Stuck in Ahmedabad for a year...

ezekieldamian

Hey all,

My name is Ezekiel, I'm a citizen of Argentina that has been living in Florida, USA for the past 6 years and now the company that I work for has transfered me to Ahmedabad for a year.

I arrived to Ahmedabad more than a month ago, and I'm still having trouble finding all the food, appliances and furniture i need. (like eggs for example, it took me a month to find a place to find chicken eggs!!) I just got a new apartment recently (rented, of course) and so far all i have is a fridge, a laundry machine and a mattress on the floor.

Any advices, like places to visit, food to eat and fun activities to do on the weekends?? I already walked around the whole city, since I have nothing else to do on the weekends. Anybody in my situation that wants to hang out on weekends??

Thanks,

Ezekiel

jaybel

hi..
which part of A'bad are you in? there are lots of good restaurants on C.G road .though finding good meat might be hard..
what about Star Bazar ( TATA) and there are loads of them on Satellite road..

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Jaybel

iwanttogoback

ezekiel

whilst ahmedabad isn't one of the most popular destinations in india there's a fair bit of info in the ahmedabad section of this forum from previous threads - have a search there for things to do etc.

what kind of work do you do?

shashank.aggarwal

Now if you took a month to find chicken eggs then you are in trouble mate !!

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vmehra24

It is hard to find shops that sell eggs in Ahmedabad. The better class of shops dont stock them.

Try Vijay Char-rasta (near University). A couple of nicer shops that sell frozen meats, fishes etc and many resturents that specialize in non-veg.
This shop is called Icy-picky and you need to go down the stairs. It has eggs and is attached to a non-veg takeout.

vmehra24

The Icy-picky shop also has salami, ham, bacon, pork, mutton liver and kidneys (all frozen). Cant say about the quality of ham and bacon (never tried) but they are Indian-made.
Could be a good idea to visit Bombay once a month to stock up on these items.

Lots of big malls and showrooms on SG Road (Sarkhej-Gandhinagar Highway) that specialize in furniture.

Entertainment--in the city the main hangout is malls that have comeup in last 3 years and are still new (RelianceMArt opened just 15th Aug on SG Road).

As for other stuff, it is just movies (incuding open-air Drive-in Theatre at Drive-in Road).

There are some water parks around the city. However post-summer they operate rather leanly (ie most of the rides are turned off).

Thats why the Ahmedabadis are great travellers since the city itself doesnt offer much.
And Mount Abu (for hills and wine-ing), Udaipur (for wine-ing) and Diu (beach and wine-ig arent too far off.

GoanCanuck

Booze and non-veg can be a problem in Gujarat.

ezekieldamian

Yes, that's the place I found, the Ice-Pik, or something. The bacon is pretty good, and the chicken nuggets are ok as long as I make sure they're fully cooked, (better than mcDonald's chicken burger which was half raw!!) but I havent tried the ham yet.

I want to go to Mumbai, but I dont want to go alone. How long is the trip and which train can I take?

So far I've been to ISCON mall, Croma, Big Bazaar, Himalaya Mall, Fun Republic, Wide Angle. But that's all the "entertainment" i could find in this city. Where can I play some pool, or bowling, isnt there any place like that??

As for movies, 80% of them are in Hindi, so I cant see those.

Hmm, water parks... are they hygienic???

How far are Mount Abu, Udaipur and Diu?

ezekieldamian

oh yeah and booze, BIG problem.

shashank.aggarwal

MT Abu and Udaipur would be in range of 200 Km from Ahmadabad !! Though people from the region would know better..

vmehra24

Bombay is just 8 hours by train. There are many comfortable overnight trains and also day trains.

Mt Abu is 200 kms and is pleasant in winters. Take either the buses from Paldi or a train upto Abu Road and then a taxi.

Diu with its beaches is harder to reach--about 460 km and no direct train. You can either take overnight train to Veraval and then 70 km by bus/taxi or direct sleeper bus from Ahmedabad (10 hrs).

Water parks--they are OK, hygiene-wise. We visit them 2-3 times in summer and we have not been harmed.

There are a some minor sightseeing within 100 km radius but it tends to be temples.

Otherwise the best option is to get to know somebody who has a farmhouse around Ahmedabad.

vmehra24

Some good resturents in Ahmedabad:

1. Chinatown near Stadium Circle (USP owner is Chinese)
2. Havmor resturent nr Stadium Circle (probably the best Indian resturent) btw there area lot of Havmor parlors that have ice-creams and some Indian fast foods.
3. Coconut grove: good South Indian place at terracetop at Gurukul (closed for renovation for past 6 months)
4. Uncle Sam's Pizza nr Swastika char-rasta (CG Road) and
nr Iskon Circle for best salad bar.

jenk

Any vendors of meat and eggs in the Old City?

ezekieldamian

Thanks vmehra for all the info, I'll surely go to Mumbai or some of the other places you mentioned sometime in the future.

As for restaurants, i love Havmor fast food, I have one right next to my office near Pakuan on SG Road. I cant say the same thing about the restaurant itself, as the only time i had dinner at that place, i got sick

vmehra24

Well eating out in India is always dicey.
Winters is the time to do sightseeing in Gujarat. By March it would be too hot to be out in daytime.