We woke up again at a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed 4:30am because the driver was to pick us up from the hotel and take us to Chandigarh, which is about 5 hours away again. So, at 5:30am, once again, no one was there. As I didn't have his personal number, I was forced to call his boss, which gave us his number. And therefore we called him and he told us 20 minutes.....clearly, he forgot or something. So, after more waiting, he zooms up and we are on our way.
The road to Chandigarh was much prettier, in my opinion. And the traffic was much better. Lots of rice fields and oxen pulled carts. Very pastoral and poetic.
Mostly women you see working in the rice fields....'enough said. I have one sad thing to admit - apparently, they do pay a tax because this driver also stopped to pay a tax. But he didn't have the shady plastic bag with him that the other driver did, so I stand by my hypothesis that there was drug dealing going on the other day.
The driver had us stop off at this place called Karnal Haveli for breakfast. There really are no words to describe this place. Half carnival, half restaurant, 100% odd. They were popping popcorn. This is what we were greeted with. When we went inside the restaurant, it reminded me of medieval times. I was expecting some mounted knights to canter up and start jousting.... The food was decent. The tea was excellent - tasted exactly like milk tea, which, I guess isn't very India, but I heart milk tea.
We finally make in into Chandigarh and I was no expecting all the traffic! My map showed city divided into roughly 8 sectors, apparently, there were 60 some sectors....and our driver was not familiar with the city. So, after asking around, we make our way to our first stop, which, due to wrong turns and such, was the High Court.
Chandigrah is the capital of Punjab and Haryana and is known (whether liked or hated) for it's architecture. The High Court was supposed to be one of the buildings to see. It was so blah, that I won't even bother posting a photo of it here. Apparently there was a statute of an open hand, which we could not find either. So, hot and irritated, we headed off next door to the Nek Chand Fantasy Rock Garden instead.
This place is...odd, to say the least. It's a garden that's like a dream-scape and everything is made out of recycled materials. Some of it is gorgeous, like the waterfall below.
But then you get into the bizarre like the lines and lines of rock monkeys, people, imaginary figures and other animals. Who would win? The terracotta warriors in China or the army of recycled monkeys of India? =)
The garden was very interesting though, no matter how odd. What was also odd was that the doorways kept on getting smaller and smaller to the point where my little frame had to bend over to get through. At the end of the site, there was an aquarium area and fun house mirrors and swings - it was all very bizarre.It didn't help that my very American looking friend was with me and set the natives a-twitter. It was like being followed by the paparazzi. Everyone wanted a photo with him. I finally just walked away and let him be swarmed.
We then headed to the rose garden which boasts 1500 varieties of roses...except, we saw about 1500 varieties of dead roses. I'm not surprised given the heat. The lake did not seem to be maintained and was a breeding ground for malaria and the one begger child just would not let up. I finally told her to "stay" like a dog. =/
Down down flowers indeed. The best part of the garden was on our way out, an Indian man approached my friend and told him that his female companion over that way would really like to meet him. And she came bounding over. I swear he was going to get married off. This time, I saved him....We then thought, one more try. Let's head to the Architecture Museum and see what's up over there as this city is supposedly known for such things. But...it was closed on Monday. But the garden/lawn part was opened so we wandered a bit and saw what we could.
I clearly don't get the architecture of this city.....Then we headed to lunch at this place recommended by my guide book called Ghazal. The below picture is what I had to stare at through my meal....
I describe her as an ugly wonder woman who's being seduced by a transvestite. My friend says "Even her boobs have muscles!" Despite the motif, the food was yum yum YUM!
Then 5 hour drive back home. I put on my headphones to listen to some tunes and podcasts. About 2 hours in, the driver looks back at me and says something. I can't hear him, but automatically nod. I assume he needs water or the bathroom or something. He parks outside and gets out and orders a meal! So, we wait in the car, which is slowly getting hotter even with the windows down and the begger child have found us!
Then, of course, we have to stop for gas.....FINALLY, he drops us back home.
I call my friend who's getting married and after some chit chat she recommends this place for dinner - The Great Kabob Factory. She did not tell me it was buffet.....We head over the the Radisson near Connaught Place and walk around until we find it since apparently no one knew where it was.
We walk in there and the decor is very nice and pretty. I actually like it since it's all in blue. We sit down and are confronted with the buffet menu - your only choice is vegetarian or non-vegetarian and then away we go. The food keeps on coming and it doesn't stop until you say it does.
This plate only represents SOME of the food that my friend ate. Just the ribs. It doesn't include the chicken, fish, lamb, salads and other dishes that were continually brought to the table. I chose the vegetarian meal and I asked them to stop after the initial tasting. =)
This is a sampling of the dessert. YUM! Hungry yet?
This is actually the setting of the table. It makes a smiley face, which makes me make a smiley face. =)We then head home. As the rest of my group is inbound this night, I try to stay up to make sure everyone makes it. My brother and his fiancee arrive and I send them to their rooms. I then go nap while I wait for my other friend, but in my tired stupor, I keep on thinking I hear the doorbell ring, so about 8 separate times, I would walk over to the door, open it, see no one there, look confused, then walk over to the phone and pick it up, and say hello and no one would be there....then crawl back into bed. I had the right to worry, even though I had an extra bed sent to the room and made sure they knew there would be 3 people in the room, they still told my friend that she wasn't confirmed to stay in this hotel. My friend did finally arrive and I finally crash. She was escorted by hotel employees to make sure she wasn't lying or a prostitute or something.
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