Today was an hour drive to our hotel in Jaipur.
We had a leisurely breakfast (trying out masala omlettes) before hitting the road. En-route into Jaipur past the amber fort we met up with the returning elephants from the morning trek to the fort. The road was filled with people, dogs, pigs, chickens, cows, elephants and the odd camel – just for variety.
Tomorrow morning it is our turn to go to the fort on elephants – watch this space.
After check-in at the hotel we had the balance of the day – free time.
When the hotel heard it was birthday-time they made Adam a personalized cream/vanilla cake with candles and everything. It was really sweet and unexpected.
We opted for an Ayurveda massage at Charak Ayurveda Clinic and research centre. I had a Shirodhara therapy treatment. It is a full body massage with aromatic Ayurveda oils, indian head massage followed by the dripping of warm oil onto the forehead in pre-determined movements to enhance relaxation. I had a bruise on my shin which made me nervous whenever the therapist turned her attention to that region, although she was very careful around the area, but still needed to work there to stimulate the lymph nodes for the detox process. The dry head massage was really weird – admittedly my first indian head massage.
Then she put rosewater soaked cotton swabs on my eyes and started working her magic with the suspended warm oil dispenser. She swirled it above your head to make intricate patterns of warm oil across the forehead and hairline. There is no way to describe the sensation… it is mesmerizing. To be honest *hide face in hands* I fell asleep. I have never felt asleep during a massage before. I only woke up when she asked me to move so that she can start washing the oil out of my hair. She thought it was hilarious. I’m just very worried that i possibly snored and ruined the other clients experiences… treatment cubicles are not exactly sound-proof. We left happy and relaxed and was told to up the water intake for the next few days to flush out the toxins released by the treatments.
We returned to the hotel for a late lunch and experimented with lime water – either sweet or salty. I like the salty variation and the other guys prefer the sweet one. Sara and I had the vegetarian house speciality which turned out to be the best meal we’ve had so far. We cajoled the recipe out of the staff and they even showed us which spices to buy to make it at home. It is a mixture of cottage cheese and pomegranate seeds encased in chopped spinach (ball the size of a tennis ball). It is then deep fried and put in a warm spicy tomato gravy. for serving it is cut in half and swirled with plain yogurt. We are definitely having lunch here again and will all be having that. Apparently it is the creation of the house chef… Compliments to the chef on that one!!!!
After lunch the others went for a swim in the rooftop pool while I had an Skype IM conversation with my husband. I joined them for a few minutes where we chatted with a couple from england also staying in the hotel. Then it was time to shower off the massage oil and get dressed for Adam'[s birthday dinner. The tour company reserved a table at the Spice Court Restaurant.
Dinner was good – our eyes were bigger than our tummies. Could not eat another bite.
Still lazy from the massages and with no ‘power nap’ we decided to call it a night and meet up at 7:30 ish for breakfast to leave at 8:30. Apparently the line is long to get your elephant. We promised Csilla that if we are late and miss the elephants we’ll bring one back to the hotel on the roof 😛
I’m going to turn in now, it has been a long, but exciting day.
Regards
Linda
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