First full day in Mumbai........

17 September.

          Within just a couple of hours of completing the second leg of the long Toronto to Mumbai route  it is 5.00 o’clock, & not sure if that is morning or evening,! Flight #1 to Brussels on Indian owned Jet Airways was packed solid and although I drew a central isle “land-locked” seat was lucky in having an interesting young man as my travel companion,  yet another non-practising lawyer, now gainfully employed installing high end kitchen furniture and on his way to a Hanover trade show. Never realised before that this is yet another sector that German manufacturers dominate across most of the world.

Enroute at 35,000ft over Saudi Arabia...

              Flight #2 from Brussels again necessitated the now mandatory slow-moving 45 minute line-ups to clear security. As Brussels is the European hub for Jet Airways, much of my airport pod consisted of Indian travellers ---- fascinating to watch the portly & sometimes out-raged sari clad grannies, being patted down for whatever. Uneventful flight, with only about a 50% load factor. Watching the route map unfold on the plane’s monitor system, I noted that our route took us well south of the Ukraine.
         Presented with Indian Customs forms that indicate that one can only import 10,000 rupees ($200),whereas I am carrying 40,000R. Don’t intend to declare the illegal excess and risk seizure--- will stuff the excess down a sock and hope for the best!.

18 September 2014.

              Happy to report that I am not residing tonight in money smugglers prison. Anti climactically, I breezed through the Mumbai airport immigration process with nary a query directed at me. Beautiful customs hall with lots of seated sleepy looking security people watching as the hordes passed by. Eventually I located

Sleeping dogs everywhere....

the auto-rickshaw (also known as tuk tuks in Thailand) line obscurely located in parking garage level 6B. Haggled with drivers #1 & 2 in the queue and settled on driver #3 at half the original asking price. Challenge was that he was walled in –no problemo in Mumbai---he called over several of his driver buddies and they lifted the vehicle wholesale and re-located it out on the road way proper!

                 With some difficulty, we located in a maze of pot hole filled, pitch black streets the target Hotel Royal Park. Clean room with efficient air-con. No toilet paper or soap---brought my own anyway—too late (midnight plus) to chase around with the wallahs at the reception desk. At $72 this is the most expensive hotel I shall be staying in. I pre-booked and paid extra for a (near) airport location --- strange cities and long rides in darkened streets are stressful after 20 hour flights.