My World Tour: Bombay (Mumbai), India

My World Tour: Bombay (Mumbai), India

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Mumbai was the first place we visited in India. We flew from Kenya in at 3 am to the airport and rode in a rickety taxi thru the slums of Delhi where there were so many people stacked up on the sidewalks and roads sleeping, that we couldn't even tell where the road was.

We were completely taken back by how incredibly outwardly friendly the Indian people are. Part of being Caucasian in their country makes us a real novelty (suddenly we were on display), but the Indian culture is really based on hospitability and friendliness. A large part of our experience was being hosted by a local family in Bombay. We hooked up with them via a hosting website called: http://www.globalfreeloaders.com . The Bubber family arranged for a nice (and inexpensive) hotel near their home so we could socialize with them. What we thought would be a couple days in Bombay, and perhaps a nice dinner with them turned out to be 10 days of being wined and dined at their home, country club, cricket club, country home, taken to birthday parties, and friend’s homes until we gained too many pounds (kilos) to stay any longer. It was a great way to get to know a certain socio-economic class of India. They were also great to fill us in on the nuances of the various Indian cultures and religions. The Bubber family of Nav and Seema (husband and wife) and their children, Monsee and Saurev (daughter, son), and Seema's parents have since become close friends and truely made our experience one that we can never forget. A month later we were invited to a 5 day wedding in Seema's family in Delhi. This also was an experience of a lifetime.