a day in delhi

After Udaipur, we had a short 12 hour stay in Delhi. Barbara and I opted for a cheap hotel option ($20 a night, yeah!) since we knew we'd be out and about exploring for most of our time there. We landed in Delhi and Sanket, Barbara's Kingfisher pilot friend, picked us up and we were off to the hotel. We quickly dropped our stuff and headed to... duh, the Hard Rock Cafe. After a large plate of nachos (Sanket and I share the same love for Hard Rock Cafe nachos and also photographing food), we explored the insanely gigantic mall in Saket. I fell in love with all the ayurvedic oils and products and also discovered Fab India (which really is fab).

Since it had been a couple hours since the Hard Rock feast, obviously it was time for us to eat again. Sanket took us to Fio, an Italian restaurant in the Garden of Five Senses. Holy cow, I must have died and gone to heaven. This BEAUTIFUL restaurant in the middle of a huge garden is pretty much what I dream about when I think about my own future restaurant. Beautiful landscaping, lots of lanterns and lights, and of course, great food, set the stage for a wonderful evening with wonderful company. We ordered wine, a hookah (!!), pizza, pasta and soup and then of course, how could I resist, tiramisu for dessert.

 

 

I feel like I look at my dessert the same way a mother looks at her newborn child.

Sanket dropped us off and we returned to our room around 2 a.m. Unfortunately, sleep wasn't in our future just yet, since we came back to a bed full of bugs, which had somehow gotten in through our closed window. We promptly switched rooms, showered and started packing. Barbara thought it'd be a good idea to get a wake up call and taxi for the morning, but as she set out to try and get downstairs, we realized that we were locked in. After hysterically laughing and trying every which way to get ourselves out of this room, we resorted to climbing out the window. We told the staff and a couple guys came to try and unlock/"unstuck" the door. No dice. Too tired to care, we decided the window would just have to do as our exit.

After drifting in and our of sleep for about an hour, I woke up feeling damp...okay...soaked. Something was leaking... the culprit? The air conditioner. This got me hysterically laughing again and I just could not stop. It was probably because it was all too much but also because how can you even be upset? For $20, I'm surprised that's all we witnessed. 

finishing our travels through rajasthan

The next morning, we headed to the Amber Fort to complete our visit in Jaipur. Though forts (especially ones up a hill in one hundred degree heat) don't usually interest me, this one was amazing...

 

After an incredible experience in Jaipur, Tyla and Austin headed to a national park and Barbara and I continued on to Pushkar. First and foremost, our hotel, which I will DEFINITELY be returning to on my honeymoon, was something to brag about. We stayed in tents. But these were far from your average tents...

 

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

 

Exhibit C

The "hotel," The Greenhouse Resort, started as a farm of greenhouses. Now, the hotel owns several greenhouses, on the resort premises and off as well, sourcing all veggies and fruits, wheat and even roses for their restaurant from their own gardens. Clearly I was really into this. Plus, since its about 20 minutes outside of Pushkar, it's so quiet and beautiful and surrounded by hills, a nice break from the busy Pushkar streets.

    

Pushkar, though, was definitely one of my favorite cities so far (I feel like I keep saying that, I love them all)! It's relatively small, but there are tons of cool shops and markets and a beautiful lake in the middle of town, surrounded by ghats. At the lake, priests hang around, waiting to bless you and send flowers into the lake for you. Though I'm not so religious, the blessing was simple and touching, praying for the best for my family and friends and ultimately vowing to come back to the same spot with my husband and children.

 

 

After finding the best sandals and purse in the world ($3 for the sandals, $24 for the bag) and overeating to the extreme, in Pushkar...

 

Me in my natural habitat

...we headed west to Udaipur to meet up with Tyla and Austin again. Though I hadn't heard of Udaipur before, this city was beautiful. The European influence was very apparent, thanks to the several lakes that inhabit the city. Again, I found myself, asking, "am I REALLY still in India?"

In Udaipur, were able to reunite with Preet, a dentist who helped out with a TMF medical trip last year, doing check ups and pulling teeth at one of the other orphanages. Preet served as the best tour guide, taking us to his favorite dining spots on the lake where I indulged in an unhealthy amount of dal and even to his clinic and home to family for an incredible breakfast.

My internet is too slow to upload Udaipur photos and I'm already WAY behind on my posts! So I'll post some later!


This completed our trip and Tyla and Austin headed back to the States and Barbara and I continued on to Delhi and eventually Dehradun to see the place I will be working at for the next week!

janu of jaipur

The next morning, we woke up to meet our driver, Janu... little did we know we were in for a huge treat. Besides being impossibly charming and attractive, his perfect English, which he taught himself, and absurdly impressive knowledge of ALL of Rajasthan made him the perfect addition to our group for the day. He showed us his journals, two notebooks FILLED with tourists singing his praises as we traveled through Jaipur. He also informed us that he was pretty famous on Google, so being the professional googler that I am, I gave it a shot and it turns out, he is. Click here for my favorite article.

 

Snake charmer!

