Mumbai

I am pleasantly surprised by this city so far. Our first day here involved sleep, sleep, and more sleep! (can you blame us after arriving at the hotel at 5am.......after 3 flights, 4 cities, and one delay in HK airport!) Day 2 (yesterday), however, was a good one.

Our hotel is in close proximity to the markets & train station. We did A LOT of walking yesterday.......in amongst the narrow lanes of markets. Did a lot of j walking across the wide lanes of traffic as well (but really.....they don't use the lane markings here - it's just all one big wide mass of traffic & horns!)

We found the silk & fabric markets in the afternoon.....and promptly turned around & headed in the other direction when we realized we had also discovered the animal market :(

A real interesting mix of architechture here: from beautiful, well-maintained colonial high schools, to the towering Gothic train terminal.....to our kitsch 60's style hotel. We even had a game of cards last night in the kidney shaped hotel bar "Chez Nous", which was windowless, and completely covered in velvet-style panelled walls from floor to ceiling. Quite the trip back in time! It certainly lives up to "austin powers" description in our Lonely Planet travel guide :)

We had an amazing veggie meal at a restaurant we discovered across the street from our hotel yesterday........it was packed full of locals (always a good sign)....and it was dirt cheap as well. I must say, I am loving all the food here. Even eating it for breakfast! Yum!!! The only thing I haven't gotten used to yet is the salted fruit juices. I think I still have a bit of a sweet tooth ;)

Today, we are heading over to the school to deliver supplies to the kids. Will let you know how that goes - hopefully I can get another post in before we head out tomorrow for Nasik.

love sarah