A Quick Trip Home
I've included a few photos from our time in the US; the real (India) update starts below. From Shanghai, we went straight to Seattle. After a couple days with Grandma May, we made stops in Olympia (Trever, Sarah and Easton) and Portland (Tom and Sarah...see the picture of us hanging over Multnomah Falls). Our time in the Pacific Northwest ended after spending a few days with Justin and Kristi out on the Sound over 4th of July weekend. Here are Justin and I, replaying the then amusing series of events that led to the inadvertant crushing of the dingy we were using (that unfortunately belonged to someone else) while going through the Ballard locks.
Also, here is a shot of a couple Dungeness (between Justin, Kristi, Karen and I, we probably ate at least 15 crabs that weekend), a
bald eagle and, of course, Justin's famous boat.
Once back on land, we flew down for a couple days in Denver with the sun and the Rockies and some of our old friends and colleagues there.
Then it was up to the Midwest to catch up with Karen's kin. John has gotten a new fishing boat, which provided good entertainment on some sunny afternoons for all of us - John, Karen, Nancy, Kevin, myself and Suki too.
Nancy claimed to have caught the most fish, but that is because John was re-baiting her hook half the time. Duty called and I had to head off to India to start the new assignment, but Karen was able to spend some more time in Illinois before coming this way.
A Soft LandingFortunately and unfortunately, the location of my company's office in Mumbai is directly across the street from the J.W. Marriott Hotel, which is one of the nicer places to stay in the city. So it was an obvious first choice for the company to put us up in while we got settled. After the first month, we started forgetting to extend our reservation and the front desk would call and ask us if we were leaving that day.
The housekeeping staff got to know us - they started creating somewhat creepy animal scenes with towels and other props in our room - one such example is shown here (kissing swans). I think the monkey one was better. Karen developed a love-hate relationship with the guy who brought the fruit to our room (he asked what she wanted and then didn't bring it) and we quickly grew tired of the vast and fantastic breakfast buffet at the hotel. The other problem with having your office across the street in a new town is that there is often no reason to stop working. Anyhow, no one expected that 'getting settled' would take as long as it did. It wasn't for lack of trying to find a place; these folks are just unreasonable when it comes to negotiating and the time value of money. During our epic search for the perfect 'flat', we were able to steal a great driver from the Marriott.
He had worked there for about 5 years, but was happy to join Singleton Team Mumbai as the full time driver. Here is a picture of Karen and Sanjay, the driver, with our somewhat dimpled expat-special Toyota Innova. It's a bit large for Mumbai traffic, but that is OK as this pseudo-SUV has air conditioning, a stereo and leaves enough room between us and the car/bike/rickshaw outside that is most likely less than 12" away. That red circle on the door has a "T" in it, which stands for Tourist vehicle...something we apparently are not allowed to remove.
Sanjay is also featured here, modeling his 150 Rupee ($4) Ray Ban shades. At least some things here remind us of China.
How to Describe It?I don't really know where to start. As I said, we've been here for a while now and there really are an overwhelming amount of new concepts to consider. When you first arrive, the poverty and general disarray of everything is bewildering. There are Hindus, Muslims, cows, goats, chickens, an amazing number of stray dogs (see picture; supposedly there are 70,000 stray dogs in Mumbai...they do actually seem nice though),
the occasional monkey on a leash, heaps of rotting trash, people sifting through rotting trash, BMWs, mopeds, motorcycles, hand-powered bicycles, death trap public buses, VIP processions racing through the city, men pushing huge wooden carts with nothing on them, people riding bicycles laden with pressurized gas cylinders, trees in the middle of the street, beggars, Hindu religous men that are something like monks, fake Hindu religious men that are less like monks, transvestite beggars called Hijras and inumerable other things to catch your attention and boggle your mind. Honking is considered a means of communication, a warning, a punishment, and perhaps even entertainment. We were quite pleased to find that our driver, Sanjay, considers honking noise pollution and therefore abstains from it (entirely, except at gates that need to be opened). The more time we spend here, an odd mental balance seems to develop where you no longer notice a lot of the things mentioned above, the things you do notice are either funny or infuriating, depending on your mood, and that it doesn't matter if you are in hurry - you will get where you are going when you do and no one will be very upset if you are late.
Everything is so different. This picture is of a very common sight - a booth/machine with a pile of sugar cane next to it. The machine smashes the sugar cane (which by the way spends enough time before it is run through the smasher laying on the soggy, smelly and frightening ground to be considered unsanitary) repeatedly, extracting the juice. So we hear, you can then purchase the sugar cane juice, which is supposed to be good for purifying the blood and treating yellow fever.
Karen and I took an afternoon to stop by a local private park along the waterfront. We paid the outrageous $0.05 per person entry charge and found ourselves amidst an interesting mix of locals, necking lovebirds, caged animals, playing children, crows, expat families, and a very sad sea view. People here have a obnoxious habit of throwing anything they don't want directly onto the ground. This not only means the streets are filthy, but this also we now have processed, results in a shocking ruination of the waterfront.
