Mumbai arrival

So, here I am. Mumbai. Arriving at the airport brought a few fond memories back to life. It must be the spicy oily smell that was in the air. It reminded me of Burma: the dented cars, the small taxis, the dust, broken stuff everywhere, cars overtaking each other from all sides but no accidents, lots of honking. Meanwhile, the taxi driver explains the layout of the city to me. North of Mumbai, in the forest, they shoot Bollywood films. But no one stays there at night, he says, because of wild animals. "Yes, there are many leopards there". After fifteen minutes wild animals are mentioned. I must be in another continent. Gone the green fields with the black and white cows of Holland. The driver further enlightens me on the different lakes around here. "You can walk around there, maybe you see some crocodiles." Great! I've never seen them at close range.

The hotel is the most luxurious I ever had the pleasure to stay in. Everything you can expect is there. Name it, it's there. Yeah, that too! It's 2 AM. I don't feel sleepy, time to check the Velvet Lounge. Although I've just checked in and therefore am not on the hotel discotheque registration list, they let me in. Now, that was a shock. The peace and quiet, the serenity stands in hard contrast to the beat and dancing people. Everybody is dancing, everybody! The songs are unrecognizable to me, but the cheers when songs change! Quite a happy crowd this is. After a few drinks sleep catches up on me and I'm off to bed.