We left home at 0630hrs on our Rajasthan odyssey on a rainy morning.
This rain followed us all the way to Ahmedabad. The truck traffic from Dahisar right upto Manor was dense and boggd us down. It took us 2 hrs to cover this distance of 80kms!
We had our breakfast in ‘Silver Mines’ a food court in Manor where it was ‘eat all you want’ for Rs.69/- only. Though the guy at the counter never has the small change and charges Rs.70/- and points out to a board which sternly states ‘Wastage will be charged Rs.200/-‘. So you take a plate and go to the spread where there are wadas, idlis, poha and dosas. To wash it down you can have coffee/tea/lime juice. If you want any without sugar you have to order a-la-carte. After a hearty breakfast and ensuring no wastage, we got on NH8 and did reached Ahmedabad our destination for the day at 1700hrs. We had rains on and off all the time. The roads were good after Manor and the truck traffic was not so bad.
Soon we got onto NE1(National Expressway 1) and halfway through noticed that we were low on fuel and there was no fuel pump anywhere on the way unlike the Mumbai Pune expressway where there are food courts along with fuel pumps in about 3 places.
At the Nadiad exit we met a group of young workers who gladdened our hearts when he told us that there was a Reliance pump just before the Ahmedabad exit.
Then we went on the Ring Road to get to Greenwoods and Lakeview resort and got mazed! Finally reached the resort which is in an area away from the city bustle after a drive of 565kms from Mumbai. There is nothing available within a walking distance from the resort. So you have to have you meals there or drive some place far off.
It is a beautiful resort with very friendly staff and wonderful food too. The only thing that irked me was you are fingerprinted while checking in! Seems it is the law of the land and have to abide by it. This after taking photocopies of our photo identification and signatures! Another thing that surprised me was that there was no Gujarati food available in their restaurant!
Spent a quiet evening in the hotel and dined on Punjabi food in Gujarat and retired for the day.
Spent a quiet evening in the hotel and dined on Punjabi food in Gujarat and retired for the day.
Next morning we would roll on to Mt.Abu – our 1st stop in Rajasthan!
