Mumbai

This has been a great day!

Breakfast on the veranda on the third floor of our hotel (4th floor at home, here it is ground, 1st, 2nd, etc.) We have internet connection through a USB modem that I have for use here in India. It is really slick. So after doing some internet work and eating we headed off to explore the city.

Ragu was standing down at the corner with his taxi. The door man and I talked with him and soon we had made arrangements for him to take us around the city. We headed for The Gateway of India. It was an hour and a half drive for us to get there. But along the way we saw many things that were part of daily life in India. It is remarkable how much of daily life and activity goes on "on the street." It seems to easily let a person with a sense of "sensory over load."

While at the Gateway we also took time to walk through the Tag Mahal Hotel that is along the water front. It is truly a luxory hotel. It was interesting to just see some of how it was built. No one seemed to mind our walking through. We did get to a court yard where we encountered a sign that told us this area was for hotel guest only, so we did not continue.

The we continued on to see Kamala Nehru Park, Malabar Hill. This was a special stop for me because I remember coming to this park when I was nine or ten. It was enjoyable to share parts of Mumbai with others today.

We then made our way back into the part of Mumbai where we are staying. There we went to a nice restaurant at the suggestion of our driver, Raju. He did very well with his recommendation.

After lunch, which started at 3:00 p.m. we took care of getting my mobile phone operational and walked around a little in that part of the market. We had a good cup of tea and then made our way back to our hotel in auto rickshaws. It wasn't a long ride, but at least it gave the experience.

Our wake-up call tomorrow comes at 3:30 a.m. We leave at 4:00 a.m. for the airport and our 5:35 a.m. flight for Orissa and our projected 7:35 a.m. arrival there.