Mumbai, India

Insane traffic, horribly overcrowded markets, beautiful old buildings that rival any in Europe, yet, they are neglected and dirty from age and pollution, massive poverty and human neglect, gobs of money, Bollywood glamour, people covered in pink tikka powder celebrating in the streets at all hours of the day and night to drums and flutes, and 48 hours straight inside a hotel room drinking electrolytes, nibbling on grilled cheese sandwiches, and watching Indiana Jones movies on the laptop while trying to combat whatever bug I had gotten this time... Welcome to Mumbai.

The Gateway to India, opened in 1924, was built to commemorate the first ever visit of a British Monarch in 1911. This is the spot where a lot of visitors start their tour of Mumbai. It is also a popular gathering place for Indian tourists and a good place to people watch, or in our case, to get watched by people. Westerners are still a huge curiosity in India.

This group of Muslim and Hindu women were fascinated by Rion.

Midday taxi traffic around the train station, to the left. The buildings in the old colonial part of Mumbai really are so beautiful. But, for some reason, a lot of the buildings are in a state of disrepair.

We were there during the week-long Ganesh festival, a celebration of the god's birthday. During this time, people hang thousands of lights and set off fireworks, drive or cart around statues of Ganesh, douse each other in tikka powder, and play music and dance in the streets. It's pure, beautiful chaos.

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Mumbai, India