First Day in India

This will be a short post as it is 2:28 am, the kids and I are still on LA time while Del, now sleeping is on India time. I finally got Draven to sleep sometime after the sun had come up on our first day.. Drake had lots of sleep on the plane so he was basically up all night. I was so excited to get out, so while Del and Draven slept, Drake and I took a little walk to see what we would see. I put on my special Salwaar Kameez minus the wrap that comes with it, and headed out with Drake. After a quick Namaste to the hotel staff we stepped outside and were immediately greeted my the hustle and bustle of Mumbai. It was a little like walking around some beat up town in Mexico with tons of traffic and honking. There were quite a few vendors as we walked and the first one I saw was selling bananas. I saw a woman making some kind of dough balls and had them displayed on a paper on the street in front of her. We kept walking and saw a woman with a cow. Another woman went up to the cow. The owner gave her some hay to feed it which she did then gave it a rub on the head and a coin. We walked further, not daring yet to cross the street. I started to get looks right away and wondered if it was because I didn't have my wrap with my Salwaar. I was given a big warm smile by an older woman in a Sari. Then we saw people dressed in all different ways. One man walked his dog in very american cargo shorts. A woman in jeans and a salwaar shirt, or kurta? We passed kids in smart uniforms hair done nicely walking to school. And then I found him, the man I was secretly looking for, the Chai Wallah. He was standing in front of his set up, filling up a little glass for a customer. There were many men standing around drinking this wonderful steaming hot beverage. I ordered one and the wallah handed me a glass steaming full of my first Massala Chai in India. As I drank, I watched him crush up the mix for the chai while sitting on the floor in front of his set up. I saw where to put your dirty glass and watched how he rinsed it in a bucket of hot water before serving the next customer. It was a social meeting spot for these men as they chatted. I felt someone staring at me and looked over to find a man just staring out of the window of his car. After awhile it all was a little overwhelming for Drake who was quite sleepy in the Ergo and he asked to go back to the hotel. We did and after sending Del off, we took a little walk with the stroller to find a nearby bookstore. Lots of cars and honking and with the help of a traffic director we bravely and hurriedly crossed the street, dodging the honking cars to make it safely to the bookstore, where Drake promptly fell asleep and stayed so until night. Needless to say we are still working on adjusting to the time change. Pictures to come tomorrow. Del has the day of tomorrow and we are going to hit up some of the most popular tourist destinations.