Dharma & Nita travel blog

Surat again today! Girls were on a shopping spree.

Car was not in till 10:30am, decided to go for a morning shave. Just around the corner it was, surprised to find Parimal there! Small world.

Got my turn soon after, smooth shave and facial massage – the Indian way! A great experience all for 50 INR = $2 AUD!! Not complaining about that.

Back at home, kids and Nita were ready, car had just arrived and we were on our way to Surat. First stop – Aso Palav. The place had a new upstairs area – quite different to what it was 6 years back! We were there for just over an hour however did not find anything the girls liked. The difference here were the sales person, either he did not understand Nita’s tastes or was intent on showing us outfits that was not holding Nita’s attention.

Out of there with zero shopping, was already lunch time – stopped at Sugar n Spice, same place we ate 6 years back. Lunch was Pizza then followed by the sizzling brownie!

Next stop was G3 – on our previous visit in 2011, this was one of Nita’s favourite store, this time it was a major let down, the sales persons were again only interested in serving NRI’s who were willing to spend over 20K INR on each piece. Nothing much there, were out of there just as quickly.

Shopping all done, what now, our driver suggested we visit a famous Gold store around the corner – apparently it was very well known amongst locals – “Kalamandir”. Gold was the next stop. Entering the place, it was no ordinary small shop, this place was BIG and BUSY!! Lots of locals, the driver was correct, did not get to see many NRI’s. Nita got stuck there for a good hour, lucky kids found a nice sofa to relax in. They were very bored!

Gold done, then it was back to the VR mall, for an early dinner. Pooja was loving another nite of McDonalds, Neha was into her chaats and we settled for some desi fusion manchurian.

It was kind of a wasted day as we did not find anything good in this visit, atleast there were no regrets – we had finished all the stores that we wanted to visit.

Tomorrow was Xmas day, we were heading to Valsad with Jayesh/Priya’s family.

No sleep in today for anyone, heading to Surat – it was the girls shopping day.

First the morning rituals, put rubbish out by 7:30am, then a quick walk down the street for fresh bread. Was now getting a better feel of the place, still a long way away from getting localised.

 
(morning snaps)

(morning snaps)

Back home, chance for a relaxed breakfast – our pickup car was coming around 10am, we still had loads of time.

We got lucky with the car, had a 6 seater Innova today, lots of room for the 4 of us!

Drive was just over 45 minutes, lots of farm lands, commercial factories and a few brick plants were spotted along the way. Whilst Navsari is a small town, Surat is a large City, a population of over 4.5 million.
Our first stop was Lal Gate shopping area, plan was to be visit Sonica, Vivah & Paris, the recommended places for ladies shopping and these were the same places we had visited 6 years back!

First stop was Diva – this was the old Sonica, apparently Sonica was rebranded due to new ownership. Maybe we were a bit early, the place was very empty of customers, but a lot of staff. We were guided to the upper levels for Sarees, Pooja loved this place with the ability to lie down on the futons and relax whilst Nita viewed the sarees. The salesman were good and were not bothered with Pooja lying down – it was a bit embarassing but what the hell, atleast she was relaxed and not causing headaches for us with – I am bored!

(Shopping and relaxing @ Diva – Surat)

Lots of Sarees were viewed and lots of trials. It is always fun shopping in India for Sarees, the male salesperson will assist with drapping the Sarees, and at times even wearing it themselves to show to the customers!
Neha was finding this experience very unique and amazing, and felt so blushed when we put her on the pedestal to be draped in a saree!

(Neha being draped in Sarees!)

The guys at Diva ordered us lunch – toasted sandwiches!!! – Indian toasted sandwiches are so good, they were more than happy to order for Pooja her plain toasted cheese sandwich.
tip – if you shopping at these stores, do not bother about going out for lunch, just ask them and they will happily order you the food & drinks, you will save lots of time as well.

