We traipse back down the hill to the bus, go through the Price is Right with Bhanu, then head to our last stop on today’s tour – the Sahelion Ki Bari gardens. These gardens were created in 1710 for the Royal ladies and their maids to enjoy. Remember, everything was segregated (well, actually a lot of the culture still is segregated, whenever there is any security whatsoever, ladies are in one line, men in another), and the only way for ladies to enjoy the outdoors was to have a private area all to themselves – thus this garden.
We are given free time here, but we are actually not going back with the bus to the hotel – we are striking out on our own to a restaurant Bhanu recommended (owned by another one of his school chums) just down the street. So we have no time limit as we wander around the beautiful grounds and walk through the little museum inside the main building. It is lovely and green here, and we snap pictures of the fountain with the elephants as well as the ladies working in traditional garb. Of course that was a mistake, because now we have to pay them – but we are sort of getting used to that now!
The gardens are situated right on the lake, but for some reason there are walls and fences blocking the view and access – so we entertain ourselves by walking around the property for a bit, then heading down the street to the Bungalow restaurant, a lovely al fresco dining experience in a courtyard behind white washed walls and a green gate. We are the first customers and are greeted warmly as we sit and peruse the menu. We end up ordering a feast (not that we expected it to be that much food!), but the first thing to catch our eye are the Golden Crispy fried corn kernels. They are deep fried sweet corn coated with flour and spices. We are all 4 in on that! Then we order naan and parantha (which was probably more than we needed), chicken Tikka, Maans Ke Sule (Mutton cubes), Chicken Seek kebab, which turns out to be minced chicken in some great spices and the vegetarian platter – a selection of different veg appetizers along with our beer and our wine of course! Oh my gosh, the food! All excellent, but all far too much. We couldn’t come close to finishing it all – I personally would have been happy with the corn and the bread alone! We make a valiant effort, and end up leaving stuffed and happy – hopping an Uber to get us back to the hotel with plenty of time to spare for our afternoon boat ride.
Deemed a “sunset” boat ride around Lake Pichola, we actually begin our cruise just before 5, so no way will we be seeing the sunset. No matter, the boat ride is a lovely excursion all around the lake – where we get to see the Lake Palace (now a hotel), the Jagmandir with its elephant covered plinth (originally the Lake Garden Palace, now also a hotel) and the exterior of the City Palace from the water, which is totally stunning – as it sits stately up above the lakeside development crawling up the hill toward the palace.
We even get a little bit of a sunset – capturing the sun as it starts its descent toward the mountains that ring the lake. An then we are back on land, back in the golf carts and back to the hotel. After a quick rest stop, we order another Uber to take us to the Ambrai Restaurant, our lakeside choice for dinner this evening. (Ok, it was Bhanu’s choice – once again he poo poo’ed my suggestions and told us to go here – although I did have this on the list at one point, I had added other lakeside and rooftop options, but he said Ambrai was the best – so we followed his so far impeccable advice and made reservations to ensure we would have a good table.)
The Uber driver arrives right on schedule, and starts to grumble right away about Ambrai. He says something like he can’t go into the old city. We say, but we’re not going to the old city, we are going to Ambrai. He continues to grumble as he starts to drive, and I track him on the GPS (coz, yeah, I trust no one!). He drives a little less than half a mile and says this is it, he can go no further. I’m not having any of it, even though there is a barricade and a police officer where he stops. I’ve done research on this place and never saw anything about not being able to drive there. Plus Bhanu knew we were taking and Uber and said nothing, and it’s part of a hotel! But, he is relentless, and he is trying to pass us off to a tuk tuk driver, which feels like a big scam. Reluctantly we get out of the car, and reluctantly we negotiate with the tuk tuk guy to take us to the restaurant – doubling our cost (although, honestly, we’re talking mere cents here – it was a little over $1 US in the Uber and the same price in the tuk tuk, so no complaints except it doesn’t seem right that Uber would even accept the ride if he knew he couldn’t take us….sigh).
And off we go on the true Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. If we thought that jeep ride was something – it ain’t got nothing on this! The tuk tuk takes us down little alleys –and I mean little – at break neck speed, honking and swerving (as much as one can in a 5 foot narrow alley) to avoid cats, dogs, pedestrians and shopkeepers’ wares that encroach out onto the roadway. This is truly the old city – who knew? – and it is truly slam packed with shops, merchandise and people walking where this guy is going to drive us. Holy cow – if we weren’t holding on so tight, I’d be taking a video! But you’ll have to be satisfied with the narrative, coz no way am I risking life, limb and cell phone to video this wicked ride!
To his credit, he does get us there safe and sound, all the while trying to negotiate staying and waiting for us to take us back to the hotel. We end up telling him goodbye – we don’t know how long we will stay, and we’ll take our chances finding another driver when we are finished – and wander through a dimly lit, but lush courtyard to the restaurant. We are shown to a wonderful table, right on the lake where we can gaze out at the brilliantly lit City Palace on one side of us, the Lake Palace on the other. The atmosphere couldn’t be better and the food ends up matching that excellence. The guys go all crazy and order Chicken Cordon Blue – a fusion mix it says – and what a mix! It comes as a roulade, in a red chunky sauce, stuffed with spinach, greens and apparently something Asian. Maggi orders something three different ways, and it looks beautiful in 3 different colored sauces. I order Chicken Afghani (hey, I’m loving that dish) except this one comes in a heavy cream sauce, which is great, just not what I was expecting.
Overall, it is a wonderful meal and we spend a totally enjoyable evening hanging out, rehashing the trip, enjoying the view, the food and especially the company.
Finishing our evening, we do indeed find another tuk tuk to take us back to the hotel, and reverse our wild ride through the alleyways – although not quite as crowded or wild this trip. He drops us at the hotel gate, letting us walk off a little of our meal by strolling down the dark tree lined roadway to the hotel entrance. We eschew a nightcap, instead heading directly to bed because tomorrow is our 3:00am wake up call. Yes, 3:00am, for our very early morning flight to Mumbai..
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