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Day 13 - The End...

Well this is my final post.. I always thought that these 2 weeks would fly by, but to be honest it has gone by quite well, in fact it feels like I've been here for 4 weeks. It's strange to think that I was only in Brisbane exactly 2 weeks ago at time of writing.

Anyway India has been the best experience, everything has been amazing. If I could rewind and go back to any day I think it would be my first day in Bangalore. Everything was so new and so different. Of course Mysore and Hampi are a close 2nd but there was just something special about my first day here, just discovering the area.

Another highlight is definately the food. But I won't talk much more about the food as that is mainly what I've been going on about the whole time!

Of course its the hagglers who really started to annoy me by the end of Day 1 - but once you learn to deal with them it is a piece of cake. Amazingly after a few days it feels like they don't even approach me anymore, maybe its the way I've learnt to deal with them, or maybe they all have seen me around by now I'm not too sure.

But apart from the hagglers the local people are very friendly

It would have been good to see a bit more around Bangalore, like the Nandi Hills or the Bannerghatta National Park but I'm glad I at least saw Mysore and Hampi - and I dont think many people would get to do Mysore AND Hampi in just 2 weekends!

So this morning I spent the morning packing, it's pretty much all done. For breakfast I had my last meal at the Unisys canteen (thank god, because they're pretty awful)


So I guess after work I'll go buy what I've been dreading this whole 2 weeks - McDonalds.
Maybe I'll edit this bit and let you know how I went.

I'd also like to go to Tiffany's one last time but I'm not sure if I'll have time.

So my plane leaves at 5pm from Bangalore. The hotel are going to drive me to the airport around 2pm.

Vidaaya Bhaarata!!!!!

Day 12 - The Real Koshy

Today was another quiet one as all of my sight-seeing & shopping is over.

This morning Michelle was nice enough to bring in a pork vinadloo for me to try, made especially for me by her mother. It was very very tasty. In fact it was the best vindaloo I've ever had... In Australia the vindaloo is always the token "very hot" dish but this wasn't spicy at all, it had a really nice flavour.

Today for breakfast I had another one of those fantastic grilled veg sandwiches (yeah I had 2 brekkys, mainly because I didnt want to leave India without having another one of these!!) from the Juice Shop. 3 slices of bread, some green chutney, potato, capsicum and tomato & ketchup (they call it ketchup here, in fact ketchup is served with everything take-away here)

After work I planned to go to Koshys for lunch. After reading excellent reviews this high on my to-visit list. I found the place (end of Church St) and browsed the menu. They have a huge selection, probably the biggest selection I've seen which is probably why it is so popular with the foreigners. They do everything from Indian to Chinese to steaks pizzas and burgers. I decided to get a Rogan Josh (my favourite dish) served with vegetable biriyani

It was a little disappointing to be completely honest... so that was a shame. Although the waiter was fantastic. He has been working there for 25 years, he gave me a brief rundown of the history of the place and also a rundown of his daily routine.
The restaurant has been there for 60 years, it was established way back when they were ruled by the British.

The waiter said that he finishes work at 3.30pm (by now it was 3.20pm so I guess he was hinting for me to hurry up although he insisted I try their caramel custard for desert) anyway he finishes at 3.30pm, picks up his kids from school, goes to a course he's studying (have now forgotten what hes studying) and after the course comes back to work for the dinner shift, leaves work at 11.30pm, goes home and watches the soccer.

He was also telling me about his arranged marriage, how his parents matched up his current wife. When I explained that I'm getting married in May he said "oh so you're marrying for love?" and he seemed pretty impressed.

Anyway, finished up at Koshys and by now my stomach was suffering from all of the currys I've been putting through it. All I wanted to do was have a little lie down so I went back to the apartment and had a bit of a relax and watched some telly. After a short time I got a call from Satish's brother in law, Narayna, inviting me over for tea. I agreed and Narayna came and picked me up on his motorcycle again.

I realised something while on the motorbike that if you get a cramp in your legs there isn't a lot to do about it

Anyway we arrived at Narayna's - met his wife and daughter and his niece. They were such a nice family, Narayna's wife served up dinner it was some currys with these puffed things. It was awesome. There was so much food and I was very full. There was also a home made sweet which was also great. Unfortunately the family don't speak much english so conversation was very limited, but it was a great experience as I hadn't yet witnessed an Indian family's style of living.

Narayna took me back to the apartment (in a car this time) and I got home at about 9pm. And that was pretty much my day.

Oh yeah... I completely forgot to mention...

There are a few things I've forgotten to mention in previous posts. So here they are:

New Shoes -
On Friday afternoon, before meeting Praveen for our long journey to Hampi, I realised that I was probably going to destroy my feet if I don't do something about getting new shoes.
I heard a voice saying "Just Do It" over and over again, so I walked up to Brigade Road to the Nike shop and had a look. The salesman there was really helpful, he didn't try to upsell anything (except for the socks) he stayed well inside the budget that I told him. He brought out dozens of pairs and made sure they fit right
So 100 aussie bucks later, I was walking out with my brand new shoes and 3 new pairs of socks.
It does feel good to be in a decent pair of shoes though, I really needed them regardless so they were a good investment. It felt like I was floating when I was walking back to the apartment.

Aussie Aussie Aussie -
When we were in Hampi, out in the middle of nowhere, we bumped in to some Aussies! They came up to us and said "Australia are going to win tonight" (Referring to the cricket) Turns out they were also from Brisbane. What a small world.
Praveen was impressed that they could tell that I was an Aussie. But I think it may have more to do with the shirt he was wearing...



Watch your step -
If you're going to come to Bangalore take my advice
Watch your step - because the footpath may just have a giant hole in it

TV Routine

I've gotten myself into a bit of a TV routine now that I've found the good channels. In the mornings while I'm getting ready for work The Office (US) is on, which is a great way to start the day. In the evenings when I'm drifting off to sleep it is usually Friends & Seinfeld.

Occasionally I turn to the "Old School" channel (like our TV1) and watch shows from the 90's. Things like The X Files and Ally McBeal. It is a nice reminder of why I never watched these shows 10 years ago.

(They also play Full House, which is real old school!)

Tim Tams

They sell Tim Tams here!!

