Last full day In India

Today was our last full day in India. We spent it taking a tour of mumbia, which is indias financial Capitol. Mumbia couldn't be any mire different than Delhi. The streets are infinitely cleaner, cows don't roam the highways, drivers actually stay in their lanes, the sidewalks are not congested, high-rises are all along the waterfront etc. Well, at least that's the part of mumbia that we saw. Our tour guide absolutely refused to take us to any other area of town no matter how many times we asked. We were both well aware that the neighborhoods we were shown are nothing like the real Mumbai - a Mumbai which houses one of the biggest shantytowns In the world and has a population of well over 17 million. We knew that our tour guide was lying to us about the nonexistence of Mumbais slums and poverty In order to save face.

we were able to see the oil spill off the Mumbai coast from our airplane. For those of you In the states who are not aware, two ships recently collided and oil spilled all over the place. Don't get too hard on yourself if you weren't aware of this - nobody we spoke to who was from India knew anything about the gulf oil spill either. It just goes to show how little people know about global catasrohpies...

We are staying at the taj hotel. This place is beyond fabulous but a harsh reminder of the reality of terrorism. A shopkeeper at taj told us his story of how he fortunately had left the hotel ten minutes before the terrorist attack. He then proceeded to show us bulletholes In his walls. One of the holes was blocked by a small statue of ganish, the god of good luck. That statue had not been damaged and saved the store from being destroyed. Rachel bought a ganesh necklace after hearing that story, hoping that ganish would provide an equal amount of protection.


We look forward to seeing you all in the states!





From Barbara and Rachel's Ipad

Location:P J Ramchandani Marg,Bombay,India