Friday exhaustion

It has been a great week, but I am really, really beat. Had considered going to Mysore tomorrow, which is supposed to be beautiful, but between the 5-6 hr round-trip drive and the hot, hot weather, it just wasn't appealing to me. Instead, I'll meet a few of the women from the office at one of the major shopping streets downtown and we'll go shopping - thinking about pillow covers (for small, square pillows), scarves, wall hangings, sandalwood soap. I'm definitely big on the textiles here - they're gorgeous (and quite reasonably priced). My driver (who brings me to and from the office every day and will drive me downtown tomorrow) has insisted that he knows the best stores for me to shop. Hmmm... kickbacks, much?! I will, of course, take the advice of my colleagues.

Had another dinner with my new friend, Gordon, and we had another fun-filled dinner. At one point, we were laughing so hard that we were each clutching our stomachs. I'm hoping that we can meet up for dinner once more before I leave at the end of next week. I also have dinner plans for Monday and Thursday - the restaurants at the hotel are great, but it will be fun to try other places, too. The restaurant tonight was called Zen and the menu contains sections for Chinese, Thai, Japanese and Korean. We mixed and matched - papaya salad (Thai), shrimp tempura (Japanese), wok-fried beef with ginger and chili (Chinese) and pad thai (Thai - and the best pad thai I've ever had). Had a bottle of wine (from Cakebread in Napa, one of my favorite wineries!). The price of wine here is insanely expensive, especially in comparison to the food. Our food cost about 1/2 what the wine cost. Obviously the cost of importing is pretty steep.

I'm planning to make appointments for the Leela's spa on Sunday. They offer a massage performed simultaneously by 2 therapists - I think I need that! Also, perhaps a pedicure and a hair treatment (they use all sorts of lovely oils, which my dry hair will just drink in!). Otherwise, no plans on Sunday - and I am looking forward to that! I've been keeping quite busy here, so I'm ready for some downtime. I do hope to visit Mysore (along with Agra, to see the Taj Mahal) on my next visit, which will likely be in December.