February 5, 2019
Well, things got off to a pretty rocky start. We boarded our Newark-Mumbai flight (which is 16 hours long!) and sat on the tarmac for 3.5 hours before the captain informed us the communications systems were down and we were heading back to the gate. It was already close to midnight and we’d been traveling since 5am California time. United delayed the flight until 9am the next morning and put us up in a hotel. It was surprisingly easy to spend all $90 of our food vouchers on breakfast the next morning. Happy birthday to me! The flight the next morning sat on the tarmac for another 1.5 hours before taking off, and there was a cheer when we finally got airborne. So ready to be done when we landed in Mumbai.
Mumbai was as big, busy, polluted, and horn-honky as promised. The air quality was the same as it was in California during the Camp Fire a few months back. Kind of crazy. We stayed in Colaba near the Gate of India. Our sleep schedules were pretty off from jet lag, but we did manage to get out and see Elepanta Caves, which is a cave temple with beautiful Hindu carvings of Shiva from the 6th century. We also took a short walk to look at some of the colonial/art deco archetecture, incidentally (accidentally?) experiencing rush hour in the process. Definitely got the feeling of swimming upstream. Other than that we settled into travel life and started to figured out the basics: food, ATMs, and onward travel. Next stop: Hampi.
Well, things got off to a pretty rocky start. We boarded our Newark-Mumbai flight (which is 16 hours long!) and sat on the tarmac for 3.5 hours before the captain informed us the communications systems were down and we were heading back to the gate. It was already close to midnight and we’d been traveling since 5am California time. United delayed the flight until 9am the next morning and put us up in a hotel. It was surprisingly easy to spend all $90 of our food vouchers on breakfast the next morning. Happy birthday to me! The flight the next morning sat on the tarmac for another 1.5 hours before taking off, and there was a cheer when we finally got airborne. So ready to be done when we landed in Mumbai.
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| Breakfast birthday drinks at Newark. Thanks United! |
Elephanta Caves
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| Tim in Elephanta Caves |
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| Elephanta Caves - Mariel for scale |
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| Entrance to Elephanta Caves |
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Mumbai City
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| Taj Palace Hotel - the second most photographed landmark in India |
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| Goat in Colaba Market |
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| Mumbai Municipal Corporation in rush hour |
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| Hazy view of Mumbai skyline |
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| Outside Colaba Market |
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| Fishermen at dawn |
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