Chapter Two: Zurich and the Gateway to India

Throughout this journey, I’ve found that I usually am given a decision between bad and worse layovers in order to take the cheapest flight possible.

After looking into flights to begin leg 2, I decided to skip another long layover in Saudia Arabia.  One was enough for me.   However, for only a few dollars more I was able to have a 22hr layover in Switzerland.  Since it fit the bill of being somewhere I had never been before, I snatched that sucker up.

Zurich was a quaint little town.  Cold and snowy this time of year, as you can imagine, but after having spent a few weeks back home one more day of cold wasn’t going to kill me. I found a friend at the hostel and we set out about the city in the hours that I had there.   It was quaint, European, and expensive - aka - not terribly exciting.  But the taste was enough to want to go back at a warmer time of year and it was nice to meet a new friend. 

Early the next day, it was back on the plane again bound for Mumbai and the "real" start of Chapter 2.

The Gateway to India

I didn’t get in until quite late in the evening, but it didn’t stop the hour plus cab ride from the airport from being an early introduction to the largest city in India and the world’s 4^th largest.  People, cars, rubbish, honking horns, insane driving (seriously, I don't understand how these people do it) .  Anyway, you get the picture.

This sign might as well not be there because no one abides by the rule.  I guess it is true that there is horns being honked everywhere, but I will say the chorus of them in India have been incredible!

I got to my hotel, in the neighborhood of Colaba, ate one of the apples my Mommy packed up for me and swiftly passed out.

Having learned on the first go around that staying in a city while jetlagged doesn’t make Parker a happy boy, I had only planned on staying in Mumbai for a day and a half before heading south.   So, I tried to make the most of it.

As I woke the next morning, the haze and humidity of India set it.  I walked out of my hotel and around the corner to find the Gateway to India (See above).  A fitting beginning to my stay here.   But, of course, it was also the scene of the first India-swindle.  I guess there are worse things to have been swindled on than a Hindu "blessing", but needless to say I should’ve known better.

(Note: this has been quite common for me.  It takes about a day or two get my sea legs under me in any given country from the exchange rate (yeah, I mistakenly gave the taxi driver from the airport a tip that was more than the taxi ride) to the touts, it never fails.  Maybe I’ll get better at it as the trip goes on?  This is the 9^th country on this tour, so not sure if I’ll be so lucky.)

I walked from the Gateway to Marine Drive and all the way up to Chowpatty Beach and back, realizing at some point early on the return that my few weeks at home hadn’t done much to keep my legs and foot callouses in proper shape.

I strolled through a few of Mumbai’s museums on the way back and avoided eating from any of the delicious smelling street food vendors.  (I know I’m going to break down on this point sooner or later, and have started praying to the travel gods that when I do, I’ll come out on the other side in one piece).  

It is a beautiful city.  In and amongst the mildew and mold stained buildings here (it's humid and rains nonstop for 2+ months of the year here, so it is understandable), I also saw some amazing colonial architecture, great open spaces with loads of people playing cricket, the Taj Mahal Hotel (Mumbai's most famous Hotel) and Haji Ali which sits on an islet in Mumbai's Bay and can only be accessed at low tide. 

Now a couple of days removed from Mumbai, I have to say it was a much more pleasant experience than I had braced myself for.  Easy, in fact.  But, of course, I was only there for a short period too..

That said, for me, it is a city very much like Mexico City.  The temperatures and languages may be different, but they are both cities with great wealth and great poverty living in close (enough) quarters.  A city of huge sprawl and masses of people everywhere.  And they both have a lot of colonial influence and street food that smells delicious that I'm not supposed to eat...

It was a good day and a half, and an easy start to India.   As I headed off to the airport I had wished I stayed longer, but as I write from Varkala (in the State of Kerala) I know I needed some downtime to collect myself, and overcome my jet lag, before some of the promised intensity of India that awaits me in the next few weeks.

PS - It is about 85 Degrees here.  Sorry East Coasters!