Last day on the road. Some of the international travelers left the hostel when I was still sleeping, including my roommate. You know what that means, right? The whole room to myself, for a much-needed yoga session. Breakfast was similar to the previous day’s: a banana, scrambled eggs and sautéed frozen spinach.
We all met in the Buddhist centre and helped to disassemble the tables and tent. We also gave the locals a hand with the leftover food: apples, muffins, cookies and coffee. I behaved myself and had just healthy stuff: three apples, a spoonful of peanut butter and a handful of almonds.
Around noon we got in several cars and headed to the airport. Our lama and his team were the first ones to depart. We hugged them good-bye and waited for our flights. In the meantime I had a cappuccino and a berry blast smoothie (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, yogurt and skim milk).
On board of our last flight, we were given the choice of butter chicken or beef lasagna for lunch. I had lasagna the day before, so butter chicken it was. With rice and green beans as sides, it was good and comforting. I wasn’t planning to eat the bread roll but the rice wasn’t enough to soak all the sauce so I *had to* mop it up with the roll. Dessert was the best (taste-wise) of the ones I’ve had on planes during the tour: hokey pokey ice cream.
Lunch Christchurch – Sydney
Back at home I had a shower and started unpacking. My sister came over, I gave her and Alvaro the humble souvenirs I brought from NZ and started telling them everything about the trip. We went for dinner to Kammadhenu.
I had great expectations after reading a number of reviews about this Sri Lankan restaurant. Gladys had no expectations and Alvaro only hoped we got food that was not too spicy for his over-sensitive palate. We ordered vegetable samosas to start, plus lamb rojan josh, mixed vegetables (in a curry sauce), basmati rice and garlic naan to share.
The samosas were great. Not as tasty as the ones that were served in the office around 8:30 pm when I was working in Delhi, but I think in this case context makes a big difference (a samosa after 11.5 hours of work definitely tastes better!).
Vegetable samosas ($1.50 each)
With the mains we shared we had two issues. First of all, they were not as big as we expected (that’s why we ordered garlic naan). Secondly, and most important, they lacked salt. The bottled sweet green chilli brought to our table helped us lift the flavour of our meal. We were definitely not impressed by the food.
Lamb rojan josh ($12.90), basmati rice ($2.50 pp)
Mixed vegetables ($11.90), lamb rojan josh ($12.90)
We had some room for dessert but the sweets in the menu didn’t sound promising to us. Instead, we walked to Cafe C and had a massive slice of lemon tart to share, washed down with delicious chai latte.
I want to apologise again for the poor quality of the photos in the last few posts, as I explained earlier my camera died in Wellington and I had to rely on my mobile (sadly not an iPhone). Now I’ve got a new old camera (one that my friend Matt doesn’t use anymore) with a brand new lens that I’m learning how to use. Good photos will take a while but I’m on my way!
Kammadhenu
377a King Street (also 171 King Street)
Newtown NSW 2042
(02) 9557 2186
www.kammadhenu.com.au
Cafe C
281 King Street
Newtown NSW 2042
(02) 9550 6621
