April 29 Mumbai, India

We spent very little time in Mumbai, and even less than planned.  Our flight from London was delayed by French ATC and a vexing mechanical problem (unhooking the AC hose from the jetway) for about an hour.  We arrived after midnight, and planned to get on the ship about noon.

The British Airways Heathrow Business Lounge was nice. 

 By the time we got to our hired car (Sun Transfers, rec'd by our travel agent, very nice) it was about 2am.  It was a 40 minute drive through moderate traffic to the hotel -- Taj Mahal Palace and Tower, located right next to the Gate of India along the waterfront.  Even at this time, very early on a Sunday morning, there were hundreds of people out and about.  But given that Mumbai has 23 million people, I guess someone will always be out.  We drove through about seven police checkpoints, looking for drunk drivers and belligerent bikers.

 The Taj Mahal was a wonderful hotel and we got to stay in the old section. Chillingly air conditioned it was easy to fall asleep for the 6 hours until we needed to get up and start fighting the jet lag.

Hallway outside our room

 We would have faced this if they hadn't had an elevator.

 We had breakfast in the hotel and then went out for an hour long walk before taking a car to the port.  The India Gate was right out the door (after passing through construction going on just outside -- the backhoe had been at work at 3am when we arrived).

 Prince of Wales Museum

 We walked to the Rajabai Clock Tower on the University of Mubai campus, the Big Ben of India.

 Across the street, on the Oval Maidan, there were thousands of people playing cricket.  It was hard to tell where one game ended and another started as they all seemed to overlap.  Some people were just practicing, others wore matching shirts and appeared to be playing the national sport of India.  Imagine about 100 Little League teams playing and practicing with overlapping fields.  Fortunately cricket balls aren't very hard because it was easy to get beaned by an errant pitch or hit.

We spent very little time in India, and even less walking around Mumbai.  There was more to see, but it was time to get on the boat for our cruise adventure.