Cadbury

My entire life I was under the impression that Cadbury was Australian. Nope, It turns out it is from the UK. Most of the chocolate you buy in the shops is Cadbury like in Australia, and it's not as good as in Australia

Day 11 - The countdown begins

Well, today being Wednesday means it is well and truly over the halfway mark til the Weekend. I leave Bangalore at 5pm on Friday 26th and get back in Brissie at about 7.30pm I guess? on Saturday 27th. (not 100% off the top of my head)

This morning I thought I'd try the buffet breakfast at the Richmond Hotel around the corner. I went at about 8am (my lunch break) and it was pretty good. for 197 rs (less than 6 bucks) they had a mix of Indian breakfast and westerner style food. Eg. some curries + bacon & sausages & eggs & fruit & cereal & juice & naan & much much much more. Plus the chef would cook whatever you like (I'd already filled my plate twice before he asked so I declined his offer)
It was a good brekky!!

This afternoon me, Robin & Michelle went to a restaurant called "Queens" for lunch. It was yet another fantastic meal. We got a Chicken Tikka Masala and a Gobi Munchuri, Mutton Biryani (which is like a fried rice with lamb - apparently prepared completely different than fried rice though), with naan.

For desert I tried the Gulab jamun which is a popular south indian desert. It was pretty good, it tasted similar to a warm cinnamon donut drenched in maple syrup (or you can read exactly what it is here)

After that we went bowling! and it was a close one! It very tense by the end of the game we were on fire. (just kidding) It was a great bowling alley too, better than some bowling alleys in Brisbane... Decent price too for 100 rs a game (3 bucks)
Me: 119
Robin: 76
Michelle: 61

After that we went upstairs to the arcade, the arcade was surprisingly expensive, much similar to Aussie prices (each game was at least 1 aussie dollar) but we had a good time on the basketball game and the car racing.

After that not much, just walked around and when they went home I went to a pub called Styxx (or stix or something) It was pretty quiet, so I had one drink there and left. I had a bulls eye cocktail which was Tequila based with irish cream or something. Not bad for 5 bucks.

Day 10 - food glorious food

I think if I were in India any longer I'd end up looking like this:



Today for breakfast Robin and I went to a shop on Residency road called The Juice Junction. They do the best grilled sandwiches here. There is not meat on them, all veg and they are so delicious, makes you realise you dont actually need meat on everything. In fact you would swear there is meat on it because it is so filling. I washed it down with a watermelon juice and all up it was about an aussie buck.

After work I went on my usual walk, I had plans to go to National Market again (which is where I went yesterday) and then I'm finally going to check out Commercial St. While I was walking around I stumbled across the Lalbagh Botanical Garden which happens to be another spot I'd been meaning to check out...

By now I was busting for a leak, there are hardly any toilets in this city, no wonder everyone is doing it on the side of the street... I eventually found a "pay to use" dunny inside the botanical gardens. They were very modern facilities, with a bucket and running tap to use for the flush. Good value!

The botanical gardens were quite boring, It's one of the main attractions in the "Garden City" which to the garden enthusiast it is probably really exciting to see all the flowers and trees and birds and all that...... I checked out the flower clock and promptly went for the exit.



The Flower Clock - Lalbagh Botanical Gardens

After that I was pretty hungry for lunch, and I noticed a hotel doing a buffet lunch for outrageously cheap prices so thought I'd check that out...
It was very disappointing, the service and the place itself was great, but the food was terrible. And Im not being fussy - they couldn't even cook rice, the rice was hard and crunchy, and the curries were watery and just really bad. So if anyone reading this is going to Bangalore, don't bother doing the buffet at "Oceanic" on Mission Road.


I thought I'd go to Commercial St now because it was getting late-ish and it was raining (I was walking in the rain most of the afternoon - its been raining every afternoon since the weekend)
Got an auto - it was 80 rupees which I know is double what it should have been - but still 2 aussie bucks is still cheap for the convenience

Commercial St was a lot bigger than I expected, heaps more shops than on Brigade Road. It was mostly clothes shopping, so I wasn't really in the mood to buy any more clothes but it was still worth a look. I didn't buy anything but I did stumble across a KFC in the middle of it all, and I thought I may as well try the KFC here as per my quest to try all of the western fast food joints in India.

I bought a Zinger burger and chips - it was pretty cheap (compared to Aus) the whole thing came to about 3 aussie bucks. It looked something like this:


The chips were just like McDonalds chips - not the thick chips with the seasoning that we get in Oz... and the burger was terrible... The chicken was really thin and there was no lettuce... Anyway I didn't eat it because you'd be crazy to be in India and live on this but it was worth a try.

So my quest for comparing India fast food with Australia fast food so far is as follows

Australia has better:
Pizza Hut
KFC
Subway

Bangalore has better:
Dominos

I'll have to try McDonalds before I go, but I'm not looking forward to it...

So after looking around Commercial St for a while I decided to go back to National Market at Majestic. Got another auto back to the area (another 80 rs). National Market is fun, its my kind of place because its mostly electronics and very very cheap (but not authentic) DVDs and CDs. I had a look around, and thought it would be great to have something like this in Australia... but I didn't buy any movies because of the whole piracy thing.

Once I got tired of all of that I thought I needed to have a really good authentic Indian meal for dinner as I felt ashamed for buying KFC earlier. Satish had recommended a restaurant called "Bheemas" which is located on Church st just off Brigade Road.

I got an auto back to my hotel room first so I could freshen up, on the way back we drove past a film set, they were filming a local bollywood movie I guess. There were heaps of crowds watching and the auto driver was really excited. I guess the actor may have been a big name here or something. I didn't get a chance to get a photo unfortunately but it was cool to see.

Anyway, got to the apartment, and then headed to Bheemas. By now it was about 7pm which is pretty late, but I plan to make the most of the nights in my last few days here.

Wow this food was amazing. I had a butter chicken and it was definately the best Butter Chicken i've ever had. It was a little spicy too which in Australia butter chicken is always the mild dish. I had 2 bourbons (found a cheap one called Signature and it is quite good) a bottle of water, naan bread and the curry and the total was just 10 aussie bucks. The service at this place was really good too, and the restaurant is huge so there are plenty of tables to choose from. But the food is sooooooo good!! Definately the best meal I've had so far.

So I managed to waddle back to the apartment on a full stomach. Watched some telly (not much on tonight!!) and that was it.

So how was your day?

Day 9 - Jolada Rotti oota = me like very much

The great thing about this place is that you never know what is going to happen.

I went back to my apartment at about 1pm. I had a few ideas of what to do for the afternoon, eg check out the botanical gardens, Vidhana Soudha and have a look at Commercial Street before going for dinner somewhere

The bottle of Jack Daniels I bought on the plane caught my eye and I came to the realisation that I wasn't going to get through even half of the bottle by the time I'm going home, so I thought I'd indulge in a couple.

