First Day

After 17 hours of traveling I made it to Mumbai. I got to my hotel and was met by my friend Srini from NY. I knew he was in India but didn't know where exactly until I landed and had a message from him on my phone that he was in Mumbai. We went out walking around and let me say this is a crazy, beautiful city.

A couple of facts. Mumbai is the most populated city in the world measured by population with-in city boundaries, as an urban area it's in the top five. And India's population is growing by 50,000 a day.

The city feels like a combination of New York and Cameroon (where I just was if anyone reading doesn't know that.) Cosmopolitan in some places yet dirt poor in others. Less then dirt poor actually. I, of course, have barely seen anything. I saw the Gate of India (I don't why that's famous but I'll find out), and the Thieves Market. It's really just incredible. Hot, noisy, beautiful, fascinating. I'll post pictures sometime soon.

At the end of the day Srini and I went to a bar with some friends of his. That was interesting. As soon as we sat down the table was surrounded by women. The deal is they stand there until you pick one and then they sit down and won't leave until you buy them a drink a give them money. And of course if you give them enough money you can go upstairs and... well, you know. My first experience ever with the sex trade. I found the whole thing really weird and needless to say we had a drink and politely left.

Lastly, another interesting observation. We took the train last night, which is nothing like the train in NY by the way, and there was no one listening to their iPod. And for those New Yorkers reading this, you'll know that's different.

So now it's time to go back out and see and experience more.

Benjamin