Mumbai...India gets her last licks on M

We were thrilled to be touching down, by air, in Mumbai...M especially since this meant just one more day of India before she sees Greece and Cyprus again after 12 long years. After that whole Amritsar fiasco, we were left with no choice but to purchase a last minute flight to Mumbai to ensure we'd be there for our departure flight from India. We arrived late and figured we'd splurge a bit and stay in a hotel that was a few steps up for us which was conveniently located within close proximity to the airport, making it easy for us since we had a 5AM departure flight to catch. Though we knew we'd venture into the city center, where the glaring and staring disappeared, where the architecture was stunning AND where people stopped to help two lost tourists out of the kindness of their heart, we thought spending the night near the airport was a wise decision...until...

M wakes up numerous times to announce that there are bedbugs in "this f-ing place!" P says she hasn't noticed anything and doesn't feel "creepy crawly" as M states she's feeling, so back to sleep we go. A while later P's awoken by M shouting that there are bedbugs in "this f-ing place!" and again, P tries her persuasion techniques, until a critter is spotted.

Bedbugs they were and bedbugs we had. Lucky for P, she sleeps in her sleepsack liner just about everynight, while M can't stand to be wrapped up like a cacoon and so refused to get into her sleepsack. So P finds herself in the lobby explaining to the not so nice manager that there are bedbugs in room 5 and we need to be moved ASAP before M starts kickin' ass and takin' names (ha). M managed to have everything packed before P made it back upstairs and we were moved to a MUCH nicer room, free of bedbug signs. We got a few hours of shuteye then ventured out to see some of Mumbai before our early morning flight.

We strolled the streets of Mumbai on LP's walking tour as we: took in the great architecture, enjoyed being left to walk down a sidewalk without the constant hum of "hello madames... buy something!" got crazy excited over the simple act of not one, but TWO LADIES stopping to help us when we had our face in the LP to check our path, escaped the heat browsing FabIndia's great collection of goods, got some quality people watching time in as the crowds enjoyed a night out at the gate of India and caught a glimpse of the stunning nighttime view of the Taj Palace before stopping for some ointment for M's bitten up body and making our way back to grab our packs and head to the airport.

Though we wished for more time in Mumbai, we were so thrilled to have completed our time in India, we embraced in a 5 minute long hug at the check-in gate at the airport repeating over and over "We did it! we did it! we did it!" attracting many last stares from the locals. Yes, we've been traveling since October, yes we know what we're doing, yes we've been annoyed and harassed by tons of people along the way, but we truly had a tough time in India. We've come up with this explanation:

we left India to be our last stop in Asia, where, aside from Japan, we heard the phrase "Madame, hallo, madame, buy something!" over and over again and everywhere we went, it was a task in itself to find some quiet time away from it all. The truth of the matter is that our "Asia Patience," as we've dubbed it, was on it's last leg and India surely depleted it and drained it rather quickly.

And so are even entertaining the thought of making another trip back to Incredible India! to see some of the southern part of the country...but not for a few years of course, we need to build up some of that valuable "Asia Patience" before we venture back into it all.