I watched a bit of TV (I found a great channel called Star World, it was playing The Office, The Simpsons and My Wife & Kids which is all quality programming) and my phone rang, it was Satish from Brisbane! I work with Satish and he is originally from Bangalore. He asked if i'd like to do some shopping with his brother-in-law. I quickly obliged and we arranged the details from there.

At 2.30pm I met Narayna outside my apartment. I wasn't expecting to be picked up on a motorcycle! I haven't been on a motorbike since I was a kid (and in saying that I've NEVER been on a motorcycle after a few JD's!!)
I got the hang of hanging on pretty quickly, and it was a really fun way to get around the streets of Bangalore. Don't worry - the driver was wearing a helmet

First stop was lunch (or I guess dinner for me) It was the most amazing food I've ever had. Known as Jolada Rotti oota it is served on a banana leaf and you eat it with your hands.
I read somewhere that you should only use your right hand as the left is used for other things (after the meal is digested)

The waiter would come back and top up whatever you like, including some rice (which you also eat with your hands). For desert I had some chocolate ice cream... mmmm... Best dinner ever!!!


After that Naranya showed me around the shops at National Market, got a few decent priced shirts and some shorts (the shorts aren't that stylish but I guess they'll do) All up I spent about 30 aussie bucks and I got quite a bit of stuff.

After that he drove me to the Vidhana Soudha which is close-by


Unfortunately then it started raining pretty heavily, so that was it. I got back home just after 5 and spent the rest of the night kicking back watching more quality TV. Later on I went to the Sweet Chariot Cafe near work and had one of their cakes I'd heard great things about. Not too bad for only 17 rupees !! (about 50 cents)

Day 7 & 8 - Hampi

Well despite what the title says I was only in Hampi for one day, but it pretty much took up the entire weekend. And what an adventure!!!!


On Friday night I met Praveen at my apartment. Quickly had some Dominos pizza for dinner (called a Meatza) I didn't want anything too ethnic before my long journey. Their dominos here is way better than at home... Although it is quite expensive (say $10AUD for a pizza). I've found that India's fast food is much more expensive than the good food!

The bus was leaving at 9.45 pm so we had some time to kill, we went to the bus terminal a few hours early just in case we were going to get stuck in traffic. We went via the city bus and that was a crazy experience.... I guess you could compare it similar to a mosh pit.

The majestic bus terminal was also chaotic, due to it being festive season (Dasara) the place was handling twice the amount of people than usual. The tricky part is that none of the buses say where they are going, so you just play a bit of guesswork and a lot of asking around to find the correct bus. It was very tiring so we just wanted to get on the bus and relax..........

And relaxing is something we didn't get to do:



Every bump... every honk of the horn... and you wake up... and there were many bumps, and many honks, so we didn't get much sleep on Friday night.

I shouldn't whinge though, the bus was so crowded that some people were even standing!! And it was a 7 hour bus ride! It was pouring rain. In fact it rained for the whole bus trip all the way until we got to Hampi (just to add to the whole uncomfortable-ness). Miraculously the sun came out just as we entered Hampi!

More photos:




We arrived into Hospet bus station to change buses to go from Hospet to Hampi.

Hospet is a small village located about 13km from Hampi. It is the gateway to Hampi as all of the bus and train services from other cities exchange here. It looks to be a very poor village, on the streets I saw things like dead pigs, dead dogs and poverty. I didn't take any photos but this picture found on the net will give you some idea:


We got the bus from Hospet to Hampi, once arrived in Hampi we fought through the crowd of auto-drivers offering us tours. We'd already decided that we'd rent some bicycles to get around so we could do things at our own pace. I'm really glad we did!!

We rode our bikes way out into the ruins, once you're in the middle of it all you can just imagine what the city would have looked like in it's time. Praveen really knew his stuff and showed me a thing or two about what the in scriptures mean. Actually I am really glad he came with me because it would not have been the same on a conducted tour, I wouldn't have seen near as much!!

Basically Hampi is the area which once was the home of the Vijayanagara empire which ruled Southern India. It ruled somewhere between the 14th century until 1565 when the Vijayanagra army lost a major battle to the Muslim empires. Once the city was demolished, the population either died off or they fled, so the city became and remained as a ghost town.

If you want to find out more about the Vijayanagara empire you should read up on it here: http://www.museum.upenn.edu/new/research/Exp_Rese_Disc/Asia/vrp/Index.shtml
or http://www.hampi.in/history.htm

Plenty of pics are up at: http://picasaweb.google.com/doggins25/Hampi


We rode around the whole area (which covers approx 20 square km) There was a small town on the outskirts of the ruins, the locals here were really friendly. The kids especially were amazed to see me, all of them would run up to me saying "Hello! What is your name?" and they'd be so excited to see me. The parents weren't so enthused... I was getting lots of stares by some of the older locals... But generally the locals (young and old) would wave or smile as we rode past. Another funny thing was when a bus load of locals went past and they all went crazy! You'd think I was a celebrity....

We were getting pretty buggered at about 6pm. The only thing we'd eaten was chips and sweets. and we'd thought we better get back to the bike shop before it gets dark.

Now strangely enough, it started to rain again! So the sun came out just as we entered Hampi, and started to rain again when we'd finished sight seeing. Ooooh... Spooky.

After we dropped the bikes off we went to a "restaurant" next door. I had a curry with some naan, it wasn't too bad, considering it was about 1 australian dollar, including a coke

By now Praveen and I were really not looking forward to the bus ride home, knowing what to expect. The bus wasn't leaving Hospet until 11.45 pm!! But we thought if we go back to Hospet early to see if we can catch an earlier one. (by now it was just after 7pm)

We got back to the Hampi bus terminal and there was a luxury coach with a sign saying "Bangalore" the bus looked much nicer than the one from the night before so we thought we'd try our luck on that. They did have some seats available, and for the tickets would cost 600 rupees (about 20 bucks for the both of us) We didn't have enough cash on us but they were kind enough to drop us off at Hospet where they were picking up more passengers. We had 30 mins in Hospet to find an ATM. We found 3 ATM's but none of them worked. Luckily we found one that did work, just in time, and bolted back to the bus terminal.
We were now happily in a comfortable bus, with leg room and foldback chairs!! So we both slept like babies all the way home.