Next stop was Vivah, more sarees and dresses to be viewed here. Nita & Neha also found Vivah stocking formal gowns! Great time for more shopping. Both Nita and Neha found something for themselves. Pooja was not interested and bored!

By the time we got out of there, it was close to 4pm, quick stop at Paris and then it was time to head out of Lal Gate.
Next was a visit to the VR Mall, this is the newest and the largest mall in Surat.

Was impressed with the size and the number big brand stores. Being a Saturday evening, and it was super busy!

First it was time for food, headed to the food court, time for a Thali and Indo-Chinese. Pooja opted for McDonalds – this was her first Maccas in this holiday season!

Food was great, now for a look around the place.

Around 7:30 pm, we decided to head back – it had been a long day and all we did was Lal Gate, G-3 and Aso Palav we had not covered. Tomorrow was going to be Surat again, to finish off these two.

First morning in Navsari, much quieter than Mumbai! Surprisingly it was cool and very comfortable. Early morning horns in our street, it was rubbish collection time!!, quickly down to the kitchen in a mad rush to get rubbish sorted in a bag and out in the front balcony – just made the rubbish collection run. Rubbish is collected here daily, with pickup round 7-7:30 am.

Not much planned for the day, Nita wanted to meet her Aaji, and her Vinod kaka. Time to hit the road, girls were still in bed, let them sleep in, me and Nita headed out – experience Navsari after 6 years!

The place was still the same, narrow streets, cows lazing around, dogs running the streets, cars/autos/trucks all squeezing by leaving limited walking space and all along you are avoiding stepping into fresh dog and cow poo and also avoid getting run down by these vehicles!

First stop Vinod Kaka’s place, was good to catch-up with Kaka, Kaki & Parimal. It was only a few minutes, then Jayesh, Priya and their kids came by – coincidence, we meet again. Was good for all to catch-up there, Kaka brought out drinks, always a good time for that . Were there for a bit, then it was time to head to Nita’s aaji’s place, which was opposite their place – great not too much walking.

Nita walked straight through, her Aaji was super happy to see her, she still has the same smile we saw 6 years back. Lots of catching up for them, and lots of memories re-visited. We were there for almost an hour.

It was already close to 1pm, when we left Aaji’s place, heading back to our home, – time to sort out lunch. Was glad girls had showered. For lunch decided to head to Ramanand.

Quick half a min walk down from our place to the main road, grabbed an Auto and squeezed in 4 of us in the back, the ride to Ramanand was only about 5 minutes or less. At Ramanand, headed to the upstairs eating area, and ordered some chaat, cheese dosa for Pooja, Pav Bhaji and a Pizza. Food was great and cheap.

Back at home, nothing else to do but RELAX!! Stretched on the sofa watching TV and nodding off, aaahhh this was the life. I can see why my dads generation love this place.

Dinner had been pre-organised, Nita had asked Veena(a local who cooks non-veg to order) for gosht curry. Nita and I had gone to the markets later in the afternoon, and walking back had located Veena’s place to pickup up our dinner ( the curry and rotis).

Back home, there was a problem, the toilets and taps had no water!! Our water tank was empty! Rang our builder – Sanjay to see what could be done, apparently the solution is to order water via the Fire Brigade – called “bombors” locally. He was trying to organise that now.

Time to eat whilst waiting for the water crisis to be solved. The curry was amazing, Neha and Pooja loved it, eating our traditional style cooked food felt soo good.

Post dinner Sanjay called and advised nothing would be available till the morning , we had a sink full of dirty dishes and even worse, the toilets were not flushing! Well nothing much could be done, time to head down to the local grocery store to order more bottled water – went to Vasant’s store to order these, and whilst there I told him our problem. Vasant was like, “why did you not tell me before, I will get this sorted now”, apparently he had connections at the fire station, it was around 9pm the fire truck came by!!!

