Its impressive that these taxis look so good. They are Hindustan Ambassadors. Built by Hindustan Motors they are India's national car. I hoped that's what I'd get but it looks like I'm going to be in a Ford van....

Said good-bye to Haresh. He is headed off to his brother-in-laws funeral. He says he will see me tommorw in Pune but I hope he takes it easy.

In Noida most of the auto rickshaws were really beat up. Here at the airport they look bright and shinny. Haresh tells me that there's a lot of so the drivers have to keep their taxi's looking good.

The Taxi Line

I'm surprised. It doesn't seem that crowed as we head out to the taxi line. I expected swarming humanity. There are three lines of incoming taxis - the three-wheel auto rickshaws, un-air conditioned cars and air conditioned cars.

In Mumbai

So, on the ground in Mumbai. You feel it right when you step off the plane. Hot and sticky – Miami comes to mind. Mumbai airport is nicer than Delhi's. At Delhi it was hard to tell if areas were being built up or torn down. Mumbai’s terminals are bright and spacious.

Even though we ate on the plane I was tempted by this fast food joint. They had some fried things that looked like doughnuts. I asked Haresh about them. He said they were flavored with garlic and salt. I decided to wait for later.

Approach to Mumbai

The west-central part of India that we flew over is part of an enormous plateau called the Deccan (‘South’ in Sanskrit). It appeared very dry – mostly brown and grey. The sky over the Deccan is deep blue and entirely cloudless. Approaching the Western cost and Mumbai there's a line of clouds piling up. There’s a range of low mountains called the Western Ghats that runs down the coast. I guess they block the wet ocean air from getting to the interior.

All of a sudden we’re down right over the Ghats. Some of the peaks are pretty impressive – and close! Ahead – the approach to Mumbai - looks misty. It’s a long approach into the airport. Mumbai is huge and packed.