See the picture of the 'beach'.
When we were still at the hotel, Karen was invited to the drivers' Pooja (prayer session) in the basement of the hotel, which apparently happens once per year. Here is a picture of her doing pooja with Sanjay (driver) as well as the decorative idol they were praying towards.
This was a Hindu ceremony; there are many, many gods in the Hindu religion. You'll get tidbits over time as they relate to certain festivals that take place here, most of which are linked to the Hindu religion and one of these gods.
These next two pictures are from a stroll we took through Victoria Terminus, the main train station in South Mumbai (the older, classier part of town).
One is just a general shot of the people and bustle in the train station (not to mention the rough looking trains) and the other is of a sign in the pedestrian walkway under the street about spitting.
You also often see messages painted on taxis discouraging spitting as it spreads Tuberculosis. Honestly, I worry more about the ubiquitous and casual urination strangely taking place in the focal point of about 1 in 20 of my random glances from the car, regardless of location. You can imagine there are similar and exceedingly unpleasant unsanitary occurences on the streets as well.
Visit to Virar
Since hiring him about two months ago, we have developed a good relationship with Sanjay. He is a nice guy and speaks good English. He has lived in Mumbai for a long time and really is good to have around. He helps us with all kinds of things, which is really important as it is often difficult to figure out the right way to accomplish things here. He invited us to his home in Virar, which is about 2 hours north of Mumbai, to meet his wife Beena and his two sons - Karan and Sawyam. They live next to a mountain with a famous Hindu temple at the top of it.
This picture was taken on the hike up the mountain, before we were drenched by a short, yet fierce rain storm that blew through and destroyed my umbrella. Beena often makes us various Indian sweets and treats to try. Their home is in the greenish blue apartment building (4th floor) shown in the center of the other picture. They live in a three-room apartment: 1. kitchen (maybe 4' x 8'), 2. toilet (maybe 3' x 6'), and 3. living/sleeping room (maybe 8' x 12'); it, along with many things as we bumble our way into this journey, was a humbling experience, especially as Sanjay drove us back to our new place, which is highlighted below.
The New Digs
Although the process was awful and took far too long, we ended up with an extremely nice apartment - probably the nicest one we saw that we liked. We live in a neighborhood called Bandra, which is in the middle of the city (it takes 2 hours plus to cross the city with traffic). My commute is about 20 minutes from home to work, as is Karen's, so that is nice. The place is a mostly furnished 3 bedroom (again, lots of room for visitors). The best parts about it are the location and the fact that we have all western appliances, which is essentially unheard of here.
Sounds silly, but we have a washer, dryer, oven, microwave, stove, dishwasher and refrigerator. In addition, and thanks to Sanjay, we have also been able to get our BBQ up and running here. The next step is to find a place to buy beef (not a lot of butcher shops in a place where cows are sacred) and some friends who would actully be interested in coming over to eat it with us. We've indulged in a nice flat screen TV and surround sound system (the place was pre-wired so I couldn't resist). The pictures above are of the living room and the last one is of our great kitchen (something that Karen is very excited about). We can walk to lots of restaurants, markets, bars, stores, etc.
There is actually not a lot to do outside here, but we live in one of the best places possible, so we are lucky.
Video TidbitAs a representation of one of the interesting cultural practices in India, I've included a video of the goings on in our neighborhood for a holiday called janmashtami. There is a god here, called Lord Krishna, which is typically represented by a chubby baby with butter on its face. The story in the Geeta (Hindu bible) goes that Lord Krishna, when a baby, somehow climbed to a high place to sneak butter. As a symbol of this story, local people raise (donate) money into pools, which are figuratively tied to a real pot that is suspended on ropes high above the streets of Mumbai. These pots are actually filled with yogurt and other sweet food items. The challenge that goes out - city wide - is for teams of Govindas (human pyramid makers) to build human pyramids high enough, and in an organized fashion, so that the top person can reach and successfully break the pot (Handi), preferably with his head and if that fails, with a coconut conveniently tied near the pot. The team then has to disassemble the pyramid without it tumbling, after which that team wins the 'pot' of money that was collected for the celebration in that location. The teams are made up of guys (normally) and they actually train for this event. It is dangerous; people get hurt. It is best to have small people at the top, which is why this role is often filled by a young boy. Certainly scary, but it was really fun to watch. This was the third or fourth try by different teams in this location, which was one of the lower pots out there to try for. On that day, Handis (pots) will be hung in locations all over the city, with published times for the competition to start, and can be at 2, 3 and 4 stories above the street. The Govindas cruise the city honking, shouting, and getting pumped up to win the loot. Maybe I'll join the expat team next year (there really was one this year). We heard the team in the video won about $60 (total) for breaking this Handi.
