Welcome to India

We arrived in Bombay at 10:30 pm, which was noon at home. (Eighteen hours after I had left.)  Going through immigration and customs was routine, but then I was supposed to catch a flight to Cochin at 1:45, which turned out to be a little more complicated than I would have liked.

First, apparently Indian Airlines and Air India are two different things. Luckily, while I was waiting at one place with the sneaking suspicion that it had all gone too smoothly, a guy who was walking around selling drinks set me straight, directing me outside and upstairs to domestic departures.

That's where the problems started in earnest. The air outside could charitably be described as sultry (uncharitably, hot and muggy). On top of that, there were dozens of men offering to help me take my bags to the departure area. I declined, only to be follwoed by a young guy, who said it was his job to help and grabbed the cart. Tired of arguing, I gave in. About 50 yards later, he remarked that it would be "nice" if I gave him $20 US for this service. I scoffed, giving him $3, and he left. Then someone else tried to do the same thing. Really annoying. I'm tempted to chalk it up to cultural differences, but really it's just obnoxious.

I finally got to the right place. (Note:  there were no signs at any point telling people wher to go.). And then stood in three lines:  first to have my checked baggage x-rayed; second to check in; and third for security. The second and third lines were the kind that seemed to follow the ordinary rules of lines, and then other people would inexplicably be allowed to cut to the front. Interestingly, there was a separate security line for women.

I landed in Cochin at 3:30 in the morning, and headed to a hotel downtown where I was to stay only until noon when I could get a ride to my hotel on the backwaters.

I was pretty miserable at this point -- dead tired, but even more just disoriented as to time. The hotel was nice, but had that quality of hotels in hot, humid places:  too cold, but still sort of damp, so the sheets were cold and clammy. Then, I couldn't figure out how to turn off the lights. Like I said, pretty miserable. But eventually I figured it out and went right to sleep.