James & Emily

CafeMom Tickers

Tuesday 21 April 2009

we are here

We blinked and our first day here in Mumbai has already passed!
I can not believe how fast time flies here.
We left Spain a day early because all flights to Paris were overbooked and we still had to sit on a jumpseat even to get to Paris. It was touch and go if we would get on the flight or not, and we only found out 15 minutes before take off that I was to join A.
We really had to run for our money but we made it... sweaty, stinky but on the plane.
It was for both of us the first time that we flew via CDG Paris. Next time via Amsterdam again please. We wanted to go into town, but since the last train back to the hotel was in an hour and a half there was no use to do that. So we enjoyed the pleasant rudeness of the parisien waiter in the hotel: "wait ten minutes yes!" ... sure we'll stand here waiting for ten minutes on what! We're not in Mumbai yet and the so warned for waiting starts already here in Europe LOL.
The good thing is that we had a good nights rest at the airport, marriot beds rock!
Getting seats to Mumbai was okay and so here we are, a day early in Mumbai and a day early to the clinic.
Yep, since we are already here, we thought that we might as well go to the clinic immediately and see where we have to be tomorrow... of course we went in to say hello and had our first appointment today. Great the flexibility of our Dr.
Less fortunate was the fact that our ED is missing at the moment, so we have to find a new ED, which is really difficult cause we just fell instantly 'in love' with our original choice. They are trying to get hold of her and we will decide Friday what to do.
Our Dr was really great, after speaking and emailing for quite some time now, it is good to see someone in real life. And it is also good to see the clinic and how things are done accordingly.

Of course, I can not leave my/our first impressions of Mumbai out. After we landed we went through customs extremely fast and we arrived in our hotel within the our! After reading other peoples experiences this was the only good thing about it.
The thing is when we were underway to the hotel we saw someone get run over by a car. And I mean; we SAW someone get run over by a car. Accidents happen everywhere, but it is traumatizing to see it happen. We both fell asleep and have woken up today with these images.
After taking lots of Tuc Tuc rides today, we fully understand why an accident as we saw can happen. Kerrie said in a comment (thank you for that btw) that we are quite some travellers and I guess Alexander absolutely is. I for that matter am more western orientated I found out today! I even can not count the amounts of heartattacks I've had in the Tuc Tuc. One of our drivers really thought he was dead or had lost the will to live any longer, another wanted to show his asparation to become a formula 1 racer and I believe in him! The city itself is lively, the people are friendly and yes, I do compare one or two things with Slumdog Millionaire and a lot of things match! The poverty is overwhelming, the richness is overwhelming at the same time and then there is a middleclass, a small one, but as some said today here in Mumbai ten years ago there was not a middleclass at all!
And now I do have to give a comment of our hotel room here in the Renaissance; it is porn! (btw in Europe this is a normal and also a sophistacated word:) The room and bathroom are divided by a big window and an automatic screen comes down if you want some private time; wow. The shower is great too; a niagara waterfall right here in our room! Well we will enjoy ourselves here.
Tomorrow we are getting a mobile number, which is a bit difficult nowadays due to the Mumbai attacks, but if you find someone who takes care of it, it is less of a hassle but do bring an extra photo. And I can also say that we LOVE the food!!!!!!!!
Now of to bed and tomorrow another day of enjoyment!

2 comments:

Kerrie and Mark said...

Congrats on making it to Mumbai! very exciting for you guys. I am sorry to hear about your ED...I really hope things get sorted out and all goes as planned. Do keep us posted!
Kerrie

Rhonda and Gerry W said...

Sorry, Guys I missed this while in Mumbai. Hope you had a wonderful and successful trip?