Since our water tank is at the back of the house, the fireman, ran the fire hoses through the house to the back and started filling up the tank, at the same time, I turned on the pumps to fill the tank on the roof, around 10 minutes and both tanks were full! YAY. All this for 400 INR – $8 AUD!, the normal delivery charge is 200 INR but since this was a night call it was extra, I had no regrets we were sorted and finally the toilets were flushing again . The fireman whilst filling the tanks also noticed the inlet to the lower tank was not functioning correctly – which was apparently the reason we ran out of water. He made a temporary fix to allow water to come through the mains without blockage.

A fun start to my stay here in Navsari! Something we do not see nor experience back home in Oz. Learning’s from today, on a daily basis check the water levels on the lower tanks and top up the overhead water tank without fail.

Bye bye to Mumbai today, heading to our hometown of Navsari. We had arranged for Dharmesh (namesake, he manages car/drivers in Navsari) to pick us up from the hotel around 9:30am.

We were all up early, bags mostly packed then down for breakfast, this was the only time we got in at an appropriate time for breakfast! Got seated, I settled for Eggs – seemed like that was the only thing I could eat/swallow, Nita and Neha were both enjoying the indian breakfast varieties and Pooja was into her pastries and waffles – one for everything sweet.

Novotel Juhu Breakfast review: Great variety in breakfast and the eggs to order were cooked very well. Of all the hotels in this trip, this would have to be the best breakfast we have had. What I did not like is the service times to serve Tea/Coffee, this should be a rather simple process however this single routine seemed to take forever.

Back in the room, finalise our bags and called Dharmesh (our driver) to see where he was, was surprised when he said I am downstairs waiting, it was not 9 yet, he was early, apparently he arrived at 8 – why did he not call us earlier, I would have been happy to leave early.

Then it was quick checkout and loading of all our bags (there were a few) into the Toyota Innova, was impressed on how he stacked them to fit them all in.

Novotel Juhu Hotel review: Very pleasant stay, the rooms were very spacious, did not feel cramped at all! We had two interconnecting rooms, both worked out great. Beds were very comfortable, could laze around in that all afternoon.
Bathrooms and amenities were great although the shower in our room had a blocked drain – after a couple of minutes of showering, the water would spill onto the bathroom floor outside the shower.
Location of the hotel is very good in my opinion, away from the hustle and bustle of Mumbai traffic yet close to everything. Highly recommended.

Time to farewell Mumbai (for now, we were coming back in 8 days), Navsari was the next stop. The first 20 minutes were not too bad but then we hit bad traffic, it took us close to 1.5 hours to get out of Mumbai, it all seemed to be caused by the new METRO rail being built in Mumbai.

Finally we were on the open roads and then it was seeing the crazy driving on the highways, including Dharmesh’s, lots of zig zagging and sharp lane changes in the tightest spaces – not ideal seating in front and witnessing this. It was praying time, just get me and my family safely to Navsari!

Made it to Navsari around 3:30pm, total journey was just under 6 hours.

Felt good to be in our home, it was 6 years ago, we were here the first ones to stay in this house!
Sanjay the builder had already organised for two maids to clean the house and take down the coverings. There was some organising to be done, Nita got on with her side – sorting out the kitchen, I sorted out the luggage and the rooms – had to get curtains up, cupboards unlocked, gas turned on …. the list was quite long, but we did manage to knock off most by the afternoon.

The TV man came by and reactivated the CABLE TV, TV was on!

Then it was tea time.

Neha and Pooja were not feeling too well, around 6pm, I took them to the Doc, was supposed to take them to Sanjay Bodellia but ended up going to the Bodellia hospital, take note, they are both different. Anyways they both were given medication to assist with their high temperature.

Back at home, now to get some grocery shopping done, me and Nita ducked out around the corner to get the basics, rice, dhal, Ghee, etc. Everything is so close by here. Back at home, Nita commenced cooking, it was to be Khichdi for the first night.

We were all quite tired by the end of it, time to hit the bed. Only problem with this place were the mosquitos and the night long buzzing around the ears when you sleep!! 

Good bye to Dubai today, our flight was at 1pm to Mumbai. Nothing much to do other than, breakfast and then head out to the airport.

