To me Rukmavati Guest House (Mandvi, Gujarat) was recommended by Mr Krutarthsinh Jadeja from Devpur. When I walked into the place I saw a Tripadvisor sticker on the door. I made a mental note to talk about it. I was greeted by Mr. Vinod the owner of the place. After some confusion over my arrival dates, he took me to my room and asked if I would stay. I happily decided to stay.
Rukmavati Guest House is a budget place so I paid 600 rupees per night for the room. It was the single occupancy rate. There is no catering (other than tea, very important and basic breakfast) available but you can order by the phone from local restaurants for food to be delivered to the guest house which then will be served to you. It worked fine for me.
While handing over my identity proof I started chatting with Vinod Bhai. His wife and he told me that their twin daughters attend school in the US as Mr. Vinod’s elder brother is there. I asked his wife if she missed the kids. She said the kids would have moved out of Mandvi anyway after 10th as there were no good schools around, so they might as well move to the US.
It was one of the rare days when I sat for two hours and read a book at the terrace of the Rukmavati Guest House. It has a huge terrace, part of it you can see in the video. Now that is how a vacation should be! But I do so little of reading a book or doing nothing! In the night I was sitting on a table outside my room to have dinner. My companions were a lady from Spain and a gentleman from Austria. The lady asked if I had a family to which I said yes. Then she qualified it, was my family with me at Mandvi, to which I said no. It looked like that answered the question she had!
The Austrian gentleman told me that in the about 10 years ago he was supposed to go to Indonesia that didn’t happen. He came to India instead and since then he has been coming back to India. Indonesia never happened! After talking for 45 minutes we decided to call it a day. We never asked each-other’s names!
But the most killer conversation was with Vinod Bhai when I asked him about Tripadvisor sticker. This is what he told me- “yes some people go and write somewhere on the internet, something called Tripadvisor. Then one day Tripadvisor sent me some papers saying mine is a good guest house. I thought I would put the sticker on the gate.” When I expressed my surprise he added, “I believe in running my guest house well, rest is not in my hands.”
The next day I had an early start to the Rannof Kutch. If you are looking for a budget accommodation in Mandvi you will like Rukmavati Guest House.
It is so good that you get to see some nice set of people and have experiences on your trips.
It is great that you take initiative to help these people by spreading a good word about them. I guess good travelers do this every time. A small pay back for a good host.
Nice post Mridula…:)
Preethi the guest house is already popular at Tripadvsior. 😀
Love the anecdote about the tripadvisor sticker…it is wonderful to discover such wonderful places.
And oh I too am now wondering what could be the name of that Austrian gentleman…?
Prasad the Tripadvisor one was the story of Mandvi!
Had a good time reading your experiences… 🙂
Thank you Sindhu.
Great coverage and good to know in case I ever make it there.
Raghav there are luxury tents at Vijay Vilas as well 😀
Like always, I once again said that it is your experiences and conversation that sets apart this blog.
Great post and also like this new way of putting video.
Thank you so much Rachit.
Nicely written..:-)
Thank you Nagini.
Me b 2008 me Mr.vinod bhai se mili thi.he is kind man.us time me ek Spain se aayi lady k sath unse mili thi.kionia jisne meri pehchan krvayithi.ustime Mr.vinod bhai ne muje bhot protsahit kiya tha k aap guide banjao or lady tourist ko gumana .unhone itne tak Kha tha k aap thodi English bol skte baki me sikha du ga.me aaj b afsos krti hu k kas mene unki bat Mani Hoti to ek successful guide hoti .
Seems Mr Vinod believes in his Karma and that he so simply and innocently expresses in his conversation, “I believe in running my guest house well, rest is not in my hands.”. I never knew the review of an accommodation can be written so wonderfully. The video adds a new dimension. Loved the post!