Back From India

We just got back from visiting Mumbai, India. We didn’t get to see most of the things we were planning to visit, because they were having a late monsoon season, and a lot of the roads were flooded. Even getting to our hotel was a problem for the taxis and ubiquitous rickshaws.

Our friends told us that India only has two types of hotels, 5-star or 2-star, nothing in between. We also learned that all hotels, regardless of stars, are ridiculously overpriced in Mumbai.

Initially we stayed at the Executive Enclave hotel. This is a small hotel in the suburb of Bandra. Not from the 5-star variety. The Singaporeans would likely describe it as "very local."

The hotel is located across from a slum. The view from our window was the tops of tarps and corrugated sheetmetal of the shantytown. The rooms were dirty and small.

The hotel promotes itself as good central location and a convenient jumping-off point for seeing Bandra. Unfortunately, the monsoon kept us from venturing out, so we missed that benefit. But it did have another important benefit: the food was excellent. Being shut in by the rain, we ordered room service and enjoyed it quite a bit despite the conditions of the room.

After two nights at the Executive Enclave, we upgraded our next location to the Taj Lands End. A 5-star hotel; also overpriced. But paying way too much is somehow more palatable when your drinking water is safe, your room is dry, and you're sipping champagne in the club room, watching the storms roll in over the Arabian Sea.

The rain finally released us on the last two days of our stay. We ventured out into Bandra to do some sightseeing and shopping. Mostly we just needed to get outside and experience the crowds and chaos of the city.

We drove around in taxis without seatbelts and rickshaws with canvas flaps instead of doors.

Because of the monsoon, the city was extra crowded. Even the locals had been on lock-down because of the rain, so like us, they were now scrambling around the city making up for lost time.

Because of the traffic, we never made it to any of the touristy places, so we bring back no stories or photos from any big landmarks. Just lots of ordinary street scenes of some of the 16 million residents of Mumbai.

According to our taxi driver, nearly 60% of the city’s residents live in slums. We’ve traveled in Asia quite a bit now, but we were not prepared for widespread poverty and poor conditions in the city. Visiting India puts some perspective on the privileges of growing up in middle-class America. It also puts into perspective the conditions of the homeless-by-choice crowd back home in Santa Cruz.

Other than the monsoon, the other distinguishing events from our stay were the near daily bombings. The evening we arrived, there were 7 explosions in Bangalore. The next day, there were 17 more attacks in Ahmedabad. Two days later, the police thwarted another attack by uncovering and defusing 18 more bombs in Surat.

Despite the rain, the bombings, and the food-borne illness I suffered on the last day, leaving India was difficult.

Not figuratively. Literally.

Our flight was at 11:30 PM, but by 9:00 PM with 2 1/2 hours to spare, the hotel concierge was alarmed that we had not yet left.

I previously took a taxi to the domestic terminal to change our reservations (they couldn’t take my credit card over the phone), and it only took about 1/2 an hour. The international terminal was only a bit farther, so I figured we had plenty of time.

But I was wrong. Departing from the Mumbai airport was the worst airport experience I’ve ever had.

Like the city, the Mumbai airport is crowded and chaotic. It is poorly designed and unprepared for the capacity it serves. To make matters worse, it lacks any useful signs or directions.

We got to the airport on time, but we used up two hours waiting in confusing stretches of unmarked queues through dirty and sometimes completely unlighted corridors. When we got to our gate, there was no plane waiting. Instead, we boarded a bus that took us back the way we came -- past all the gates we previously walked by in the dark. They dropped us off in what looked like an airplane graveyard.

But things improved when we got in our plane, and the return trip was uneventful. When we first arrived in India we were fumigated in the plane -- a stewardesses walked up and down each isle spraying insecticide foggers in the air from each hand. Apparently this is required by their aviation transportation regulations.

They warned us, "you may wish to cover your eyes and mouth." Thankfully this insult was not repeated on our departure. They fogged us traveling to Mumbai but not out. Given the cleanliness of Singapore versus Mumbai, it would have made much more sense the other way around.

Fumigation aside, we do plan to go back to India when the monsoons and bombings are over.

(View as slideshow on www.flickr.com)