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India: That night we stayed in a palace…..

That night we stayed in a palace…..

We had one more night before heading home so I asked our travel company to suggest where to stay that would be on the way to the airport. They suggested a night in a palace and recommended two. I researched the reviews and decided Samode Palace was the place for us.

We came to find out that it was not really close by to the airport; it was actually a 3 hour drive; but it didn’t matter. We got to stay in a palace.

Upon arrival I received my second blessing and a necklace.

The price was definitely not economy but that is what we expected for our last night. We were pleased to find that they upgraded us to the honeymoon suite.

We arrived to find the large canopy bed. The room was over a walkway into a courtyard so we had two different views to choose from.

Long corridor with seating area.

Our room had two private balconies.

Beautiful tub and bathroom – everything very clean!

We enjoyed looking at the historical photos on the wall of our room.

One of the views from our window.

Right outside our room we noticed a little temple. It was closed when we arrived but later we came back to find it open.

There was also a lovely seating area outside our room.

After placing our bags down we wanted to explore the nearby village. We started on our walk. Almost within minutes we notice a gentleman following us. He wanted to be our guide and help us. We politely declined. We saw some older buildings along the way. We desired to go into the shops to browse but we were constantly bombarded by people wanted to “help” us and following us around. Kids crowded around us asking for candy – I guess most tourists come prepared with candy gifts.  We just had over a week of people constantly asking for money and we had enough. We walked back to the hotel.

This sad donkey and cat were the only two things that didn’t beg us for money in Samode Village. It makes me kind of sad that the tourists cannot sustain some sort of market in the village and they feel the need to beg. I had money to spend but I cannot take the constant harassment.

After whining about our first world problems we returned to the luxury of our palace and explored the grounds. 

Beautiful vistas from the Jacuzzi.

One of the pools

 The Sish Mahal (room of mirrors)

We noticed early in the day that they were setting up for some sort of event.

We took a peak out our window and it was some sort of party.  We got to see some fireworks.

The next morning came and it was time to start another long car ride. As always there is so much to see.

The jeep ahead of us has so many people in it. Some are even hanging out the back. Can’t be very safe with these bumpy roads.

Creepy dolls staring out the window at you at the tollbooth.

We stopped at a rest stop and I get my last Thums up and some yummy cashew chicken. It could have been frozen and mass produced for all I know. I still enjoyed it. I still haven’t gotten Indian food in the US that tasted like the food I had there.

And so is the end of my adventure. I want to go back and hope to get the opportunity to do so. India is such a large country with a treasure trove of culture. I have only hit the tip of the iceberg with this adventure. Maybe again some day India!

Savannah Night

We had one extra night to spend on our trip to the south last year and decided we would return to Savannah to spend the evening. Savannah is the location of the first out of town trip my husband and I took when we first started dating. We had fond memories of walking around the historic town and going on a haunted pub tour. 
We like to stay in vacation  rentals but since our visit was limited to one night we decided upon a historic hotel. East Bay Inn was a perfect place to rest. We were in walking distance to pretty much every where we wanted to go. We were also lucky that there was a free parking space available for us to keep our car. 
After checking in we walked down to Moon River Brewing Company to begin some beer drinking. My husband and I first visited Moon River on our trip to Savannah in 2005 and remembered it fondly. Our second time around we were perhaps more educated on beers and not impressed like before. A good time was still had trying their brews. 
Later on we had dinner at a.lure. I chose a.lure because I wanted to try some low country specialities and my first choice, The Olde Pink House, was booked for the evening. It proved to be a great choice.
We started our dinner with some fruity cocktails.

I decided on the pork shank for dinner. It was one of the best meals I have ever had. The pork easily fell off the bone and was cooked perfectly. The sauce complemented it very well. The garlic goat cheese grits provided a tasty bed for the shank to rest upon.

NIMAN RANCH PORK SHANK

(slow braised, roasted garlic goat cheese grits, charred tomato demi glaze, haricots verts

We finished it off with an interesting goat cheese frozen dessert. It was perfect for my taste because it was only slightly sweet but creamy. If you like your desserts super sweet you might want to chose another.

Frozen Goat cheese dessert

After dinner we decided to walk along the water. My husband and I remember a line of bars up and down the water on our previous trip; the economy must to hit many of them hard because many places were no longer open. We still had a nice walk that started by going down these steep, wet, slippery stairs.

When we got closer to the action there were performers and live music to entertain the masses after dinner.

Some were also entertained, as I, by watching the large barges come in. It is impressive how much cargo comes into that port.

We weren’t ready to go the bed yet so we walked around looking for a bar with some live music. We found a few with good sounds however the volume was so loud that neither one us thought we would have a good time in a bar with those noise levels. We people watched and listened to music from one bar from across the street instead. We soon found that we were not the only ones doing that.
We still wanted another drink before we called it a night so we headed over to the The Distillery to check out their craft beer selection. They had some interesting regional choices to try.

We finished off the evening with a cheese plate and then headed back to the hotel for bed. It was a perfect evening for a couple in their late 30’s.