That's it for now. Hopefully future posts will be a bit more organized and clear, but I had a lot of ground to cover. We are doing well. This will be a bigger challenge than China, but I think we'll look back fondly on this as well. Best wishes to all.
P.S. We already have two sets of visitors booked; get your reservations in early.
A while back, Karen and I took a last minute weekend trip to a place called Matheran (maw-tay-rahn), which is supposed to be the most beautiful "Hill Station" in Maharashtra (the state we live in). I think the term Hill Station is a remnant from the times of British rule when foreigners would take short vacations just out of the city in the mountainous areas, which led to certain places developing essentially as mountain resort towns. Matheran is one of these, and is located about three hours' drive from Mumbai. It is a village on top of a high plateau where motorized vehicles are not allowed. To get there, you drive up to a parking lot and then you have to walk or take a horse up the rest of the way (about an hour's walk). 
It turned out to be a pretty nice place; the town itself was a little cheesey (felt like a very strange and dusty carnival), but the surrounding trails and scenery were good. The town is essentially full of animals, about 5,000 locals desperate to make some money, and Indian tourists. Horses are the primary mode of transport - both for people and goods (other than walking). In addition to horses, there was an abundance of cows and goats ambling about the town, but also an incredible number of opportunistic monkeys running around the streets and buildings. 
The monkeys are wild, but are unfortunately very bold because of the touristic nature of the place. One tried to take Karen's purse (or at least get into it) while Karen and I were playing ping pong at a table outside. She had left the bag on a bench next to the ping pong table, that was coincidentally next to the trunk of a big tree. I tried to scare it by slapping the paddle on the table and shouting, but it just hissed and lunged at me - shocking and scaring me - and then went about trying to open the bag. Fortunately, the hotel staff noticed and engaged the monkey patrol (two guys with sling shots) and the punk monkey ran up the tree empty handed. I'd do better next time...damn monkey. Then later, one ran through our door (that I carelesslely left ajar) and across our patio and stole the breakfast off our neighbors' table (it was a glass enclosed, shared front porch). 
It was pretty funny, but our neighbors didn't seem to think so. The same monkey came back and tried to pry the door open, but the monkey patrol came back with a bamboo rod and scared it away. Pretty intense. Look at the crazy mommy monkey's face in the last picture (that is a baby one hanging below). Regardless of the monkey encounters, Matheran made for a decent retreat from the city and a good chance to wander through the woods away from motor vehicles. 
Once before, I put some pictures of the inside of our apartment on the blog, but that probably didn't give a good sense for what it is really like here. So I thought some pictures and a video might be intersting. The first picture (the building) is of Satguru Sharan, the building that we live in. Our place is on the "first" (really the second) floor, which puts us unpleasantly close to the street. It is only a local street, but it is incredibly loud - most noticibly at night. There are a couple restaurants around, a coffee shop and two schools. So at certain times, there are hundreds of kids in uniforms going to or coming from the schools. In addition, there are trucks, cars, motorcycles, auto rickshaws (the black and yellow tricycle vehicles in the picture), and people advertising their products or services by shouting in the streets. 
Karen and I often mimick them, although we have no idea what they are saying or selling - another one of our odd forms of entertainment here. One other item of note is that I have obtained both a legal Indian driving license and a moped to go with it. This picture is of the Singleton fleet here in Mumbai in the parking garage in our building. Of course, there is our Toyota Innova minivan/SUV, but you can also see our always stationary bicycles (haven't been ridden since Denver...three cities ago!) and the moped. 
Scooters, being a primary mode of transportation in a relatively poor city, are very cheap here. So, we now own a 2008 Honda Aviator - dark metallic grey, equipped with a 'sari-step'...a standard feature on all two-wheelers in India where most women ride on the back side-saddle, stupidly without helmets. The sari-step is the silver thing behind Karen's left calf in the picture; she doesn't use it. She does, however, regularly request joyrides around town to run errands and entertain ourselves...there is not that much to do here and riding around now, when it is not the monsoon season, is pretty nice. It seems locals here think we are a pretty funny sight - a couple foreigners, on a shiny new scooter, with matching shiny helmets, rolling through the chaos and filth of Mumbai. I also went around and shot some footage in the streets and markets near our apartment. The video at the bottom provides a pretty realistic look at our neighborhood - where we buy fruits and vegetables, the places we eat and the type of people we see wandering around.
Although it is usually sunny and about 90 degrees F during the day (75 at night) and there are palm trees outside our windows, we are slowly working ourselves into some kind of Christmas spirit. It's a bit difficult here, but we have a few decorations out. Karen is posing here with our "Deli Cake" Christmas tree from the fakes market in China. We're definitely looking forward to getting out of India for a few weeks. We'll be in Europe and then in the States in less than a week, where we'll get to see friends and relatives and take a break from the chaos here. Happy Holidays! 
