The rickshaw driver, of course, takes us to his favorite shop – one we don’t go in, so he doesn’t get his commission. But we do end up wandering in a little bit different area and manage to find some of the breath cleanser after dinner treats that are ubiquitous here in India. It’s a mixture of anise, rosemary and other candies and spices that are used as a sort of after meal mint. While we shop, Maggi stops to have a cigarette, making sure she is well outside the covered portico, so as not to bother anyone. She tells us later that as she is taking her smoke break, and old Indian woman is sitting in the street cooking (or selling something, I can’t quite remember what she is doing), and she looks Maggi up and down, then turns her nose up, shakes her head and looks away. Then she turns back, and does it again. Welcome to India! Where the men do what they want and the women, well the women are hardly seen, and certainly not seen smoking a cigarette in public. The shame!
Onward we go on our shopping spree, stopping to try to bargain for pashminas, only to be foiled in one store over 50 rupees (which in hindsight we should have just bought, but in the heat of the negotiations, our pride won out). We found another store, actually one where the guy recognized from the day before – this time for real, we remembered him, because Ed was chatting with him as we walked by yesterday – and managed to successfully negotiate for two more expensive pashminas. Oh, and we negotiated in Spanish. Yep, totally in Spanish, and afterward the guy says I need to learn better Spanish – which I do! But come on! I obviously have no knack for language, and he (or they coz another guy in the store was just as fluent as our guy) do – and they learned it from Duo Lingo too. Sigh…I was so devastated.
We trekked around for a bit more, until we decided we had had enough and waved down a tuk tuk to take us back to the hotel. Ed tells the guy the Holiday Inn City Centre, by the McDonalds, and off we go. But, soon, we realize he’s going in a different direction, and the next thing we know, we are outside the Raj Mandir theatre – which is next to a McDonalds! Ay yi yi. Wrong McDonalds. We negotiate with him, and get him turned in the right direction, paying him an extra 50 rupees when he finally gets us to the right McDonalds!
Safe and sound, we put our bags through the scanner, walk through the metal detector and retire to our rooms for a little bit of rest and relaxation before heading out again to our roof top dinner at Skyfall, the restaurant suggested by Bhanu because his friend works there. It’s a quick jaunt over to the restaurant in an Uber, where he lets us out in a parking lot – and the only thing we see is a sign for Skyfall valet parking.. It looks like a parking deck to us, but the valet sort of waves us in, and shows us the elevator – oh – ok – up we go! We walk out into this great open air space, with wood fired heaters and three levels towering above us on 3 sides. We have the option of sitting outside or inside for dinner, and we opt for inside – even though its apparent, the outside venue is the place to be. But it is way too cold to sit out there and eat, our food would be ice before we finish it!
So we settle inside, next to the heater, and ask our server if Sonny was working, but he didn’t seem to know who Sonny was – and said he wasn’t there.. On hindsight, we should have asked the maitre’d when we walked in, because we later find out the guy is the owner (Bhanu initially just said Sonny was his friend, and may have mentioned he was the general manager) but, whatever. We’re here now, the menu looks good and the beer and wine are fine – so we aren’t complaining!
All of us meat eaters ordered Chicken – I had the Chicken Afghani, which is now one of my favs, Ed had the Malai Tikka and Richard the Chicken Pudina. Maggi had Hary ali Kabab, which was some sort of pressed vegetable Kabab that was quite good and filling. All with those damned onions! Bhanu told us they liked onions in this region, and boy, was he right! If only I could eat them and help my digestion as he alleges they do…but no…not happening. Although the rest of the intrepid group dug in – so their tummies will be good to go!
After dinner, we migrated outside to a table as close to the heater as we could get, listening to a good singer – once he began singing that is! It took him forever to do sound checks and guitar checks – and we were all silently (and not so silently) praying he would get on with it so we could at least enjoy a little bit of music before we froze to death. Finally he did start singing, and we did stay for a while to enjoy the night, the atmosphere and the music. But our frostbite got the best of us, and we soon found our way back out to the little garage elevator, down to the street and into a waiting Uber to whisk us back to the hotel.
A night cap in the now hopping Roadhouse bar, and we were done for the day. Tomorrow – another long bus ride to Jodphur – our single night stop over before Udaipur.
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