At the hotel next door this morning, the front patio got swept, as it probably does every day. Now that's a broom (picture). So far, we have not seen one woman working at a hotel - it's all men. When we arrived here yesterday, Anita was doing the sheet and bedbug check and noticed that the sheets hadn't been changed. As soon as we called, 2 men in workmen's clothes came up and changed the sheets. One then went back to being the security guard at the gate. Apparently this is not women's work here. We do see women in saris doing highway shrub and landscaping maintenance, however. Another mystery.
This is our first hotel bathroom with a tub and it's a rather striking colour. Even with the tub and regular shower, a pail and dipper is still provided.
We ate breakfast in the hotel restaurant for 160 rupees each (total about $7). The fresh squeezed orange juice was great but the masala omelette (with bits of tomato and pepper) was so salty and then sprinkled with sugar that it was a bit much. We won't get that again.
After all our business with flights and hotel bookings was complete, we walked down to MI Road, one of the main drags. There are several restaurants cited in Lonely Planet along there. After about 1/2 to 3/4 hours walking without getting killed, we had passed most of them (that were actually there, anyway) and ended up at Natraj, a "classy vegetarian place" according to Lonely Planet. We ordered a couple of thali combination dishes and started with the paper masala dosa, which has a huge crisp paper-thin crepe type thing wrapping spiced potatoes. Incredibly good! We weren't sure how to eat everything but some Indian patrons at the next table helped us out, much to their amusement. They always ask where we're from, where we're going in India and how we like it. Indians are very friendly.
Including 2 sodas, various weird taxes and tip, we spent 995 rupees (about $20). That's a lot for here but it was a clean, quiet restaurant and the food was great, so we didn't care. The army of waiters, all men of course, were dressed in uniforms; there was a doorman; and there were white tablecloths and white cloth napkins. It's also a sweets shop but we didn't have room for anything. That was our big restaurant meal for the day.
We took a tuktuk home. The preliminary negotiations involved getting rid of one guy we didn't like right away who tried to steal us away from our original pick. A price of 100 rupees ($2) was agreed upon but naturally when we got to our hotel, he argued for 150 rupees. We just gave it to him rather than argue over $1. That's how they wear you down. They'd argue all day but we're on vacation, don't want to be stern all the time and won't be back here anyway - partly because of all the hassle.
We've reserved a taxi for 4 hours tomorrow morning to take us to the Amber (pronounced Ammer) Fort just out of the city. Should be interesting.
This is our first hotel bathroom with a tub and it's a rather striking colour. Even with the tub and regular shower, a pail and dipper is still provided.
We ate breakfast in the hotel restaurant for 160 rupees each (total about $7). The fresh squeezed orange juice was great but the masala omelette (with bits of tomato and pepper) was so salty and then sprinkled with sugar that it was a bit much. We won't get that again.
After all our business with flights and hotel bookings was complete, we walked down to MI Road, one of the main drags. There are several restaurants cited in Lonely Planet along there. After about 1/2 to 3/4 hours walking without getting killed, we had passed most of them (that were actually there, anyway) and ended up at Natraj, a "classy vegetarian place" according to Lonely Planet. We ordered a couple of thali combination dishes and started with the paper masala dosa, which has a huge crisp paper-thin crepe type thing wrapping spiced potatoes. Incredibly good! We weren't sure how to eat everything but some Indian patrons at the next table helped us out, much to their amusement. They always ask where we're from, where we're going in India and how we like it. Indians are very friendly.
Including 2 sodas, various weird taxes and tip, we spent 995 rupees (about $20). That's a lot for here but it was a clean, quiet restaurant and the food was great, so we didn't care. The army of waiters, all men of course, were dressed in uniforms; there was a doorman; and there were white tablecloths and white cloth napkins. It's also a sweets shop but we didn't have room for anything. That was our big restaurant meal for the day.
We took a tuktuk home. The preliminary negotiations involved getting rid of one guy we didn't like right away who tried to steal us away from our original pick. A price of 100 rupees ($2) was agreed upon but naturally when we got to our hotel, he argued for 150 rupees. We just gave it to him rather than argue over $1. That's how they wear you down. They'd argue all day but we're on vacation, don't want to be stern all the time and won't be back here anyway - partly because of all the hassle.
We've reserved a taxi for 4 hours tomorrow morning to take us to the Amber (pronounced Ammer) Fort just out of the city. Should be interesting.
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