At 6am Sunday morning we arrived back in Bangalore, got a city bus back to the apartment and as I said farewell to Praveen, stumbled into my room, had a very long overdue shower (oh how I stunk!!!) and went to bed.

Thankfully, Steve rang at 9 am to ask if I wanted breakfast. I thought I may as well get up, so said I'll be there in 10 mins. Had the famous omelete and felt like crap. So I stumbled back to my room and fell back to sleep. Yet again Steve was there at 12 pm knocking on my door wondering when he can clean my room.... See what I mean about the "too good" customer service?

Anyway, I woke up, got ready and thought i'd treat myself to a nice lunch.

There were lots of foreigners in the city today - so I wasn't the centre of attention anymore. I walked thru Brigade Road onto MG Road and found a nice restaurant called "The 13th floor" which is ironicially on the 13th floor of the Barton Centre. Had as an Entree "Khushnuma Aloo Aur Gobi" and as a main "Lamb Nalli E Changezi"
The food was pretty good, especially the Gobi. And the rum was pretty good too (Old Monk) It is much better than Bundy rum!!

The Indians love my eye brow ring, it's usually the 3rd thing they talk to me about (first they ask where I'm from, then they talk about the cricket, then they ask about the eye brow ring) The waiter at the restaurant was the most excited about it, I think it made his day...

There was this big fat guy in the restaurant who loved to know his voice was being heard from all over. He is an opera singer who so-say has performed Shakespeare in Brisbane and hated the place.

He was trying to get a free desert and when the waiter refused to give him one he started singing at the top of his lungs "I'm at the Ivory Tower, where there is no free desert" in his operatic voice. If I was the waiter I would have given him a free desert just to shut him up...

(if you're wondering the restaurant is apart of Ivory Tower which is a hotel)

Anyway, all this talk about desert made me feel like a desert, and wow this restaurant make a mean Sundae!!


So that's about it for the day, I was really exhausted so decided I'd just go back to the room and retire for the day.

Day 6 - Hampi, lock up your daughters, here we come!!!

Well this morning was a normal morning... woke up... got ready.... walked past steve asleep on the floor... walked outside... walked past the security guard asleep outside his little office outside... The cab was waiting for me for about 10 mins because they came early (arrived at 3.10am!). The gate was locked so I needed to wake up the security guard to let me out... he looked embarassed...

Today I'm getting pumped for the journey to Hampi. I still feel a bit sick, its in the chest now so hopefully its in the final stages. After work I picked up some cough medecine for just a buck AUD. Hopefully that'll work. I have some good news though. My mp3 player is working again, so that will come in handy for the trip tonight.

Well didn't do a great deal today, for lunch I went back to the apartment to have one of their omeletes. Yep the same thing, fruit (this time it was lady finger bananas) a glass of juice and their "Masala Omelete". Today it tasted even better than usual though - I guess practice makes perfect.

Praveen reckons that they've been doing the same brekky there for years with previous guests... You'd think they'd wanna mix it up a bit....

After work I went for a walk. I went to the mall that I went to earlier on in the week. Went to a department store named Shopper Stopper, it is just like our Myer. Got a leather black belt for about 15 bucks Australian. I've been meaning to buy a belt for the past 7 years, so it's good I've finally taken the plunge.

I also got some socks, as I don't know where all my socks have gone... Maybe steve lost them in the wash... but I cant remember actually putting them in for a wash... Hmm..

I decided to have dinner at Subway, I thought I wouldn't go too all out seeing as though I have a long journey ahead of me tonight. I had a chicken terriyaki. Unfortunately they dont do Sweet Onion sauce here but everything else was pretty much the same (although the terriyaki sauce is different) I think it was about 3 bucks for a 6 inch which is half the price of what it is in Oz.

I also stumbled off a David Jones like shop up the road called Bangalore Central. They have their own supermarket upstairs. It was a good find as it was pretty decent, and cheap...

Tonight Praveen is meeting me at my apartment at about 7.30pm. We'll then head off to "Majestic" bus station (Which is the same bus station I went to for Mysore - its the main bus stop in Bangalore) So we'll have plenty of time just in case there are any issues with traffic.

I wonder what kind of bus I'll be going in. For the price I'm not expecting much, I don't really care, just as long as there is enough leg room I'll be happy.

Perhaps I'll be traveling in this:

or this??:

I guess I"ll have to wait and see.

Won't be able to update this thing until I get back. So stay tuned for Sunday, I'll tell you alllllllll about it.

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

Day 4 - Nothing.

Well today I felt a bit sick
At first I thought it was the food at Tiffanys or the drinks at Purple Haze... But as the day went on I started developing a cold. Sneezing all day and my nose is a constant running tap.
By the time it got to 12pm (finishing time) I was feeling pretty sorry for myself....

I went for a walk up to Brigade Rd to look for more shoes, they were still pretty pricey. One pair looked OK and they were about 70 bucks AUD but I will keep looking because surely there are some cheaper shoes out there somewhere!

I walked to the supermarket on MG road and bought some more bottled water and some potato chips. The chips over here are "Lays" which we have in Australia, but the popular flavour isn't original, it is Masala flavour! So I got a packet of those. They were quite good actually, I wish they sold them in Australia

The supermarket wasn't like the supermarkets we're used to... It's pointless buying anything cold in this particular shop because most of the fridges weren't working. One fridge was missing all the doors - and was still turned on and in use... of course everything inside was hot. I wouldn't buy milk from this place...

There was an Australian lady at the check out. I couldn't stop staring at her because it was strange to see a foreigner. Now I know how the locals feel when they see me.

Down the road from the shop was a street vendor selling some pretty good t shirts for just 150 rupees (4 bucks) I bought a shirt that said Bangalore, in size XL. Unfortunately you can't really do your clothes shopping here as their XL is like a medium on me. So it doesn't fit....

I kept walking, feeling increasingly worse but trying to fight it off as much as I could. I then figured I'm probably better off resting tonight so I don't get too sick. So got an auto back home and ordered pizza in for dinner.

The pizza was Pizza Hut, it wasn't very good. Apparantly what I did wrong was ordered the pepperoni, the pepperoni is really gross here (because its made from pork I guess) apparantly the chicken surpreme is the way to go. Pizza hut is quite expensive though, more expensive than "Pizza Corner" and Pizza Corner is much much tastier.

So that was my day. Went to sleep at about 6pm... so it was a shame I wasted a day in India. Oh well, I'll have to do something exciting tomorrow.

