We were extremely P, and really didn't have a plan until we reached Delhi. Our route turned out to be a trip through the Golden Triangle, with more of Rajasthan tacked on the end - we had been previously more ambitious, thinking of also meeting up with Meghana in Goa and also maybe Kerala, but the inefficiency of the transport system in India really doesn't allow for that much ground to be covered in two weeks.
Agra was our first stop - I'd been before, so I enjoyed the pool whilst Carl went off to see the Taj Mahal and the Fort. Here are a few photos from my 2007 trip when I went to India with work with Norby, Edwin and Jonny - partly due to popular demand that I post some non-food pictures, but mainly so I can post a gratuitous photo of Jonny. Agra Fort is seriously underrated, definitely the most beautiful fort I visited in India:
We also went to Fatehpur Sikri on the way from Agra to Jaipur - I had agreed to go to Agra again so that I could go to this place, only to realised I'd been there before in 2007 - duh! Getting up at 3am to see the Taj at sunrise meant I really wasn't awake the first time round.
Given that we were visiting a mosque, Jonny had to do a David Beckham:
But anyway, back to food. In Agra, we treated ourselves to a dinner at Peshaweri, a restaurant owned by the ITC group in India, with many similar branches around the country (both Carl and I had eaten from the same menu in Mumbai and Bangalore respectively). Most of what's on the menu is pretty ordinary, but their prawns (again, fist sized) and their leg of lamb is unusual and out of this world. Their dal murkhani will just clog your arteries, but is sooooo good:
Moving on from Agra, we spent a few days in Jaipur, the so-called Pink City. Personally, I thought it was the least interesting place we visited - being the capital of Rajasthan, it is crowded, congested, and not really that pink - but we did have one of the most memorable meals here.
I have learnt not to trust Lonely Planet for restaurant recommendations, but this time it did good! Four Seasons (not the Four Seasons of course) is a pure-veg place, and the dishes were much more interesting to the usual Butter Chicken menus we were used to. It is also conveniently very close to an Ayuvedic massage place, where we learnt we didn't really like Ayuvedic massages. The chef special is probably the dish I remember most from the whole trip - paneer, mushrooms, pineapple in a creamy sauce - don't be put off by the pineapple, it worked:
After Jaipur, we went over to Udaipur, where Octopussy was filmed, and apparently Nicole Kidman was there a few days after we were to film at the famous Lake Palace. After that was Jodphur, the Blue City, and then Jaisalmer, the Yellow City famous for its sand dunes.Unfortunately, as we ventured further and further out of the Golden Triangle and into areas not reachable by plane, the food did get steadily worse. The 'highlight' possibly being the hotel in Jodphur which boasted an international menu containing prawns, fish, pork chops, lamb chops, duck (which got us very excited), but only had chicken available the night we were there. Miraculously, however, I managed the whole trip without any Delhi belly - Carl wasn't quite so lucky.
So I end with a picture of one of the hotels we stayed at. Being P, we were very haphazard in organisation, but ended up staying at some very cute places with a lot of character. This one below is a little haveli (a traditional Indian rich man's house) in Jaipur, in the middle of being renovated into a hotel. The outside was literally crumbling with pigeons pooing everywhere, but inside was really quite nice. Look at the size of the bed!
All in all, fascinating trip. Such a shame I will not be able to stomach Tayyabs or Indian food for a while though.
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