We were sad. We were all sad to leave the heavenly abode we had been staying at in Udaipur — Aurika, a beautiful fit-for-a-king hotel situated on the outskirts of the city. The morning of Day 6 started, you guessed it right, early. After breakfast, we said goodbye to the Ed and the camera crew who would be staying back for an additional day for the press drives of another car, while we headed north towards Jaipur.
Unlike the previous day where we were treated to a lavish thaali meal, we were looking to go back to basics. The old school Dhaba. We scanned the highways for a good dhaba but nothing stood out. A tried and tested method of finding a good Dhaba is to look out for trucks parked outside. The more the trucks, the better the Dhaba! We came across one just outside Ajmer called Shree Ganesh Bhojanalay. Incidentally, the Google ratings were rather high as well, with over a 1000 people having rated it over 4 stars!
The kind people quickly put a charpai for us out in the courtyard to enjoy the local food we'd just ordered. Dal Bati and the chef's special Laccha Paratha that was big enough to feed a family of four. This was the opposite of what we'd had the previous day. No fancy presentation or anything. But it tasted just as good. Simple, delicious, no-nonsense food which was economical at the same time! The whole meal cost us less than one Thali at Aurika.
One thing which was common though was the hospitality and the service. The Rajasthani people do take good care of their guests.
After lunch, we got back on the road and for the first time on the #28States28Plates drive, encountered the sun. Every day before this, the sky had been gloomy and overcast. And just as we began to get used to the sun, the clouds we're back and the heavens opened up and it started to rain. Oh well, back to regular programming then. The next destination is Delhi.