Day 5 - I'm lovin' it

I slept in again this morning. Got a call at 3.15am from the cab company letting me know the driver was outside.

I said I'd be 10 minutes and they were fine with that.

It was raining this morning, which was the first time I've seen rain. Apparantly there was a cyclone in the Indian ocean. When I heard the word cyclone I panicked, but when I heard the words "nowhere near here" I felt calm.

The rain cleared up by about 6am. The sun was out and I was happy again.

The day went really fast, and it was quite a productive day at work. I was kept pretty busy, but still fighting off this cold. I feel the worst when I'm in air conditioning, so being at work in the dusty air conditioned enviroment it is, I was feeling pretty uncomfortable.

Today for breakfast Robin and I went to the restuarant called Konark. it is the place I went to on my first night in Bangalore. They had a special breakfast menu and I tried the rice bath. It looked exactly like "Rice Cream" which I remember from when I was a kid (rice pudding i guess) It wasn't too bad, it was like a soup.

I booked my tickets for my weekend trip. I'm going to Hampi!! It is somewhere I have wanted to go to ever since Satish (he works with me in Brisbane - he is originally from Bangalore) suggested the place to me. It looks extraordinary. It is an ancient city which has been in ruins since 1565. Before this time it was the capital of the Vijayanagara empire dating back to 1336. It is going to be absolutely amazing seeing a city the way it was over 500 years ago!!!

All of the tickets to catch the sleeper class train were booked out. It is "Dasara" festival over here at the moment, which is as big as what Christmas is for us, so things are pretty busy at the moment. I managed to get tickets on a express bus. Not sure what the comfort will be like. I'm hoping that it's not the same bus I got back from Mysore, because if my arse was asleep after 1.5 hours on that bus, I don't know how I'll go on a 7 hour bus ride!!!!!!!!!!!

I am going with Praveen. The tickets were only 200 rupee each return (which is about 7 aussie bucks) Unfortunately due to time restrictions we only going to be there for one day, were going to leave Bangalore at 9.15pm tomorrow night (Friday) and arrive in Hampi about 6am Saturday morning. Spend the whole day sight seeing and leave Hampi at about 11pm that night. Arrive back to Bangalore 6am Sunday morning.
It will be a very very very busy weekend.
Most people visit Hampi over the space of 3-4 days but we'll be doing it in just one day.
They rent bicycles so we'll probably get around on one of those rather than an auto-rickshaw

Anyway, after work I decided to do something rather than wasting a day like I did last night (I still regret that). I went straight to Cubbon Park which is a lovely park, quite large! very peaceful. It was nice to get away from the noisy and polluted city for a while.

I stumbled across the "Visvesvaraya Industrial & Technological Museum". It is kind of like the Brisbane ScienceCentre but nowhere near as good. Entry was only 25 rupees (less than a dollar AUD) and I spent quite a bit of time in there seeing how things work, and dont work (some of their exhibits needed a bit of maintenance were not operating correctly)

There was one exhibit which asked you a few questions about your looks, and compared them to other people who have taken the same poll to determine how many others have similar traits to yourself. It asked questions like facial features, complexion, etc. It looks like I am one of a kind:

After that I found the Aquarium. I had high hopes, I was picturing something like Underwater World or the Melbourne Aquarium. Entry was just 5 rupees (say about 12 aussie cents) and I was a little disappointed. I think there are some pet stores that are better than this aquarium. Oh well, the local kids seem to dig it, and I guess you cant expect much for 12 cents.

OK So after the aquarium, it was raining again, and I was thirsty and staaaarving.

Robin recommended this chinese restaurant close-by. It is called Fish Bowl
I found it and went in. The service (like most restaurants here) was very good. I ordered "Kung Bow" which is a spicy chinese curry with Chicken. I also had a couple of drinks, I'm sick of paying nearly $10AUD for Jack Daniels over here, so I ordered a Hurcules Deluxe rum with coke. It wasn't bad, it was much better than Bundy Rum.

The funny thing is, with the curry it doesn't come with rice, so I kept asking for rice but the waiter couldn't understand what I wanted. I said over and over, 'Rice please, Rice, Rice, Rice" and he had no idea. Funny, considering the name of the restuarant is "Rice Bowl" Anyway he finally got it. And I got my rice..

Anyway, the dinner was OK. It was definately they spiciest chinese food I've ever had. I ate all of it and I was stuffed. As far as chinese food goes, it was definately the best chinese I've had in a while. (The best is still in Hornsby though)

Oh and the chicken didn't really taste much like chicken.... it was kind of.... weird.

Anyway, on a completely unrelated note, there has been a crackdown on the stray dogs in this city. There are still heaps around, but apparantly there are about 200 killed per week. Poor little doggies, I swear they're harmless!! Anyway... Apparantly some stray dogs killed 2 kids, so now theyre going around killing all the dogs. (dont believe me? news article here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6446517.stm)

So back to the chinese food, yeah I dont think it was chicken, but I guess I can't think of what else they could have used???? Maybe the chickens are just different over here.

The Rice Bowl - Lavelle Road, Bangalore

OK so after dinner, I walked around the city for a while. I think the best way to see Bangalore is just to walk. I was probably walking for about an hour, I got tired of walking and went back to familiar ground on Brigade Road. (Where all the action is). I decided to go for a pub crawl. First stop, "On The Roxx" which is meant to be a hard rock/metal pub. They didn't have much hard rock/metal which was disappointing, but I did enjoy the peace and quiet. I was the only customer (I guess it was only about 4.30pm)

All of the staff were watching the cricket on the big screen. Pakistan vs. Sth Africa. See Nathan? I'm not completely wasting my time here, I'm gradually picking up the local customs on the way. I really do think you'd love it here though, it is a cricket-fan paradise

So I had a JD (I ordered it before realising they cost over $10 AUD over here!!!) so no more JD from pubs for me. I then got a couple of cocktails, and was on my way

Next pub was Shangrila's on Brigade Road. The service here was terrible, but the prices were great. I tried their local rum & coke, it was OK, but not the best... so I just had one and left.

I did a spot of shopping, bought a couple more tshirts from a store, they were pretty expensive compared to other places in India, but at least they fit me. I got 2 for 600 ruppes (about 20 bucks). They are good shirts too.

I found another shop that I managed to barter with them. It was the first time I've ever done real bartering. I think I'm still pretty bad at it - but I'm definately better than I was a week ago.

It was really fun. They asked me to sign their Guest Book. They love Australians in this shop, they get every aussie to sign their "Guest Book" I said "YOU GUYS ARE DA BOMB" - I hope they get it...

After that I found this internet cafe, and here I am.

So that's pretty much it. Thanks to everyone who has been emailing me, it has been really nice getting some mail from home. Even if I don't get a chance to reply straight away I really appreciate it. And I'm glad you're enjoying reading this thing.




Brigade Road at night