returned to india again. this time mumbai and down the coast to goa. i might just have to move there someday...

little details:

• color :: color :: color and beautiful decay
• my favorite moment was surprising a little boy (like 4 years old) carrying a tub of water through the dharavi slums. i grabbed it from him to carry it to his father and he was so happy. sweetest smile of relief i have ever seen.
• getting the whole row to ourselves on the way out was amazing. we each had our own mini-bed!
• the obvious: it's crazy hot
• rickshaw and taxi craziness
• we love the micro-business aspect of india and wish we had that here
• addresses are totally random, an official address might literally read "next to dominoes pizza"
• the indescribable energy of india
• seeing the many places the terrorists attacked
• learning the talent of trying to cross any road in mumbai
• gained 5 lbs from their damn buttery ghee naan and paneer tikka. worth every bit of it!
• andrea making a fort on the train for her bed area with star wars sheets
• men in what feels like the thousands everywhere, and some of them sure can stare
• customer service there is lacking. andrea is told that they "can't separate the doughtnut from coffee". the doughnut was right there staring at us but you had to order a coffee to buy it.
• constuction workers are barefoot
• adam orders a veggie pizza mcpuff at mcdonalds
• commercials geared toward women becoming "more" white, some lotions called "stay white" and "white perfect"
• the beauty of the beach goers and the mosque and Juhu beach
• 13 people die everyday on the trains in mumbai
• andrea loses her wallet...arg...but to make up for it we went to a spa and got pedicures, a scrub and foot massage!
• beautiful banyan trees
• traffic is ridiculous and crazy, no lanes, and yet everyone stares in shock and gathers in confusion when there is an accident
• announcers at dept stores sound like the grocery announcer in the movie the good girl. incredibly funny.
• andrea's rickshaw was somehow always cheaper
• the endless playfulness and energy of the girls at the sharanam shelter
• street sleepers tucked in an quietly sleeping everywhere
• in an upscale bombay dance club we got rick-rolled but everyone was from the UK or India so they didn't know they were being rolled
• they call any event a "program" (like parades, speakers, etc) and they have a lot of programs happening randomly all the time everywhere
• loved it when people get out of their cars to take over directing traffic because it's such a mess and they get yelled at by everyone around them for doing so
• the excitement of almost being run down by rickshaws, dogs, holes in the sidewalk or cows :-)
• the little ferry boat dude who only goes about 5 feet across some polluted water
• bean bag --who the hell is bean bag and why is he spray painting the whole city?
• dancing late into the night at the club
• i enjoyed seeing signs like "modern medical clinic" on building about to fall apart and the sign decayed and almost falling off
• desperately wanted to buy the electric grapes some taxis were sporting in their windows
• seeing a beautiful kingfisher bird in goa
• riding wave runners in goa with adam near an old abandoned tanker in the ocean
• the smile on the waiters face who seemed so happy to work at this new restaurant and teach us to use olive and balsamic on our bread
• the bollywood billboard with every form of murder depicted on it
• andrea and adam buying the drums from the drum dudes and then more drum dudes...swarmed by drum dudes at the flea market

karilyn is our pal who lives in India. she is an ex-pat who loves the country but a lot of things still drive her crazy of course. we suggested she start a reality show called "Flipped Out in India". we loved every minute of it...thank you K for such a good time! karliyn is driven crazy by:

• ice cream man charging too much for popsicles
• the shoe shine guy trying to charge andrea too many rupees...brought down from 80 to 30 rupees
• the maid telling her to reduce (her size). they are very forward there :-)
• the elevator guy not doing anything when you walk in the elevator...but staring at you
• department stores not having change for you
• the tailor making the curtains too short but refusing to use a tape measure

phrases:

• yes, madame
• chelo -let's go
• bysob -brother
• sidha -straight
• what country madame
• you cannot bobble head your way out of everything
• same same but different
• loose motions --for what inevitably happens to your bowels in india
• are you a parsi or what? (parsi people have a rep of being very honest)

places we visited:

• dharavi slums --amazing
• sharanam shelter for girls
• restaurants: olive, swati snacks, jimmy boy, candies, the bagel store (sorta bagels), copper chimney, basilico, leopold cafe. kareems (the paneer king), papa pancho
• foods: gujurati, parsi, north and south india
• chowpatty beach
• juhu beach
• fort area
• dhobi mahalaxmi ghat (laundry)
• taj mahal palace and hotel
• colaba market and crawford market place (fruit/veg, silk, gold, spice, flower, food, etc markets)
• chhatrapati shivaji train station
• haj ali mosque
• jama masjid mosque
• chor bizaar & thieves market, esp Mini Market Bollywood shop
• bombay panjrapole cow shelter
• ghandi museum, mani bhaven
• GOA: anjuna flea market, panjim, old goa, candolim beach
• didn't make it to: banganga tank neighborhood (malabar hill), asha sadan orphanage

reminders:

• count on market items being half the price, use your skillz. generally if it was 150 rupees i would pay 50 rupees
• even your carry on needs a tag and stamp from security
• toilet: pay and get water then pee. i got some of this order mixed up and it kinda makes a big difference :-)
• ask for taxi card. meter amount is a ref to taxi card
• train station: pay in foreign currency...they have a fear of black market money and prefer to see your atm withdrawal receipt or just have you pay in US dollars
• trains: if you ride first class, you can ride in the men's or women's section (as a woman). the walls in the station are color coded so you know where the train stops for your sections. yellow/orange stripes is first class area. first class just means slightly less people.
• rickshaws and taxis are ridiculously cheap. we drove an hour 1/2 and paid $5. local rickshaw drives were like $.30