We Found All of the Other Tourists

 

I begged Mark to get out of the hotel for a little bit today.  He agreed only to lunch.  We decided on Lodi, The Garden Restaurant based on Mr. Joy's recommendation.  He has gone on and on about how his last assignment, an Australian couple, took him to this restaurant for lunch.  The bill was $70 USD (for three people including drinks).  Not wanting to be bested by Australians, we offered for him to join us.  He declined since today is Dussehra, a Hindi religious holiday, and he has the day off.  I fell less bad about him coming with us to the Taj Mahal on Sunday since he got two extra days off this week.

 



The restaurant was very nice.  It had a cute outdoor seating area complete with hanging lanterns, seating cabanas, misters and fans.  Definitely A LOT different from the little spots that we see on the way to the clinic.

One of the first things we noticed was the clientele - they were ALL tourists.  I guess this from their dress (shorts, tank tops), accessories (cameras, cell phones, flashy jewelry), and (I hate saying this) race.  Nearly all of the clientele in the restaurant appeared to be non-Indian.  The prices really weren't that bad - higher than we have paid at our hotel, but not by much.  Our bill was a little over 2,000 INR for two vs. 1,000 INR at our hotel (I did get a virgin juice cocktail and we expected the prices to be a bit higher).  The food was pretty good, but honestly, not twice as good as the hotel.

 

I was happy with Marks' restaurant choice because I had a secret plan.  The Lodi restaurant is right by the Lodi Gardens which is very close to two other monuments that I would like to visit.  I thought that I could easily weedle Mark into a little sight seeing today.  Well, that didn't happen.  Midway through lunch I started not feeling very well.  I assumed that something that I ate for breakfast was not agreeing with me.  So, I agreed to just go back to the hotel where I started feeling much better after lying down for a little bit.  Mark was right, I shouldn't be pushing myself right now.  I hate it when Mark's right.