At breakfast, Pooja did not find her favourite waffles on the buffet (it was pancake day at the buffet) – she asked the Chef who did not hesitate and made fresh waffles just for her!

Hotel review for Novotel Suite Dubai – Mall of Emirates

Service: Great service, accommodating all requests and assisting with sight seeing bookings. 5/5
Accommodation: This accommodation is suited for families,  and was great for us. The rooms are a decent size, with sleeping areas on each opposite end of the rooms, one for parents and one for kids. The middle section has a living area, and a small nook for coffees/teas etc. Two showers were in the room and one toilet. The bathrooms & toilets were however very tiny – not ideal at all. 3/5.

highly recommended and would definitely come here again.

A final check in the room, bags packed and loaded into our waiting car.

Being a Saturday, the roads were not too busy, which was great, we were at the airport in just over 30 minutes, lots of time for Nita and the girls to browse the various duty free shops – always a dangerous scenario with three girls!

Our flight Emirates EK502 was on time and departed @ 1:10pm, it was a Boeing 777 LR 200, all 4 of us seated in the middle section again.

3.5 hours later, we were in Mumbai, whilst my immigration was quick (thanks to my OCI), unfortunately the E-VISA processing for the girls took over 45 minutes, it was the slowest service and was so frustrating. E-VISA was supposed to be quick??
Not sure why, but it seems India does its best to portray its lack of speed and process from the moment you enter the country! Very disappointing, but I guess that is expected!

Collected our bags and out of the customs area, our car to Novotel Juhu was awaiting, they decided to split the luggage into two cars, then the LOOOONG ride to the hotel. The hotel is close to the airport but Mumbai traffic on a Sat night is a nightmare, what should have taken us under 30 minutes, took over an hour. Pooja was with me in one car, Nita and Neha were in the other. All along, it was interesting for Pooja to be seeing the Kaos of Mumbai traffic. Managed to spot an AUTO with her name on it.

Finally arrived at the Novotel, quick check-in & freshen up then to hit the road – meeting Jayesh, Priya & family @ JW Marriott at 8:30pm. They had arrived in Mumbai a couple of days earlier.

It was close 9pm when we finally did make it to JW. Down to the Lotus Cafe on the giant stairways, saw Jayesh, Priya and their daughters – Neha & Payal! Big greetings and welcome all around – it was good to catch-up again!
Got seated at the Lotus Cafe and were shown the buffet – was this BIG. First off, we all went for the CHAAT station, the pani-puri’s that were being served were the most amazing!

Whilst we got stuck at the CHAAT station, kids were happily going through the other varieties. It was a long night of eating, drinking and chatting.

It was around midnight when we farewelled each other and headed back to our hotels. Time to get some sleep, tomorrow was the start of some serious ladies shopping!

Today was a relaxed day, had ticked off all sights on our list! This allowed us to indulge a bit.

First off, me, Neha & Pooja headed to the 10 am session of the New Star Wars release @ the Emirates mall. Was soo looking forward to another instalment of Starwars! Kids loved the movie, I was expecting more and left feeling a bit let down . Still a good Star Wars movie.

(at the VOX cinemas @ Mall of Emirates, to watch Star Wars)

Out of the movies, we caught up with Nita, and decided to try the Din Tai Fung Dim Sums, unfortunately there was a one hour wait! No thanks, everyone was too hungry, time to head to Sushi.

Yo Yo sushi

Sushi range was nice and did we make a good sized tower of empty plates!

Next a short walk to our hotel via the ladies beauty saloons – all my ladies needed a good wash and blow dry! Found a place near by who were able to do this with no waits! Was another hour until they all joined me back at the hotel.

Time for a short break, the evening’s plan was to head out to the One and Only Mirage’s Arabian Roof top bar – they had good reviews plus they allowed kids!

