Lazy start to the morning. We have decided to
treat ourselves to a day off. Laze
around in bed and open chrissy pressies.
Jase calls his folks and then we just chill for awhile.
We drag ourselves out of bed and have a
small breakfast as we are booked into the champagne Xmas lunch at 12.00.
We decide to do a walk around our local
area to check out the lay of the land.
Hmm. We step out to not the best view of an overpass and quite a few
people living under it. Not to mention the numerous bodies lying around that
may not be alive . . . We walk around
the block and see all sorts of unmentionables.
Wendy is quite disappointed and decided to stay in the hotel for the
rest of the day. Jase is still keen to
jump a cab to explore, but it isn't long till lunch so we sit pool side and
look at the brochures to work out what we are going to do with our time here.
At 12.00 we rock up to lunch to find the
door shut. Hmmmm, has there been a miss communication or is this another example of 'Indian Time'. We gingerly open the door and see the staff
scurrying around still setting up. They
notice us and ask us to choose a table. Hmmm, which one should we choose. As we are the only people in the place, the
selection is wide. We choose a comfy
booth on the side and after some confusion re the price we have agreed to pay
and what we are getting for it, we settle in have glass of wine and toast xmas day in Jaipur.
It’s closer to 1 o’clock now and still we
are the only people in a restaurant that would clearly seat 300 people. There are about 20 staff and we are certainly
being given a lot of service and attention. As we head
up to the buffet, another family arrives and then one more. There is food as far as the eye can see including roast chicken and gravy, which is
my favorite thing of the day. Jase
notices in front of the chicken is a huge pile of mashed potatoes, and asks to
be served some, this creates another
drama and after a while we are advised some will be brought to our table. The chef/ chicken carver seems to be quite
new and we don’t think he has ever held a carving knife in his hand. The
‘chunk’ of meat we are served is completely hacked to pieces, but the flavor was lovely. We hate to think how much of the chicken was wasted .
We relax in the restaurant till 3:30pm and
then head outside to sit by the pool.
Jase is antsy and wants an adventure so jumps a cab to head off to the
local supermarket. Off course he ends up
at a local craft emporium and comes back with a lovely vase. The biggest find of the day though is Sanjay, his
driver, who becomes our bested bud over the next few days. At $2 an hour he is way cheaper than the
guide we booked from the hotel, and in hindsight has as much if not more knowledge.
It was a great pleasant relaxing Christmas Day!
Santa made it to Jaipur...yay
300 seats all for us
Full of Xmas spirit and a bit too much mashed potato
Merry Xmas
