The good and bad of Mumbai / India ...

We've been in India a bit more than a week and its quite amazing as to the city evolve and change with the times. Here are a few things which we love about mumbai

• The three essential books that any tourist / family should have are: The Times of India Food Guide, TimeOut Mumbai Kids Guide, Outlook Weekend Guide (you can get a copy specific to the big five/six indian cities)
• Thanx to the above books, we had pretty good sushi rolls from House of Sushi, got a few good cheeses from a cheese shop in Crawford Market, discovered a few new parks in the Colaba area and a small aquarium in the Bandra area. Kinda nice that we can get everything out here, kinda sad that it took us so long to discover these places
• The food as always is amazing and so so so tasty. There are so many places we want to eat at and we probably wont even eat at a fraction of them. Its a bit more difficult to eat out with kids at night (jet lag, getting them on schedule etc)
• Maya says that her favorite activity is playing at Chowpatty beach. We tend to go early in the morning to avoid the crowds and that has been working quite well
  
• Hanging out with friends and family is always a treat. The cousins get along well with each other (most of the time)
• The joggers park in various parts of the city is a nice place to get away from it all (especially the one in colaba)
• Traffic discipline is so much better and gets better every year. Drivers do stop at red light at night these days (some of the time).
• The city is so much cleaner. Fining people for littering is a good thing :)
  

And for a few things we do not like about the city

• The traffic sucks. We've been doing better this time and planning our trips during non-peak hours.
  
• The poverty and seeing all the kids in the street is hitting me much harder this time. Its sad, and there does not seem you can do that much. This does not mean you should not do anything :)
• Crossing a street with kids is an adventure and/or a video game (depending on your outlook in life). Drivers still refuse to stop even if you try to make eye contact (not that traffic is moving very fast)
• The parks / playgrounds have very strange hours. They are open in the morning and evenings only. What do we do during the day folks? We like to play all day and all night :)
• Bob C does not like the short ceiling height of the taxi cabs. He is 6'2'', which is significantly taller than the average indian :)
• Its a bit hard and frustrating dealing with St. Catherine's. While we are very grateful to them for raising PJ and giving us the opportunity to adopt her, its been real hard to schedule/plan any visits. Simple etiquette of taking messages and returning phonecalls is a foreign concept. Hopefully we'll be able to visit a few more times before we leave