By the way, when I first stayed at Sterling Suites I'd wondered what hours these guys work, as they always seem to be there.
I've found that, especially the "butler" (lets call him Steve), so Steve and the security guard I know for a fact work there 24/7. They sleep whenever they think nobody else is around. I've caught them a few times.
When I go to work the security guard actually sleeps on the ground outside at his security guard office.

Steve usually sleeps on the floor outside my room, in the communal kitchen (and where he does all the ironing and washing) Sometimes, during the day, he sleeps at the reception desk. I know this because sometimes I surprise them and come home early.

Oh and also I'm not the only one staying at the hotel, there is an American guy named Ameer (spelling?) from Michigan. I usually know when he's around because he likes to smoke right outside my door, where the communal lounge is...

I wonder if he's sick of their omelete yet

Day 3 - Dinner at Tiffanys

Tuesday 16th October 2007

This morning is my first day back at work. I set the alarm for 2.45am as I start work at 3.30am. I got to bed pretty late the night before so I was making extra sure I set the alarm correctly because I didn't want to sleep in.

Getting up at 2.45 am didn't go as planned... I was woken up by a phone call at 3.15am by the supervisor asking if I will be at work at 3.30am for a phone conference. I pretended I was all ready and said it was no problem. Of course there was a problem. I don't think i've ever showered/dressed/got to work so fast in my life, but I made it. Thankfully Robin and Praveen showed up as I was about to walk to work, so that saved some time.

The security is pretty tough, you go through a security check to get in the car park and then they check your bags before you enter the building. Once inside you kind of forget you're in Bangalore!

Had lunch (at 8.30am) at the canteen in the office. The food wasn't bad, I had an indian rice dish called "Pulav" (kind of like a fried rice but much tastier and a little spicey) and a Vada (which they described is like a donut, but its not really its not sweet and is made from potato)
The whole lot came to 15 rupees which is less than 50 cents. Crazy.

Work went really fast... Finished at 12pm and it was nice to have the rest of the afternoon to look around. I had been limping all over the office because I have completely destroyed my feet by walking in not-so-good shoes. You really need good shoes here because of all the broken concrete, you're constantly walking on rocks and urine. Unfortunately they have no drainage system in place so when it rains the water remains for days and causes the pot holes.

So Robin showed me a mall which usually does bargains on shoes. Today was not a lucky day for me as all of the shoes were $100 AUD + - so I figured I'd try again somewhere else another time. We caught an auto back near work and had Dinner at a restaurant called Tiffany's

Tiffany's was the best place I've eaten at by far. We actually went there for the steak, they have quite a huge menu of all things indian plus they actually sell steak (which is uncommon in India due to nobody selling beef) Somehow, this place gets away with selling beef. (I didn't want to try and work out where they got the beef from)

Anyway my intentions were to get the steak, but today they had a buffet on for just a few aussie bucks. So I decided to do that as I can have good steak at home (well not for $4 anyway)
The buffet was so good, they had my favourite dish - Rogan Josh! and it was surprisingly just like the rogan josh I have at home. I also tried manchuri gobi which is kind of like honey chicken but it is all veg! Instead of chicken they use cauliflower, and you wouldn't even know. I tell you, India is a vegetarians paradise....

Had some other curries (cant remember the names) but the Rogan Josh and Manchuri Gobi were definately the best. I also had a dosa which all the locals rave about, but I wasn't too fussed on the dosa. I had a 2nd helping (worrying about how I'll suffer tomorrow) and then they brought out desert! I will definately be going there again (it is just near where I am staying too)

Now at time of writing it is tomorrow, and yes, I did suffer a little. I think I'll have subway tonight for dinner. But we'll get to that in tomorrows entry (in detail and with photos)

So we finished up there, Robin went home and I went back to the apartment to get changed and unwind. After a couple of hours I decided to go to the pub. There is a pub near theh apartment called Purple Haze which play only rock and roll! I was looking forward to this as my mp3 player is broken and was starting to crave a bit of good music.

I found the pub, it was pretty cool. Unfortunately again being a foreigner I was getting all sorts of stares. I went to the bar and their staff were actually very friendly. I spoke to one guy for a few minutes about where I'm from, what I do, etc etc.

Unfortunately the music doesn't get switched on until 6.30pm. I got there at about 5.30pm so I sat there in silence for an hour staring at the tribue poster of Ozzy Osbourne. One of the patrons was obviously as unhappy as I was about this news and flipped out! He started shoving the bar staff and yelling. The barstaff did what every responsible night club should do and sat him at the bar to give him another drink to cool down.

At 6.30 the music cranked up and the stereo system there sounded awesome!! It was in surround sound and to be honest was much better than a lot of clubs audio systems in Brisbane. I had planned to be back home by 7.00 as I didn't want to be tired for tomorrow, so left the pub around then and went home.

I was annoyed at the staff when they tried to rip me off, They must have figured I wouldn't realise after a few drinks - but again the problem with this place is not the safety - just being ripped off pretty much wherever you go so I'm always over cautious about that. I fixed up the "error" - paid the correct amount and I was on my way.

That's pretty much my day, pretty boring compared to yesterday... but I guess that was a hard act to follow

Day 2 - Mysore

15 October 2007

Today I went to Mysore. Mysore is one of the largest cities in Karnataka. It was the Kingdom of Southern India dating back to 1399.

I got up at about 6 am - got ready and went up for breakfast. Again I was the only person there, and again my friendly butler was waiting for me... The chef's (like yesterday) asked what I would like for breakfast...

Chef: You want fruit?
Me: Yes please
Chef: You want toast?
Me: Yes please
Chef: You want omelete?
Me: Hmm. I might try something else today
Chef: Yes you liked omelete?
Me: Yeh but I..
Chef walks off and prepares omelete


Which is OK because today is the last day I'd be having their delicious omelete. Unfortunately I'm working between 3.30am - 12pm and breakfast is served between 7am-10am.

After breakfast I enquired about having their driver take me to Mysore and back (which is approximately 140km south-west of Bangalore) They quoted me 15 rupees (50 cents) per 2 km's, and strangely they said it was over 300Kms away... So I couldn't really afford that. I'm not sure if the 300KM thing was trying to rip me off, or I just miss-understood them....

So I moved to Plan B

Got a auto-rickshaw to the bus stop and organised a luxury coach to drive me to Mysore.
The auto was 25 rupees to get to the bus stop (less than a buck) and the bus was 198 rupees (about 6 bucks)

The bus was really nice, it was very comfortable with air conditioning and reclining seats. So the trip was very pleasant....

