the acrid smell of rotting garbage.

Being the middle of the night (11p.m. Mumbai time), it was dark and the pavement was wet from recent rain, reflecting all the airport lights: red, white, yellow, and blue. In tropical climates, it rains when it gets very hot. Humidity measures the amount of water in the air. When you have 100% humidity, you have rain. Also, in Mumbai, it is just past monsoon season (It's monsoon season now in the North, causing massive floods in Pakistan and Northern India. Monsoon in Chennai happens between October and mid-December.) During Monsoon, warm winds blow in, bringing very heavy rains.

Since it was late at night, the airport was not too crowded. However, as we had landed in our destination country, there were a lot of steps to go through. While we were still on the plane, we had to fill out a paper with our contact information, visa number, and any declaration of imports, etcetera. Raja filled out all of the paperwork. He told me he would do all the talking, and since he knows the procedure and I don't, I was fine with that. First, we stood in a short line to go through Immigration, where I finally got the first stamp in my passport! There was a woman beside us arguing with one of the guys behind the desk, but it seemed to go pretty smoothly for the rest of us.

After Immigration, we went to the baggage claim to get our suitcases. One after another, the suitcases came out onto the conveyor belt...all except mine! Raja went over to talk to someone who looked official. It turns out that my bag was too late to get on the flight (late? Me?) and so it was put on a later flight. They assured us that it would be there when we arrived in Chennai. Still, we had to fill out a lot of paperwork, telling them what was in my suitcase and giving them an estimate of what it was all worth. I had clothes, gifts, costume jewelry and toiletries in my bag, so we just declared it at 10,000 rupees (about 200 dollars.) That's how much the airline would pay me if my luggage was permanently lost. I'd rather have my stuff, though.

I wasn't upset about all of this. I knew that things like this happen, and I just wanted to "wait and see" before I got upset. I hadn't packed anything expensive in my bag, although some of the things had sentimental value. Plus, in the last couple of days, I had only slept for about 5-6 hours total, so I was really too tired to be mad. Raja laughed and said, "Well, you wanted the Indian Experience" and it's true. I am completely ready to just "go with the flow."

After making our lost luggage claim, we went through customs, where travellers declare ( tell the officials about) anything you might be importing into the country. They specifically asked about new electronics. We said we had nothing to declare. They didn't give us much grief, although they did ask Raja if I was his wife.

The lady we saw arguing with the Immigration officer was now arguing with the customs official. Hari told me later that customs was asking her to pay 50,000 rupees (over $1,000 American) to bring her luggage into India. No wonder she was angry! Remember, most Indians make the equivalent of 700-800 American dollars a year, so that's a lot of money.

We cleared customs and wheeled the bags on a cart to the domestic luggage check in area. We checked Raja's bags into the flight to Chennai, grabbed our carry-ons, and joined the line to enter the main area of the airport. Raja tipped the baggage checker 100 rupees, perhaps as insurance that our luggage would be taken care of. There is tons of security in the Mumbai airport. Probably becuase there is quite a bit of crime and violence in Mumbai, and there have also been terrorist attacks there in the past. There are guards everywhere in blue or brown uniforms, making sure travel is safe. The boys told me that some of the guards carry some pretty heavy weaponry. Like I've said before, I wouldn't want to do anything to get myself in trouble in India.

We walked through the main terminal, and out the doors into a huge, white, brightly lit plaza with pillars wrapped in the colors of the Indian flag: orange, white, and green. Monkey was fascinated by all the insects crawling on the pillar, especially one that looked like a giant ant. He was pretty convinced it was a queen ant. All around the plaza were men holding up signs with names on them. These were all drivers, waiting for the people who had hired cars. Driving is a crazy thing in India, and so most travelers hire drivers or take public transportation. Raja went all around, looking for our driver, but didn't see him. He finally called him, and we went to meet our driver.

The driver led us into a parking garage. This was the worst smelling place I've smelled so far in India, it smelled like garbage and poop. Thank heavens we didn't have to be there for long! The driver led us to his car, a purple Toyota Corolla with "Orchid" written on the side. Probably because Britain used to rule India, Indian driving customs mirror the British: the steering wheel is on the right side of the car, and people drive on the left side of the road (sort of.)

People don't have to wear seat belts in India, but you might want to, because Indian driving is crazy! People drive all over the road. There are no lanes, and people drive so close together, that if you stuck your hand out the window (just your hand, not even your whole arm) you could touch the vehicle next to you. Cars, trucks, auto-rickshaws, motorcycles, and bicycles all share the road, and people just cut in front of each other with minimal warning, mostly just a lot of honking. There are cars honking here day and night. I only saw a few traffic lights on our trip to the hotel. I didn't see any cows, but there were plenty of stray dogs. Most of them were kind of small, say, the size of a half-grown lab.

There were many men just sitting around on the streets. Many were in uniforms, but some were not. We drove by one man just sitting on a slope by the side of the road. There were several tarps strung up like shelters. I wondered if homeless people lived there. We drove through a pretty broken down part of Mumbai, between the International and the Domestic terminals of the airport, which are actually in different buildings. Many of the buildings in this area were light colored, but with filthy windows and what looked like black mold creeping up the walls. It wouldn't be surprising if it was mold, what with the damp climate.

Most airports have a nearby area that is dedicated to hotels for travelers. After about 10 minutes, we pulled into the courtyard of the Orchid Hotel, located in one such area. The Orchid a 5-star hotel, which means it is super fancy. Raja's sister had booked our driver and a night in this hotel. To enter the hotel, we had to walk through a metal detector and be wanded by a security guard. The porter took our bags, and we entered the hotel. At the desk, we had to show our passports.

The lobby to this hotel was absolutely amazing. There was beautiful furniture, and a huge water fountain that reached from the ceiling to the floor. I kept thinking about all that water. Water is a precious commodity in India. We went up to our room and I took a shower. After two days of traveling, it was pure bliss. In most hotels, they give you free soap, shampoo, and conditioner. Sometimes they give you lotion. This hotel had soap, shampoo, conditioner, bubble bath, powder, lotion, loofah sponges, toothbrushes, sewing kits, shower caps...it was pretty cool. Plus, their tolietries were the best I've ever smelled in a hotel. I took all the extras (they expect that you will do that, which is why they are all travel sized.)

When I originally wrote this, we were in the hotel room watching Bollywood music videos on TV. As I wrote, the kids cuddled in bed. I called my mom to tell her I was okay and had arrived safely. It was nice to talk to her from so far away.

We took a nap for about an hour or two, then ordered continental breakfast (pastries, toast, juice and tea.) It was my first Indian tea, but considering that it was just regular black chai (tea), and not "special" (spiced) chai, it tasted just like British tea. :)

I have more to write, but it's getting late, and I need to download all of my pictures from my camera. Tomorrow we will formulate a plan to see the sights, and maybe do some shopping. Until then, be good!