Fresh Lime Soda

Once again I find myself back in India, enjoying a different way of life. I’m only here two weeks this time, so I’ll be staying in hotels and eating out a lot (I already feel like I’ve gained weight, but at least my clothes are still fitting).

I am here for work, but I arrived Saturday night so that I had a day to start to get used to the 10.5 hour time change and rest a bit (if you call 16k steps resting) before heading to the office on Monday.

After unpacking and enjoying a quick room service meal Saturday night I more than enjoyed sleeping horizontally again, so much that I almost missed breakfast which ended at 10:30. But I got down in time to get some food before the buffet closed.

I then stopped at the front desk to ask about options for the day and arranged a car to take me to https://akshardham.com/ and Lodhi Garden, two places that I had not yet been to in Delhi.

The first was very interesting, but I have no photos to share as the first thing I had to do before entering was to drop off my camera, phone, other electronics and my small backpack at a checkpoint as none of that is allowed inside. Since I didn’t know this ahead of time I didn’t have a small purse with me and had to carry my passport wallet, inhaler, and water bottle around in my hands, I also had no pockets.

In dropping everything off, I forgot to grab my small bag with a small amount of TP, so one of my first stops once inside was the snack bar to ask for tissues (aka napkins). You can fill in the details of what I needed these for.

But before that, getting in was also interesting. We first lined up in a set of lines like you see at an amusement park. Then when the lines for security from the group ahead of us dwindled down enough, the gates were opened and we all moved to that next stage. There were no real lines, just a lot of wiggling to get your shoulder or hip into position to stake leverage on getting to the checkpoint. What was even more memorable was that I never felt so tall in my life. Most of the other women (men were in another area) “waiting” with only came up to my shoulders.

Finally I got to the front and got scanned and made it inside. I then bought a ticket to the animated attractions which provided an interesting history of the space and of Swaminarayan. I was with a small group of people on my tour because we were in one of the English sessions.

After the tour, I wandered through the rest of the space. It was very interesting to see a new site like this in India where most things that I have visited in the past are very old. Once I had seen enough, and still leaving time for my next stop I found my driver and headed to the garden.

It was huge and there were tons of birds. Most of my pictures are on another device so I will have to share them later, but this is one of my favorites.

Finally, I headed back to the hotel arriving there about 8 hours after having left, and ready for some dinner. This is where my  tour of food started with a BBQ buffet, outside. Yes, outside, quite welcome after the winter we had in Chicago.

Quite full, I head upstairs to get some sleep before heading to the office the next day. Still a bit jet-lagged I woke up a few times, but was able to get back to sleep and have enough energy to make it through the day Monday.

After work I headed to Cyber Hub with a co-worker for dinner. I had been there a few times 2 years ago when I was here so was looking forward to going back. On another co-worker’s recommendation we sought out the The Drunken Botanist. The food was quite good and I indulged in a coffee & herb sangria, with orange liqueur. The first sip was a bit weird, but it grew on me. There other drinks were also quite interesting.

And I had a very interesting cold pizza with salmon and salmon roe served on a large polished stone.

Tonight was another very filling dinner at Farzi Café, where I had eaten lunch 2 years back and was looking forward to enjoying again. They have a very interesting menu with some even more interesting presentations.

So now it’s night, but not yet bedtime, and I am sipping a fresh lime soda – plain, outside at the hotel, wondering what crazy food I will find tomorrow and how I can not gain a ton of weight while I’m here.