I’ve finally made it to the last phase of our India trip– Mumbai. But before I get into Mumbai photos, I need to share one last Goa picture that I forgot to include on my last post. Now you understand why cows on the beach made for an interesting time.

We left Goa to began the last leg of our trip. I was worried about returning to a big city because of how sick I got in New Delhi due to the air quality. However, the air quality in Mumbai was much better– probably because it’s on the coast. One of our first stops in Mumbai was the Gateway of India.

The main event of Mumbai was meeting more family. My dad’s two cousins, Suddah and Maddu live in Pune, right outside of Mumbai with their families. We met up for a late lunch, but not before going on a Lost My iPhone trek across the city.

Kayla, dad, Lars and I spent the morning walking around Mumbai, stopping in a store to buy some sweets. As we headed back to the hotel to greet the cousins, my dad felt around his pockets and realized his phone was missing. Naturally, we thought he was making a not-so-funny joke… but after a few minutes of him wide-eyed and persistent, we realized it wasn’t a joke. The cousins were due to arrive at the hotel in a matter of minutes, so we frantically made our way to the lobby. I opened my phone and logged into Find My iPhone with dad’s information. Lars dad and I hopped into the hotel taxi and chased the blinking blue dot through the city of Mumbai. It finally stopped moving and we were able to catch up to it. We approached a line of parked tuktuks and I jumped out of the car trying to locate the beeping phone. As I approached the tuktuk that was beeping, the driver sat up from the backseat where he was napping. He was obviously confused to see the family he had driven hours before, back unexplained. I reached into the tuktuk and grabbed the phone which had been tucked under the back cushion. I still can’t believe we managed to get dad’s phone back off the streets of Mumbai.

Paan, loosly meaning “leaf” is a combination of betal leaf with areca nut. Although it’s often chewed for its stimulant and psychoactive effects, there are many different types, all with different purposes. The type we tried was more of an after dinner “sweet” treat. Watching them prepare it was quite interesting.

Our trip to India was great– even though it took me years to properly document it. I just about ready to head back for round two!