I am in India, and holy shit what a ride so far.  I have not really been able to digest it all so far, my eyes hurt, I am afraid to eat food, and I have already donated 2000 rupees to help bury people.
 
So the plane was 4 hours late to leave from Chicago.  Then when we land no one is there to let us off the plane.  I did not have any problems at the airports besides arriving into India at sometime the morning of the 14.  Which was today.  I get a prepaid taxi and head out of the airport.  We drive south for a good while.  My driver is completely unintelligible and I understand nothing of what he says (all 8 words).  He offers me something to smoke, I say no thanks, and he mumbles something.  Thats how it goes until we finally pull up in front of some monstrously huge hotel - which I find out later is probably one of the most expensive hotels in Mumbai.  It is huge.  I finally figure out that he is trying to figure out which hotel I am going to.  We stop 3 more times to ask other taxis where the YWCA is.  Luckily it wasn't too far away.  I get out after he asks for "drivers drips" and walk into the YMCA.  He tells me it is full.  I ask about the YWCA, he plainly tells me it is outside and to the left.  Actually it is to the left, the left again, then straight half a block, but I found it. I go in, its full.  He has not recommendations for other places to go.  Here I am, in Mumbai, 5:00 in the morning, on almost no sleep, thirsty, with no where to go really, and no one who can give me any reliable advice.
 
So I try to pick out a few to go to out of my guide book and walk.  In no real direction, just that way.  The streets are totally haphazard with no real signage.  I end up by accident out at that huge hotel again, which turns out is by this really big arc de triomphe type structure (Gateway to India).  I head out to it, which is right on the water.  Yada yada yada, a guy puts me on speakerphone with his wife so I can talk about the differences between America and India, I get a few pictures, and I keep walking.  I come across a new place to stay, after some hassel, in the general area.  It is now 7:30 in the morning.  
 
I get a single room with, on the third floor of some random building.  It is so inconspicuous, I walked by it and missed, and ended up here typing this email instead.  It is 4x6 with a wobbly fan, and fluorescent lighting that bounces off of the tin white walls.  Its got a bed and a lock on the door so I don't care how spartan it is.
 
I decide pretty quickly that I have had enough of Mumbai and head out to go find the Central Train Station to get a train ticket, down south to Goa.  On the way I am taking pictures, taking it all in when a man tells me that the impressive complex I am looking at is the High Court of Mumbai.  So I tell him where I am going, he says there is a festival on the way, so we walk and talk.  He teaches hindi to kids.  He takes me to a cremation/burial ground, where we go inside a gated area to where people are cremated, all the while explaining to me the whole process and the costs associated with it.  We reach the end, marked by a huge boddha tree (?) which is magic. We even walked by a very young couple and an old mother who were apparently burying a baby just moments earlier, which made me feel horrible.  Here I am a tourist walking in on such a private moment, and the owner asked if I wanted to take a picture.  Anyway, I was in a respective mood when the rub comes.  The owner and his sidekick pull out a small pocketsize notebook with names and donation amounts. "Please Sign" he says and proceeds to show me someone who donated 6000 rupees from Austria.  They literally backed me into a corner, surrounded me and demanded money.  I gave them a fair amount and they wanted more and would not stop harassing me.  I gave it to them, but not without an argument.  Then the guy who took me there had the audacity to ask for money afterward for himself and his cause, once we left the complex.  Needless to say I was very disappointed with how they conducted the whole thing.  Had I been fully rested I may have done thing differently.
 
He made us take a taxi there too, so when I left on foot I was completely lost.  After a long meandering walk I made it to the impressive train station.  I got my ticket for Goa which leaves right about midnight tomorrow.  That is enough for now, I have typed too much.
 
It has been difficult so far and I am very tired.  I will type more details about Mumbai tomorrow.  It is going to be a long 48 hours until I get to Goa.