Blazing through the mountains

20140104-215839.jpgAs I mentioned yesterday, Mona were tanning a bit, what I didn’t mention was that she skipped sunscreen – I’m happy to say my future wife now closely resembles a
panda. After the last breakfast at Hilltop Guesthouse we checked out and walked to the train station.

The train was slightly late but quite crowded and we were happy we got our tickets in advance. The observation wagon was basically the last wagon with a glass wall to the back, we didn’t have those specific seat numbers by the very end but overall it got more proper light into the wagon but second class would probably have been fine as well if seats were occupied.20140104-215912.jpgThe train ride lasted for somewhere between 7 and 8 hours at 15-20 km/h, but we made do with yogurts that were sold at stations. The last 6km required a train change and we would need to wait an hour, instead we took a tuk-tuk straight to the hotel which didn’t cost more than 3EUR anyways. The driver was friendly and drove safe while pointing out some of the landmarks as we passed them.
20140104-220005.jpg
We checked in at Amanda Hills and asked where we could find an Indian restaurant. Following the instructions we walked down to the lake and took a tuk-tuk from there to Balaji. Well there we only found out that the restaurant only served vegetarian dosas, luckily there was another larger Indian restaurant nearby, Sriram. We ordered, after some resistance from the waiter, Masala Paneer, butter chicken, a salad and two mango lassies.

The mango lassies were OK but the food was ridiculously bad, very likely the worst Indian food I’ve ever had. Tasted more or less nothing, imagine salad cheese in bouillon but with less taste. We were hungry enough to not bother though. When settling the bill the waiter asked if we enjoyed it and we were truthful and a little surprised by him simply ignoring our response. It was comically bad overall but it had filled our stomachs. 20140104-220114.jpgWe walked back to our hotel along the lake and took two hot showers to wash away all the travel dust and then hit the (soft) bed.