Last night was quite bad, I kept feeling that something was biting me, infact, I even tried to see if there bed bugs. Not there, I used Odomos, and finally used the spray generously to get rid of the mosquitoes. We had bought the ALL OUT and the spary earlier for Rs 163. Eventually, I did go to sleep for about 4 hours.
At this point, I wished we had taken the room at Udai Bilas Palace!! Worth it to pay $100 per night. We shall not stay in such cheap hotels again.
6.30 am - Woke up finally. Prepared tomato sandwiches with tea at 8.30 am.
9.25 am - Left Hotel The Way and returned the steel plate to the restaurant below on our way out.
9.45 am - Reached Shrinathji Ka Mandir. As we were looking around the area, I saw a very simple and pretty looking vendor selling garlic and ginger in some baskets. I asked her if I can take her pictures. She was very shy and coyly smiled her consent. I had to keep asking her to show me her face as she kept looking down. Finally, she did look at me, and with no makeup, she looked very attractive and graceful. I gave her Rs 20 and she seemed quite happy with that.
We went inside the temple, and astheir caretaker, Ramesh Chandra Chobisa showed us around, another person came in and introduced himself as Gajendra Kumar Sharma, as the manager of the temple. He owns a jewellery shop just outside the temple. He recommended we try to get a book by Mahesh Chandra Purohit, Devendra Snr Girls Arts Secondary, Dungarpur. Mr Sharma, a jeweller actually had a couple of gold teeth. Very nice gentleman and graciously offered us to step into his shop for some refreshments. He did say there is a lot to see in Dungarpur and to contact him when we go there again.
10.15 am - Left the Mandir.
10.40 am - Left Dungarpur.
Talked with Asha Kastia (Thakkar) she was not very hopeful that she could join us in Mt Abu after all.
After about 35/40 kms, the road connected to NH 8 (Delhi - Bombay) a 4 lane Hwy. Excellent.
12.15 past noon - Reached Udaipur. We covered 110 kms in 1 hour and 35 minutes.
Back in Udaipur. Pavan felt that maybe our two day trip to Banswara and Dungarpur was somewhat a waste. But had we not gone, we would never know.
As we were approaching Udaipur, we told Sarawan that we were in a mood for a really good gujarati type thali. He said he will take us to a place that we will never forget. He drove us to this white round building called "Garden Hotel", which is part of a bigger hotel. They serve only vegetarian food and no smoking allowed here. They serve Jain food, which is known not to have onions and garlic in any recipes. Two gentlemen (we found out later that they were a father and son team) welcomed us outside, we were one of the early guests that afternoon. I asked them what can they offer us, they said, you will eat what the Maharaja eats!! This is called Maharajas food place. The father Mr R K Shetty and his son, Sanjay Shetty explained to us that every morning when the food is cooked, the first meal goes to the Maharaja of Udaipur's palace ...... seriously, that is true. The Maharaja eats the same food that we were going to eat. They were such a happy duo, and treated us with so much affection and fed us as though there was no tomorrow. They first started with fresh made Dhokla, with lots of green coriander and chillies..... followed by a katori (cup) each of fresh made dahi (yogurt). Then Sanjay brought a four bowl holder (4 circular attached bowls with a raised handle in the middle) which contained chole, aloo rasaa, daal and a mixed vegetable. They also brought out 2 cups of yogurt curry for us followed by delicious fresh chappatis (cooked only on one side). They kept a steady flow of food. Soon, some papad was brought to us. The father kept a close watch so he could refill our plates. We did request for more curry, it was so good! At the end of the meal they brought us fresh made coconut burfi (sweet). Pavan did not want any, so I took his share also, knowing I would regret it if I did not!
The thali was Rs 60 each, and my God, we will never forget the food and the experience, and will never forget the Shettys. Sanjay came to ask us if we liked the food, and knew fully well that we were overjoyed. He requested me to see the kitchen, I asked him if I can take any pictures. He said yes, and I followed him. The kitchen as expected was spotless, the food containers were displayed proudly on individual angithis (clay ovens) to keep them warm. All the staff was overjoyed at my appreciation and I took a group photo of all. This truly was service with a smile. The food is very popular with most foreigners. They also have more fancy restaurants for those who want to drink and have non vegetarian food in the main hotel. But this round building "Garden Hotel" is in a class of its own! Total bill was Rs 145 - included mineral water.
Headed back to our hotel - Raj Palace Hotel - and this time we took room # 10 for Rs 1250. We were going to stay for 2 nights now. This was one floor lower than the one we took previously (#27). This room was actually better, with a huge room size bay window with columns and a huge mattress with drapes etc, next to the sitting room, and next to the sitting room was the bathroom, looked almost like a circular layout. The room was large and quite spacious.
Pavan and I rested a while and later in the evening taking a left turn from the hotel walked to Lake Pichhola. There were lots of little shops, and through a large gateway entered Lake Pichhola, it was awesome, with the Lake Palace standing grand in the middle of the lake.
The laundry was ready that we had left before we went to Banswara/Dungarpur.
We made a note of visiting the lake again next morning. On our way backfrom the lake, I spotted a nice bag. As we were appreciating the embroidery in this shop, a young boy (approx 14 years old) came by and invited us to the store. The place is called "Magic Collection" and the guy really had some very nice stuff. He did not bargain at all, which was nice, as I knew the stuff was priced right. I bought a yellow shoulder embroidered bag for Rs 125 ($3). The boy and his boss were both very good in customer service and gave us their business card. He clarified that they manufacture all their own stuff and ship anywhere in the country. If anyone is looking for their contact, the guys name is Dinesh Vasita and his email address is aspicanmarey@yahoo.com
On returning to the hotel, we were hungry and went to their restaurant. We ordered sweet corn and chicken and tomato soup - I had chicken fried rice and Pavan had Puri and aloo subzi with raita.
Returned to our room, had some tea. We had bought a book on Maharana Pratap Singh, which we now read. We had bought this book in Haldi Ghatti.
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