Hello from Mysore, Karnataka, India!  Here is the first India report.

MUMBAI

I arrived at 1:00am, and despite the very clear instructions in my Rough Guide about how to get a taxi to town, I could barely figure it out...  I prepaid for a taxi in the airport, then, exited to a mass of people like I have never seen.  People surrounded the airport five or six deep with no space in between.  I have since learned that personal space does not exist here... you just shove your way through!! 

Met Veirus's sister Eunice and his friends Iris and Ryan.  This was a good way to start off in India - with some insider scoop - otherwise it would have probably taken a couple more days to get to square one.

This city is teeming with people, dogs, cars, "wallahs" (vendors), chickens, smells, blinking chinese toys for sale, etc etc etc.  A high energy level like New York.  But, a dog might sleep right in the middle of one of the major intersections; and, despite cars, mopeds, and buses zooming by in all directions (I haven't yet figured out what the white street lines mean here yet), the dog sits there licking himself and doesn't get hit.  Like an acid trip.  In NYC it is constant "flow" with a pause here and there; in Mumbai it is constant "flow" and if it slows down, just change your direction slightly!! 

I wake up and have a fresh coconut for breakfast - for $0.25 a boy will lump off the top of a coconut and put in a straw - you can get extra meaty coconuts if you like.  When you are done drinking they take a machete and cut the coconut in half so you can enjoy the meat.  They will also run two sugar cane stalks through a machine and the tasty juice spills directly into your glass.

THE FOOD!

Without a doubt, I am having the best food of my life.  New flavors every day.  I have not even had chinese food for two weeks (never thought that would happen), despite it seeming to be the second-most offered cuisine after Indian. 

Learned to eat with my fingers (squish the meat, rice, and spices in your fingers (right hand only) then put it up to your mouth and use your thumb as a scooper - wash the hand later).  This came in especially handy when I tried brain masala - just scoop it up with the bread and down the hatch!  Still don't know brain of "what".

Friday I went with Eunice to an island with some ancient carvings - we decided to take a walk up the mountain.  On the way, we bought three bananas from an old lady; then, as we were walking, two monkeys came up to us.  When monkeys smell bananas (even if in your backpack or whatever), they go "ape sh*t" ...  so I throw two bananas at them... what a mistake... within seconds there is screeching coming from the woods, and monkeys are jumping out from all over...  Even though they surrounded us, Eunice and I resisted the impulse to retreat and continued on to the top of the mountain, where the views were spectacular.

 

More later!

Steve