Lucknow

We checked into our Hotel, Swati Palace. It was not a palace but rather a “shit hole”. The sheets were dirty and they only gave us one towel. We asked for them to change the sheets, not uncommon in lower quality hotels to have to ask this, and 3 additional towels. They changed the sheets and brought one towel. Oh the sheets were stained with might have been Masala might have been blood. We had them change the sheets again and bring more towels as I had to use one to keep the leaking toilet from getting in the walking path in the bathroom. 

We then went to our Uncle’s hotel which was the same price and was tons better. We ate met tons of family who drove in to see us and then we went to bed. I forgot to mention the room is only powered if the room key is in a certain slot, so when you are out there is no power and no A/C. So the room was stuffy and we had gross sheets. By this point I was pissed. I went downstairs and tried to explain my frustration and asked for 4 towels. By bedtime we received 0. The night was awful we had to keep the A/C off because it was too loud. We turned up the fan but it still wasn’t comfortable. The bed was smaller than Agra so it was a tight fit for the 4 of us plus Priyanka decided to scream she was hungry in the middle of the night. We finally decided to get the day started around 9:00 AM and had our free breakfast of Chai and toast and then met with the family. 

There isn’t much to see in Lucknow but there is shopping. Vatsala bought some outfits and I bought some “shirts” to go with jeans for Indian functions and probably for the villages. By the time we were done it was time to go to the first village. Our driver could kick Jimmie Johnson’s ass any day of the week. The way they drive in India is CRAZY. We made a 4 hour drive in 2.5 hours and only spilled one drink.