Arrived in Mysore about 2 or 3 hours later, got off the bus and wondered how I'm going to get around. I went looking for a stand with organised conducted tours... I'd missed all of them now it was about 11am they all start pretty early. After fighting through the crowd of auto rickshaw drivers and beggers and found the taxi stand (I'd always read that the taxi's are the safest and most reliable way to travel) What I read was absoutely right...



There were about 3 taxi drivers competing for me, one quote was 800 rupees, the next 700, then the 3rd person I asked, of course, said 600 rupees. So I went with him.

600 rupees (about 18 bucks) & I had my own personal driver for about 5 hours. He took me to:

Chamundi Hills, home of the:




Giant Mahisha Statue





& Ranganathaswamy Temple

Resting form of Lord Vishnu. Very sacred.. Inside there were people mediating, praying and even some were dancing.
Also this happens to be the place of my very first pick pocketing experience! To enter the temple guests need to take off their shoes, and no bags are allowed inside. So I left my backage (with shoes inside) with the storage area and got a ticket. While I was in queue there was a little girl behind me (no older than say 8 years old) and I could feel something in my back pocket. I turned around and her father started talking to me, to distract me. I wasn't too worried because I keep everything in my front pockets, so I made sure I just kept my hands in the front pocket which had all my valuables. Anyway went through the temple and back out and couldn't find the token to collect my bag. The bag was still there - I'd beaten them to it... Not that there was anything valuable inside (apart from my shoes).... Anyway I convinced the people in the storage area that it was my bag and they handed it over. Of course this costed me 10 rupees.

: After writing this blog I just took my passport out of my pocket, and there it was... the ticket. Inside my passport. So I wasn't robbed afterall. Sorry, little girl...

On the way up to Chamundi Hills, the taxi driver stopped so I could have a look at Mysore City from the top of the hill. I bumped into this little monkey man:



Next stop was the Nandi Bull



Nandi is the bull is the gate keeper of Shiva in Hindu mythology





Next stop was Karanji Lake Nature Park
This was definately my favourite site of Mysore. Entry was 10 rupees (+ another 10 rupees if you want to take photos). It was just so nice to get away from all the street vendors. There were mainly young couples having picnics etc. There are lots of animals and birds roaming freely through the gardens (and heaps of rare birds in the giant avary) (Not that I'm in to that kind of thing) The gardens spread across quite a large area so I was in here for about an hour (while the taxi driver waited!)


Next up: Sri Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens

The zoo was absolutely huge! I spent nearly 2 hours in there. A decent price as well. 25 rupees plus 10 rupees if you want to take a camera. So the total price was 35 rupees (about a buck)
Had just about everything, tigers, bears, elephants, lions, hippos, deer, etc etc etc etc. Click Here to see the Gorilla in action

Next was the very famous Mysore Palace

Construction completed in 1912 (to replace the old palace of which burnt down)
They were charging tourists 100 rupees to ender (about 3 $AUD) and locals just pay 20 rupees. They were preparing for a show it seems, as it is festive season in India at the moment. I had a quick look, took a few photos and went back to the taxi


Last Stop: St Philomena's Church


Constructed in 1956, inspired by the Cologne Cathedral in Germany....



Not much more to say on this one....





So after my long day trip I was worried that the taxi driver would start increasing the price, or would try to scam something out of me. Nope - he took me straight back to the bus station and charged me the agreed price of 600 rupees. What a champion! I gave him a 100 rupee tip ($2 AUD), because he was so patient when I was spending hours at a time at some places.......

The Best taxi driver in the world!

I could have seen more in Mysore, but now I was pretty tired and, if I wanted to get home at a decent time should probably think about getting a bus. I went for a walk through all of the markets - nothing too flash, found an ATM and found the bus stop.

There were no luxury busses available to go back, but while I was waiting a non-luxury bus was boarding. I thought to hell with it! I'll travel like a true Indian. So I borded the non-luxurious bus. It wasn't that bad, the only difference was it had no air conditioning or TV, and no reclining chairs. (It was just like the old school busses). I actually preferred this bus because I could have the window open, so I got to see a bit of the scenery while the sun was up. and it was only 75 rupees (less than it costs for me to get a bus from home to the city)

I befriended this indian kid who's 16 and studies. He's on holidays so he's traveling alone for 3 days going to Bangalore and then beyond (he did say where but I hadn't heard of the place). He lives in Mysore and goes on vacations every time his college/university has a break by himself..... I found it hard to trust him seeing as though what happened at Ranganathaswamy Temple, but turns out he was alright.

So after the long journey home, I was suffering from some serious arse sleepidge

Got back to Bangalore at about 10pm. Hopped on an auto-rickshaw (amazing what costed 25 rupees to get the bus station, I was charged 100 rupees to go back the same distance). I didn't care about the cost though as its only $3AUD and I was too tired to argue (It was better than the 200 rupees another auto driver quoted!!)

Now you remember the man at the apartments that is always there? He was there when I got back to the apartment late last night... I swear this man never sleeps! (Actually he does sleep, on the floor in the kitchen outside my room, which is a bit strange considering they have all these rooms and I'm pretty sure I'm the only guest) Oh well, I guess he's happy there

Well that's about it for now. At time of writing this it's actually Tuesday 16th at 12.20pm so I've finished work and believe we (Robin, Parveen & Michelle) are going to go to this steak restaurant in town for lunch.

Don't forget to check out my photos - http://picasaweb.google.com/doggins25

Day 1

I stumbled across this internet cafe so I thought i'd let everyone know how I'm doin.


The flight was long... The flight from Brisbane to Adelaide was the worst.... We were about to take off when the pilot (or co-pilot) announced that there was an engine error, so we waited about 45 mins or so for them to fix/check that all out so we were a little delayed
The horrible part is that I was on a 3 hour flight with no mp3 player. Unfortunately my mp3 player died last night while I was charging and adding tunes to it for the big journey. It was working fine until I unplugged it from the pooter, now it doesn't turn on at all. Grr... I got it as a birthday present THIS YEAR so it is still relatively brand new, so you can imagine my disappointment.


Not only that but I was in the very back row, amonst all the kids that didn't have any supervising parents, so after an hour or so in the plane (remembering that we were grounded for the first 45 mins) they were making my life a living hell....


So anyway, made it to Adelaide, had a look in (small) duty free store... no bargains worth worrying about.. made a few phone calls and boarded on the flight to Singapore!



