We got up this morning, had breakfast and hit the road to Mumbai. Our driver took to the road and we started for the Kochi airport. The traffic was fiercer than we have encountered to date as we entered new Kochi. The pace and traffic definitely was “bigger city” than we had seen so far. Our local guide met us at the airport and he helped us navigate the airport process. We had to confirm that we had a flight before entering the airport. We had to go through a scanner with our bags and then get into line to check in. We then had to go through security, they scanned our stuff, and we were patted down. They segregated the security line so men and women went through separately. We finally got through to the waiting lounge and found upholstered comfortable chairs to relax in and wait for our flight. The flight was an experience. We had our boarding passes checked three times before getting on the plane and then once when we got off! We arrived in Mumbai without any problems.

There are 20 million people living in Mumbai (only 16 million officially). The place is huge. It took us 85 minutes to get from the airport to our hotel. The whole drive was bumper-to-bumper traffic on three lane roads that allowed five lanes of traffic. We drove by the wealthiest man in India’s home. He has a 27 story home that houses five people. The tower was situated right next to businesses and dilapidated housing. Our impression of Mumbai was that it has both grandeur and grime. We saw the slums coming in from the airport and they were just like in Slumdog Millionaire. There is also a vibrancy to the city with lots of construction happening and a huge amount of retail.

We briefly met with Meenal’s brother and hope to see him again tonight, this time with his family. Today we have lots of sightseeing to do and I look forward to posting more pictures soon.