 

Another great thing about Janu was when we got ahead of ourselves asking, "so what's the significance of this?" or "where are we going next?" Janu replied in typical Indian style, "if I start telling you about all of these things you will be seeing later in the day, you will miss what you are seeing right now and I don't want you to be distracted."

Anyways, he took us to the palace, through the pink city and finally to a textile factory, where we were able to see the hand embroidering, stamping and dying of fabrics that would ultimately be made into beautifl clothing, quilts and other home accessories. Needless to say, I went crazy for the custom made tunics and dresses and beautiful wall hangings.

 

Hand stamping textiles...

 

Janu!

Obviously we had to go...

After several hours and a small fortune dropped, oops, Janu took us to eat and then for ayurveda massages, which were quite the bargain coming in at $25 for an hour and a half of pampering.

After our showers and a little primping, Janu picked us up again for a late dinner at his hotel, Hotel Moonlight Palace. It was impeccably clean and the rooftop was situated high over the city so that you could see for miles. The roof was decorated with lights and beautiful Rajasthani pottery... and the food was pretty awesome too.

Finally, we had to say goodbye to our new friend, Janu, as he departed for a business trip (what a catch!) to Barcelona.

 

Kingfisher and good company!

some things are overrated...

...the Taj Mahal is not one of them. Yesterday, we left the hotel at 6 a.m. in order to catch the Taj as the sun rose. Like a little kid on Christmas morning, I woke up at 3:30 a.m., too excited to sleep. When we finally got to this beautiful building I've been dreaming about seeing for most of my life, I was actually in awe. I'm not usually one to spectate for hours, especially over a structure, but the Taj and its presence are just so spectacular, it's hard to stop looking at it. We took photos for a while, went up close and inside to see all the intricate carvings and details and then I just plopped myself on a bench and stared for a good 45 minutes. It was absolutely breathtaking. Since I'm already planning a trip back to India, next time, I think I'll bring a lunch and disguise a bottle of wine because I couldn't help but think it'd be the most perfect place for a picnic.

 

 

So excited!!!

 

Sunrise...

 

An attempt at being artsy...

For the rest of the day, we vegged by the pool and then went to a fabulous spot for a delicious dinner of Kashir biryani (new favorite food), beer and an unbeatable roof top view of the Taj at sunset.

That evening, we headed to Jaipur. After a long and tiring train ride, we got off and I heard my name. Who the HECK do I know in Jaipur, India? I'm wondering to myself. And then I see Kelly, from the Whole Foods trip who had stayed behind to travel a little more after the project was over. As it always does, it shrunk the world by a factor of a thousand and it was fantastic seeing a familiar face within the hustle and bustle of the Jaipur train station.

the agra fort and a meal to die for

After a quick night in Delhi (and from what I saw of the city, I cannot wait to go back and explore), we met Tyla and Austin for breakfast and boarded a train for Agra.

  

Upon arrival, we headed to our incredible hotel. From the outside, it looks like nothing special, just a sturdy, fort-like brick building. But inside awaits an oasis; a getaway from the chaotic streets of India and the touristy city that is Agra. The premises are filled with gardens and fountains leading you in to an architecturally amazing interior, filled with furniture I was lusting after to decorate my ficticious house with.

 

 

Hanging couch? Can this be my bed?

Soon after, Tyla, Austin and I headed to the Agra Fort. I was really blown away with how interested I was in the history of the fort... but mostly, I couldn't get enough of the views of the Taj. My favorite part of the fort was peering through the "lookouts" located all over the fort in order to see the Taj from different angles.

 

 

 

 

     

 

We finished our audio tour of the fort, we headed back to our hotel to celebrate Austin's birthday...

...and prepare for one of the best culinary experiences of my life.

 

 

Aprons instead of napkins!

In Delhi and Chennai, there's a famous restaurant called Bukara. For about $100 a person, you can enjoy some top-knotch wines and out of this world Indian food. My dad has raved about it and Mary Ellen, Caroline and Jasdeep told me it was so worth the trip. Obviously, this restaurant was quickly added to my Indian bucket list for "must eats." I've googled it, I've begged my dad to take me there when he comes (because clearly I cannot afford this on my own)... but despite my research, it just wasn't looking like Bukara was in my future.

But again, the Indian gods were on my side (I've been pretty blessed so far). At our beautiful paradise hotel, a sister restaurant (and also much cheaper version of Bukara), Peshawri, was waiting to greet my insatiable appetite.

We entered the beautiful space, sat and knew immediately what we wanted to order: dal makhani, naan and paneer. We were able to watch the chef prepare the naan and a surprise serving of parota...

 

...and then, IT came. This meal was, like I said, one of the best culinary experiences in my 23 years of life and it actually brought me to tears. It was one of those meals where you savor every bite, all the while thinking, "how is it possible that something tastes THIS good?"

Our question was shortly answered as our waitor scooped a spoon into the dal to serve us and a bit of green came to the surface. The culprit of this mouth-watering, completely satisfying and decadent treat? Ghee. Aka... butter.

 

 

 

 

Super dorky, but SUPER HAPPY!!!