I really enjoyed the flight, the time didn't drag on too long thanks to the Video On Demand. I watched 2 episodes of The Office (UK), 2 eps of The Office (US), 3 episodes of Extra, half of an episode of The Simpsons (it was all from the new season so I got bored of that), one episode of Kath & Kim. I started watching a bit of Young Frankenstein but ran out of time.





SO that kept me pretty busy on the flight
Landed in Singapore right on time, I had 2 hours to kill, unfortunately that 2 hours was spent running up & down the airport looking for "TRANSFER E". I finally found it and by then I only had 5 mins to board the flight to Bangalore.....


Singapore airport was huge, and I was impressed by how organised everything was (once I found the transfer desk I needed, but that was my fault... I thought I was flying India Air but I was actually flying Singapore Airlines)
Anyway, the flight from Singapore to Bangalore was the best by far... The food was awesome, I had some Indian curry with 3 FREE JIM BEAM BLACKS! now that is good service!
Singapore Airlines also have an on-board duty free shopping service, and I found myself unable to resist buying a 1L bottle of Jack Daniels for about $25 AUD... bargain!
Anyway on the flight I watched 2 movies.. The first - Licensed to Wed and Hairspray. Licensed to Wed was really good. I didn't see all of Hairspray cos the plane boarded before the movie finished, but I got the jist within the first few minutes...


So I felt like I was in a different world as soon as we touched down in bangalore... not sure what it was, perhaps not seeing anything out of the window due to the lack of lights (its not like they have much of a city-skyline or anything) or maybe I was just nervous because I knew what to expect as soon as I got off....





So made my way into the terminal... went through a brief security check of my hand luggage... although the security guard seemed to be distracted by something else... I offered to take out things of my pockets but the security guard told me there was no need. I was impressed by the lack of security in this airport!
Finally got my luggage... and went straight out he exit! no customs! nothing! wow! I was impressed! because I"d been reading about how customs officers target foreigners... I must have arrived on a good night.


The bangalore airport is very very small, no air conditioning, just fans and opened windows. They had a few very tiny duty free shops (you'd be lucky to fit 3 customers in the room at a time) I didn't have time to check them out unfortunately. (I had a driver waiting to pick me up)
So I exit the arrival lounge with my luggage and, (to tell you truth, I hadn't realised I 'd even been through customs yet) this nice indian man walks straight up to me and takes my suitcase... I think to myself, Great... this is a customs officer about to pick on and perhaps bribe me in regards to the contents of my luggage... but no, turns out this guy was a taxi driver and wanted to drive me to my hotel. I kindly advised the taxi driver that I had already had a driver organised... and he said no problem and still held onto my luggage. I finally got my suitcase off him and told him I'll be fine... so he followed me through to the exit (or did I follow him?) and thank God my driver was there with a sign. He was my saviour! So he saved the day, but the taxi driver still insisted that I give him a tip because he had helped me with my lugguage. I refused and walked (very quickly) away....



The drive to the hotel was a rush.... I was gobsmacked at how great this driver is, dodging people, cars and stray dogs. I heard that its really easy to get a license in India... I don't think even I'd pass the test!
Thankfully I'd been reading so much material and travel blogs on Bangalore that I wasn't shocked by the cutural differences at all. In fact, I was expecting the air pollution to be worse! Don't get me wrong, the air isn't as clear as in Brisbane, but it's not that bad...........

So had a bit of a relax in the hotel room, flipped through about 80 channels of crap on TV and went to bed at about 12.30 am Bangalore time. SO that means I was officially awake for 24 hours (I didn't sleep on the plane).

Got up this morning at 6am. Felt great! got to see a bit of the hotel in daylight (and the view). I won't describe the hotel room room too much at this stage, because I've video-taped it. But All I will say is that it is nice, and very small. I'll upload the video from work because its not working from this internet cafe....

Now with my apartment, I believe the customer service is too good. Last night when I arrived this man showed me to my room (I wish I could remember his name) he was very helpful and showed me where everything is. So I get up this morning and have a shower, open the door to my room (which opens out to this communal lounge area which serves just 2 apartmnets) and there he was! ready to wait on me! He advised me that breakfast starts at 7am so I said i'd go for a walk around. I went for a walk up and down "Hayes Road" (where the hotel is) Everything was pretty quiet, there were a few people around and the morning was nice and cool. Headed back to the hotel bang on 7 am to have brekky... and my friendly man was there yet again to ensure I was looked after.

Breakfast was awesome, I was the only one at the restaurant and I was surrounded by 3 chefs asking what I'd like (there is no menu, you just request whatever you want and apparantly they can do it. I said to them to just give me a traditional Indian breakfast! So they brought out the most delicious ommelette I've ever tasted. It was filled with all these amazing spices. The spices here aren't like thes ones at home that just set your mouth on fire, these ones actualy taste good! They are still hot, but a different kind of hot.

So again with the "too good" customer service, the chefs and my new friend who is always there, watched me eat and made sure that I was enjoying it.

Now one more thing on this "too good" customer service. It striked me odd when I asked for 3 work shirts to be ironed (costing about a buck AUD). He took it away and I just hung around in my room watching a bit of TV. About 20 mins later I figured that my shirts would be returned sometime later on and I was pretty keen to go out for the day. I open the door, and THERE HE IS! with my 3 shirts neatly pressed. I wonder how long he was standing there for ????

So I left the hotel room at about 7.30 local time. Went to all the major roads and not much was happening because all of the shops open at 11.30am (and close at 11pm I believe)
So after walking around for about 2 hours and got a feel for the area, I went back to the hotel room to have a cat-nap so I'm all ready for the shops opening at 11.

Now I have been feeling pretty safe here, and I haven't had any issues with anyone whatsoever. But one group of people who are really getting on my nerves are auto-rickshaw drivers! Every so often they come up to me offering this amazing deal drive me to all of the best shops in Bangalore! all for just 10 rupees! Now I've read about this scam, what they do is drive you to all of the expensive tourist trap stores and won't stop driving you around until you buy something - the drivers then get a cut of the profits.

I am a bit of an idiot and stumbled into one of these shops on my own accord. I thought it would be good to have a look at some "arts and crafts" the shopkeeper ASSURED me that they were the cheapest shop in Bangalore! Even though everything he showed me was at LEAST $40 AUD. I was finally going to settle on buying the cheapest thing I could find just to shut him up (it was some wooden hand made thing for about $20 AUD, it was nice, but I knew it was a rip off) but when he tried to sell me more and more and more I just ended up walking out....