Around 5:30pm, we grabbed a Taxi to the One and Only Mirage, did not realise how big this resort was, took a bit of back and forth, finally our taxi arrived to the correct location within the resort. Got to the rooftop bar, and although the roof top decore was brilliant, the view was a let down, especially when compared to what we saw a couple of nights back at the Jumeriah Hotel. Had a couple of drinks there and then it was time to head out, the place whilst great just did not seem worth spending the entire night on, plus Neha & Pooja were not enjoying the place much.

Arabian roof top bar @ One and Only Mirage Dubai

Whilst deciding on where to go next, Neha & Pooja suggested Buddha Bar – the same place we went on the very first night. Called and checked availability, luck was on our side, within a few minutes we were in a Taxi heading to Buddha Bar.

At the Buddha bar, we were seated in the area behind the giant Buddha, no problems, we knew the food was good here and infact the different location provided more lighting, whilst the Buddha area was very very dimly lit. Pooja’s favourite dumplings were ordered again, as were the Indonesian Fried Rice and Kung Pao Chicken, along with Green Thai Chicken Curry. Food as usual was very very good.

Although a repeat, it was a brilliant last dinner in Dubai for this trip.

Today was a visit to the Gold Souk in Deira then again onto the largest mall in Dubai – Dubai Mall, to view the famous Dancing fountains.

Getting into Deira, the vibe had a dramatic change from the Jumeriah area. Lots more people on the roads, more kaos and the streets were lined with hagglers.
Every 5th person was trying to sell us fake watches, handbags, and everything else, this was very foreign to Neha & Pooja – both felt very uncomfortable.

An endless line of gold stores, showcasing gold designs from very simple to very very crazy! Did find one showcasing a GOLD boot – this could do well for the Khatri Soccer best boot award – now to find a sponsor for this!

Walking through to the Spice markets, nothing much of interest and girls were not enjoying it at all, time for next stop – Dubai Mall. Getting out of the Spice markets was a challenge and an even bigger challenge was finding a Taxi!

Finally got to Dubai mall, first was to find a place to have lunch. Walking around the Souk area in the mall, we stumbled across Patiala Indian restaurant – could not resist Indian for lunch, decided to try that and it was the best decision. The place had a very nice interior and great service. The staff were super helpful in suggesting the dishes and the perfect mocktail for Nita.

Ordered Butter chicken and their signature Patialashail Meat – Lamb curry, along with Garlic naans. The butter chicken was very nice, but it was the LAMB that stole the show, it was to die for. The best Lamb curry we have had to date!! If you are a fan of Lamb, you need to try this.
The Garlic naans were made to perfection, not too doughy with the right amount of garlic. What a meal, the best Indian to-date! The only negative was the prices, they are on the steep side – but it seems most of Dubai is on that pricing .

Highly recommended restaurant – Patiala Indian @ Dubai Mall.

Lunch done, now for some pics with the Burj Khalifa off the bridge connecting to the Souk with the Dubai mall – this bridge has a great views to the Khalifa.

Nita and Neha then hit the girly stores, whilst Pooja was with me roaming about.

Only in Dubai – the $3900(AUD) 24 carat gold plated iPhone X!

Was around 5pm, good time for a coffee break, we all met up at Laduree. Nice place to relax and kill time for the dancing fountains which start at 6:30pm. Whilst mine and Nita’s coffees were good, Neha’s Ice Chocolate was a big disappointment, it seemed they had simply mixed Milk with some cocoa and forgot the ice cream!

Whilst there, Pooja headed to the Apple store near by to play with the Ipads.

When I finally did catch up with Pooja in the Apple store, she had managed to create her sketches on the iPad, was very impressed with the work. She was hooked to this gadget and was now on top of her wish list.

The Apple store provided a great unobstructed views to the fountains, much better than being on the crowded bridge.

Whilst the view from here was great it was not the same without the music. We all met up at 5 guys burger joint around 7:30pm, this placed offered great views to the fountains and was not too crowded. Had a great vantage point from here.

The dancing fountains were nice, and done very well. It had been a long day, time to head back to the hotel.