Friday - We managed to get up at 9:30 AM and looked out our window at the Delhi haze - couldn't quite see across the road at the end of our alley! I went to look for Hilary and walked through the amazing K3 restaurant with its three large breakfast food stations: English, Asian, & Indian. We all finally managed to meet up at 10:30 and just made breakfast before it closed at 11. Bob and I had great scrambled eggs with tomatoes and onions and a puffy, eggy French cruller and cappuccinos. I reported to the front desk that our bathroom sink stopper was jammed and they said they would send someone
Breakfast
Hilary and I went to the pool on the second floor and dozed on chaises and were served watermelon juice. We tried to book a Jet Lag treatment in the spa, but unfortunately they were fully booked. I returned to our room and dozed and we napped some more and watched TV. I had given up on the sink repair, but wanted to wash up for dinner, and found the sink fully functional! The repair person must have snuck in while we were dozing and fixed it!
At six we all met up at the K3 restaurant (Chinese, Indian, & Tuscan,now!) once again. I was feeling quite sick and tried to find some clear broth on the menu, but it was quite confusing. The restaurant was just changing to its dinner buffet and from its day to evening menu and everything we wanted to order was unavailable, but then things seemed to jell. I finished my first Kingfisher beer and another one magically appeared and I suddenly felt much better - I guess had been really dehydrated. Hil and Bob had chicken with different Indian sauces and I had really good gnocchi.
Saturday - I awoke after 9 hours of sleep and felt quite human! We all arrived at breakfast at 8; Hil had made friends with one of the sous chefs yesterday and she offered to make Hil a special Indian breakfast, Masala Dosa, and presented her with a giant rice pancake stuffed with a potato mixture with a couple of chutneys on the side. Bob got more eggs and bacon and I started with miso soup, Indian lentil puffs and various sauces and finished with
French pastry. Really good!
Hil managed to get us late checkout as we switch to the nearby Radisson Blu today to officially start our tour. As the Marriott is well under a mile from the Radisson, the Marriott drove us over for free - yet another service for Miss Hamlin! We're now further from the airport, in a livelier neighborhood with fruit stalls and markets. As with the Marriott, security is very tight; our car was inspected under the hood and in the back, and with a large mirror, underneath. Then our luggage and we were scanned - reassuring after the disaster in Mali yesterday.
Both hotels have a strange feature, that of having the entire bathroom open to the room - fortunately one can draw a shade down, but it does seem odd.
We went to dinner at the hotel's Indian restaurant which became crowded with large tour groups. You choose veg or non-veg and then waiters come around and put small pieces of chicken, lamb or fish on your plate. It was pretty good with several sauces, but it turned out to be the appetizer! A fresh plate and another round of food including things like a glass of salty buttermilk which was better than I would have thought. At last we got to desserts which started with a saffron ice cream pop, pastry and then some folded leaves with silver paint on them....looked pretty lethal, but if you unfolded the leaf there was a bite of very perfumey fruit (?).
We meet for breakfast with the group tomorrow morning, and the adventure begins.
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