Blogging in Bollywood

We are at our final destination in India--Mumbai--and what an amazing city it is! I didn't know what to expect but it's nothing like staid Delhi. Every other guy looks and acts like a Bollywood star, even though our guide Bishal said that these guys that look so good often live in a little room with 25 other people! We were very sad to leave our Rajasthan group, most of whom returned to Delhi to catch their return flights. We head to Bangkok in the wee hours of Monday morning. We took a local bus from Udaipur to Ahmedabad, spent one night in Ahmedabad and visited Gandhi's ashram there, and then continued on an 8 hour journey to Mumbai this morning on a 4:50 am train! One night in Ahmedabad was certainly enough time for me. When we got off the bus, a horde of tuk tuk drivers rushed to drive us to our hotel. Two of them got into a heated argument about who was entitled to drive us and a metal chain was pulled out and whipped around gladiator style. Our hearts definitely leapt out of our chests seeing this weapon (which fortunately was not directed towards us). Our guide also said that the tuk tuk driver with the weapon threatened the other tuk tuk driver that he was going to go to his house and do his family in. For that reason, Bishal decided to go with the slightly crazed driver wielding the weapon (he certainly did not want blood on our hands). And they say that crime doesn't pay. All this, for 40 rupees, the equivalent of one US dollar. Welcome to the other side of India.

That said, we have truly loved India -- the good and the bad-- and are already hoping to come back again soon (South India is calling us!). Hopefully when the connection is fast enough and we can post our pix we can show you our India experience more fully!