Honk Ok Please, Kindly wait, and the land of a billion bobbleheads

Well, we made it!  After a brutal 22 hours on planes (26 hours total), we arrived late Tuesday night into Mumbai.  We flew Denver to Newark and then direct to Mumbai, passing over Greenland, Norway, a corner of Russia, and Afghanistan along the way.
Our pre-booked room in Mumbai was very nice, but the city itself was overwhelming (16 million people living in close quarters, the slum from Slumdog Millionaire contains 1.5 million people itself).

Our first hotel                                    Construction safety

Walking the streets of Mumbai is like fighting your way through the crowd after a football game gets out, all the time, even in the middle of the night.  There are people streaming out of every building at every moment, walking through a tangled mess of vendors on the sidewalks and in the street among traffic coming from every direction.  Add to this the unending honking from every car (truly a language in itself, short honks, long honks, multiple honks and signs everywhere that say "Honk, OK, Please") and it can be a bit much.  Needless to say, this was not our cup of tea and we made for the train station as soon as we could.  Which brings us to the second part of the title, Kindly Wait.  This is the saying everywhere for times that you just need to wait, for no apparent reason.  Booking our train tickets, a process that should have taken about 5 minutes, took 2.5 hours.  With a little sign popping up after every few customers saying "kindly wait", while the man selling tickets chit-chats and laughs with his friends.  The Mumbai train station, a World Heritage Site, is amazing in and of itself, but the fact they have about 500 windows selling tickets to locals and only one selling to foreigners was a bit frustrating.  Luckily we were able to buy tickets for the next day and we spent the rest of the day taking care of a little business like buying a local cellphone (many people told us the only thing to do in Mumbai for tourists is high end shopping, not what we came for).
We hopped on our train at 7 am the next day and kindly waited for 2 hours before departing.  Once finally off though, the train was amazing.  During the 12 hour journey along the coast to Goa where we are now, we passed through small villages, rice paddies, mountains, and sweeping views of palm filled valleys.

Mags checking out the view

We shared a 4 berth compartment with a very nice guy from San Francisco who had been to India before and was full of great travel tips.  At the last minute before pulling into his destination, we decided to listen to his advice and follow him to where he was going and abandon our previous plan.  Wow was that a great decision.  We are currently in a small town called Mandrem, right on the beach, and have found our first slice of paradise.

Blue skies and colorful umbrellas,
not exactly Hawaii but paradise none the less

Our toes first touch the Arabian sea

We stayed in a small town called Arambol the first night in Goa and while it was a sweet relief from Mumbai, the hippy and psychedelic/trance scene was a little too much for us.  We then moved down the coast a little ways to Mandrem which has the exact vibe we were searching for to fully recover from our jet lag.  Very laid back with lots of white-sand beach and an active yoga scene, we are very happy to be here. So far we have sat, read, walked on the beach, done a terrific yoga class, took a scooter all the way down the coast, visited a Hindu temple, and walked through the most amazing market we've ever seen (2000 stalls selling all sorts of high-quality goods and filled with enticing smells and the occasional bongo beat).   The bed our first night in a hut by the beach was a bit rough (see below for how we showered while there), so we have moved to a slightly more expensive room and are glad we did. We plan on staying a few more days then heading further south to Kerala for a little more beach time.

How low can you go...while showering

Overall, India is amazing so far.  We have had delicious food at every meal and the energy running through this country is amazing.  Locals are extremely friendly and have the curious habit of bobbling their heads from side to side while they talk.  At first we thought it meant something but it seems to be more of a cultural thing like the way Canadian's say "eh" and Europeans kiss on both cheeks.  Either way it is absolutely infectious and we have both already started to do it ourselves.  We can't wait to see what India has in store for us next.  Lots of love back home, we'll update again sometime next week.  You stay classy America (you need to see the movie "Anchorman" if that doesn't make you chuckle).

Top things we've never done before this trip:
1) Maneuvered a scooter through a herd of cows.
2) Ordered completely random food at every meal and have it turn out delicious every time.
3) Been sequentially overcome by the smell of lavender, incense, raw sewage, delicious curry, and cigarette smoke all within a 10 second period.
4) Been blessed by a Hindu priest who worships Hanuman (the Monkey god)
5) For Maggie, been asked to take a picture with completely random men (she must have looked like a famous actress to them)
6) For Todd, gotten a perfect V shaped sunburn on the chest (never wear a button down shirt while in the sun all day).
7) Heard the "happy birthday" song echoing down the street every time someone reverses a car.
8)  Slept on a 2 inch thick straw mattress on top of plywood followed by showering while crouched the whole time.
9) Petted an elephant with Om chalked on it's head while he took money from tourists with his trunk and handed to his owner