it's 1:30am (saturday night/sunday morning) and i am forcing myself to stay awake in order to get on the night shift track for work. i had just gotten over jet lag and into proper daytime in mumbai, and now i am having to switch back to u.s. time. well only four more hours to go, then i'm allowed to sleep.
hong kong - i had a 7+ hour layover in hong kong, so took the train into city center, rode the ferry to tsim sha tsui and got lunch at a street stall (some funky but yummy dim sum, big rice noodle thingy and fish balls.) got back to the airport just in time for my flight to mumbai via bankok.
mumbai, what a city. crowded, noisy dirty. like new york but much more so. keep the heat and humidity, throw in some cows on the streets, guys carry huge boxes, jugs, cinderblocks, etc on their heads, constant honking of car horns. now make the buildings older and much more dilapidated, add many more beggars and then we need the slums. oh and the traffic, whoa-ie. crossing the street is like that old video game, frogger. shrink the cab size but not the number of them, and have each of them lane-splitting to get the best position in traffic. and did i mention the honking?
there's also the hip and glamorous young things, swanky restaurants, bright lights-big city with wonderful old buildings all lit up at night, and you can find streets lined with colorful flower strands of marigolds, jasmine and roses.
breakfast is included at my hotel, so i had the pleasure of listening to muzak every morning in the restaurant (while i was still on the day shift). fortunately i was able to balance that out with hindi musicals on tv in the evenings.
i spent my first day walking. all day. i wanted to get a better sense of the city than i would have gotten by taking a taxi to and fro. but i was hot and tired by the end. it's exhausting walking around having to watch yourself every second so as not to step in any yucky stuff on the sidewalks (as if there really are any sidewalks), fall in a hole, get hit by a car, get approached by someone wanting you to buy something, etc. i needed a break so ducked into the overly fabulous taj hotel. i sneaked in and hung around the pool for a little while.
at dinner that night with my future co-workers, i told them where all i'd walked. they suggested i sign up for the mumbai marathon (asia's biggest). i don't think i'm ready for that, but i did a 30 minute "run" on the treadmill tonight to see if i might be able to do the 7K fun run instead.
had thanksgiving dinner (turkey and all) with a couple americans (friends of a friend who are also in mumbai for a few months of work) and their array of local friends here in the city, including a bollywood director and screenwriter. i didn't rub elbows with the stars though. they lent me a book which is supposed to be very good, called "maximum city: bombay lost and found." they also recommended "bombay duck." so if any of you are interested in reading about this place, try those two books.
friday i took a ferry ride to elephanta island to check out the old buddhist carvings in the caves. got accosted by a fierce monkey. he tried to steal my water bottle (twice), but i held my own even when he snarled at me - evil monkey.
my fiend who does aids activism in the u.s. and worldwide put me in touch with a colleague here in india. i'll meet with subha next week to see about doing some volunteer work on weekends. she also suggested i do the marathon as part of their group (visibility and all that). so i guess i need to start training -- only 6 weeks left.
i'm looking forward to a visit from bria next week as she passes through mumbai on her way to karnataka. might see zoey and amanada too, but i just don't know. um, y'all need to let me know where you are in this big country...
hey, i read in paper recently that india is the world's largest democracy (population wise), and the world's fifth largest economy (i think it's fifth, but don't quote me.) also today i read that according to the "gini index" of economic disparity between rich and poor that belarus is best (#1) along with a couple other eastern european countries, japan and some scandanavian countries in the top ten. india is around 58th and the u.s. around 79th. interesting.
ok, it's now 2:30am...3 more hours, but maybe i can cheat a little since i still have sunday night to move into new shift.
