The thing that smacks you in the face straight away in Mumbai is the poverty. It is like nothing either of us have seen to date. At the same time though, it's tough to differenciate the poverty. Someone that might own a small shop on the street may also sleep on the street next to his shop. But, the truly destitute are hard to miss. Mothers with one or two kids sleeping on the sidewalk, the blind, amputies, you name it. And unlike the US where you may feel like the vast majority of folks begging are using it for booze or drugs, here they just need to eat.
It's tough to get your head around it and realize you are not here to fix India. You're here to see the country, leave a fair amount of cash through your travels, and maybe help out a few folks along the way. We actually met a couple of British ladies in there mid to late 50s that had traveled in India quite a bit. They suggested you set an amount you'd like to "donate" each day, and only spend that. Otherwise, in their words "India can eat you alive".
On the same note, the other thing about Mumbai is the massive spread in wealth in one area. You can literally step over a mother sleeping on the street with her two children on your way into a bar where they serve $12 dollar cocktails. I guess that is an extreme case of a 3rd world country pushing at lightspeed toward the first world. Unfortunatly the prosperity tide doesn't raise all boats.
We did spend a few hours walking around Mumbai. Bought some train tickets and visited the Taj hotel, which was the scene of the Nov 26 terror attacks. We also had dinner at Leopold's which is an institution in Mumbai. Had the best Indian dish of my life here. And this place is more of a bar than a well regarded Indian restaurant. We also downed several Kingfisher beers.
The following day we boarded a train for Udaipur. We needed to connect to a night train half way through the journey. Unfortunately we arrived at our connection about 10 min after our night train was to depart. After a race throught the station we made it. Thankfully.
Udaipur is a wonderful city set on a lake and boosted our feelings toward India after Mumbai. We spent two nights and three full days there. Udaipur is best known for the Lake Palace which is now a hotel and was featured in the Bond movie Octopussy.
We splurged a bit by Indian standards and spent $20 on a great hotel room (negociated down from $35). The hotel was owned by a great couple. He was a very well regarded artist and she did cooking classes at the hotel. We did buy some art and also took a cooking class. Turns out Indian food isn't as hard to cook as I thought.
We took an overnight bus out of Udaipur to Jaisalmer. Spent this afternoon walking around town and will be heading out on a two day camel safari into the desert tomorrow morning.
So far India confounds us. The food, sites and history is fantastic. It is also a screaming deal; just had a first rate India meal with beer and the works for $18. Our hotel tonight is $4; it's not great, but it's not too much different than a Motel 6. On the other hand, India is so dirty. And I mean filthy. Unlike any place we have been to date. We'll see how are thoughts change over the next couple of days, but right now we have quite a love hate thing going on.
Brian learning how to make Indian curry. Yum!
The City Palace in Udaipur
The palace at Jagmandir Island on Lake Pichola
Marisa with one of the many random cows in Udaipur
A courtyard in the City Palace complex
The view out our hotel room window, the famous Lake Palace is the white building in the middle of the lake
At Leopold's bar and restaurant in Mumbai (note the bullet hole in the glass over Marisa's right shoulder, never asked how it got there)
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