Since then I"ve stumbled across more of these "art & craft" shops trying to do the exact same thing, so I've learnt my lesson and will just by my "art & craft" from street vendors.......... or from shops that actually have customers in them.........

OK well this is getting to be a very lenghty post, and I'm only up to about 11am!

So I got lost on my way back into the main part of the city. I walked for miles and miles and eventually found myself on familiar ground. By then it was about 12pm (yeah I was walking around aimlessly for an hour) and I was absolutely starving, and even more thirsty. I hadn't had any water since I was at the hotel room.

I found this nice pizza place, the value is amazing, I had a medium pizza (which I thought would be a good size for 1 person, but it would hav eprobably fed 3) and a "Conizza" which is a pizza in a cone! it looks just like an ice cream and tastes delicious. The cone is made out of pizza dough obviously.
with that I had a bottle of water and a coke. The total was about $8 AUD! You can't even buy the materials for that!!

Yeah I know what you're thinking. I come all the way to India, I even love Indian food and have pizza. To be honest I was ashamed of myself too, but at least the toppings were "fused" with Indian meals, and had all of the delicious herbs and spices i'd mentioned previously. My topping was Punjabi Chicken Masala or something. Mmmm..

So after lunch I hit the shops. Good value! My first stop was "Planet M" which is "The biggest music store in India". It was pretty big... I guess... They had many bargains for me to lust over! I got the new Korn album for $10 AUD that new Beatles album i'd always been meaning to get but couldn't afford it ($10 AUD) and also got some cheap movies (Spaceballs and Child Play on VCD for about $2 AUD for the both of them) and I got "Almost Famous" on DVD for like $5 bucks AUD or something.

I then found another music store across the road. I got some horror movie for 38 rupees which is about $1 Australian. I figure these movies will keep me company over the next few days as my hotel has a DVD player.

Did some clothes shopping! All of the shirts I got were about $10 AUD. Not as cheap as I was expecting... but I'm sure i'll find cheaper once I get the hang of this....

I then stumbled across a street vendor selling pirated DVDs. I got 18 movies for just under $10 AUD. I dont know what the quality of them is like, and because they're obviously bootlegged I probably won't take them back to Australia - but if I watch them in the hotel room then it is cheaper than renting them from a video store....

Well I walked and walked and walked. I met this nice man named William. He was about 50 years old and told me all about his wife and 2 kids. Are you married? he asks. I told him I'll be married in May next year. He was very happy to hear that - he was a very family oriented guy. I thought he just wanted to talk to me because he was genuinely interested to be talking to an Australian. He was telling me that he is best friends with Adam Gilchrist (year right) and every time the Australian cricket team are in Australia, they visit his church....
Uh oh - there's that word.... Yep, he's apparantly a priest
So he tries to get me to visit his church, it was only 3 minutes from here he insisted! I told him thanks anyway but I needed to get back to my hotel room. He then advised that he will drive me straight back after I visit the church! And then I saw it! His auto-rickshaw! Damn them!! So I walked away and felt a little disappointed that yet again the only person that talked to me was wanting my money...

Thats the annoying thing here, again there are no issues with the people here - but the only ones who are nice to you want something............ but I guess that's understandable considering I'm the only white person in this whole city. I have actually only seen 1 other white person.. that's it! so I guess I can see why everyone is so surprised to see me (at time of writing this some indians were just staring at me through the window to the internet cafe - I'm getting used to it)

Well I've pretty much mastered the art of crossing the road in Bangalore. You see traffic lights here are OPTIONAL. Nobody stops! and there are lots of pedestrian crossings but like the traffic lights, stoppping at pedestrian crossings look to be optional at all. I've watched how the locals do it and I am now a pro at dodging traffic. Don't worry - they drive really slow here.... so I can outrun them

Well that's just about it. Before I found this internet cafe I went to a nice local pub. It was very nice actually - and the prices were great - they dont sell Jim Beam here though!!! But they do sell Jack Daniels. Seeing as though I've got a litre of JD in my apartment I thought i'd try something different. I was happy to be relaxing by myself with my $5 AUD cocktail when this strange guy from Thailand came up and sat next to me. There was something strange about him, so I decided to finish the drink and get the hell out of there. Not sure what he wanted, but I wasn't getting the best vibes.

Tonight for dinner I went to an all-veg restaurant called Konark. It was great, I can't recall the name of the dish but it was sooooooooo good! it was just your usual curry, with naan bread, all vegetarian. Delicious!

So that's about it... That is my first day. There are lots of other little things I could say about the whole experience, but I think I've wasted enough of your time.

Its nearly 9pm here local time, so I'm feeling pretty buggered. But before I go, here are some photos:

This is just one stray dog. This one seems to be always hanging out in front of the apartment. He's harmless - he's more scared of me than I am of him... not sure why, He can do more damage than me - I'm sure he could infest me with all softs of nasty diseases if he really wanted to - but all of the stray dogs are pretty well behaved. I haven't even heard one bark!!

This is a view from the pizza restaraunt I had luch at - to give you an idea of what the main shopping district looks like

Bangalore is known as the "Pub City" there are lots of pubs. Surprisingly they sell Fosters here, and it is pretty well advertised. The only other beer they advertise is Kingfisher which is their local beer - brewed locally. I may or may not try it - me not being a beer drinker will probably not like it anyway.

I have heaps more photos, I should be able to upload them on Tuesday from work.

Tomorrow I am hoping to visit Mysore. Although I'm not 100% sure how I'm getting there yet. Let's see how I go. Mysore is an old city just outside of Bangalore, it is a major tourist attraction so I'm expecting to get hassled by many auto rickshaw drivers! woohoo!!

So what have you been up to ?

I'm leaving on a jet plane

Well it is not long to go now.....
I am pretty much all packed, so the next time I will update this thing will more than likely be Tuesday at the latest.

No doubt I will have a few interesting stories to share

Til then....

My first entry.....

Today the flights have been booked and my itinerary are as follows:

 

Depart Brisbane 8.30 am on Saturday 13/10/07

Arrive Adelaide 10.50am

Depart Adelaide 12.30pm (7 hr 20 min flight)

Arrive Singapore 6.20pm (local time)

Depart Singapore 8.15pm (4  hr 15 min flight)

Arrive Bangalore 10.00 pm (local time) (or 2.30 am Brisbane time)

 

Hoorah!