Blogs from Bangalore, Karnataka, India, Asia - page 52

Another day to make a backpacker weep. The four of us went for brunch at the Taj West End hotel, an upscale venue with an enormous spread of food in the eat-all-you-like buffet. My stomach was giving me a little bit of trouble but I couldn't resist so many tempting dishes and had a decent-sized meal. I could have done some serious damage if I'd been fully healthy, which I regretted. The building itself was extremely opulent, so this was a far cry from the usual places I've been eating in. Afterwards we had tea in a bookstore in a mall. Very relaxing indeed. In the evening, I watched 2 Bollywood films - "Garam Masala", which was cheesy slapstick, and "Parineeta", a remake of an old film that contained all the elements of passion, violence, misunderstandings, ... read more

The objective of the morning was to climb Matanga Hill to see the sunrise, an obligatory pilgrimage for Hampi visitors. I had a lot of difficulty finding the path in the darkness, and my abysmal fitness ensured that it wasn't a hop, skip and a jump to the top. On the way up, though, there were excellent views of the Tiruvengalanatha Temple (often used as a symbol of Hampi), so I took regular breaks while pretending to take photos. Local wisdom had said that the sun rose at 6:30AM, but fortunately local wisdom was wrong by 30 minutes, so when I arrived on all fours at the top just before 7AM, gasping and panting, I hadn't missed anything. One sadhu was already in position, facing the east and looking serene in his saffron robes. There were ... read more

The journey to Bangalore, in A/C chair class, was dull, and arriving an hour late did nothing to enliven it. I was expecting that the Silicon Valley of India might have had more of a futuristic look to it, but it very much resembled the other Indian cities I've been to. The RG had said that good accommodation quickly got booked up here, but I'd been unable to get through to any hotels yesterday so I thought I'd rest my hopes on the Karnataka Tourist Information Centre in the station. Unfortunately they were less than helpful (a common feature of Tourist Info places here in my experience) and wouldn't even help me find some phone numbers. I then walked over to the auto stand to find a driver to take me to the MG Road area, ... read more

For first few weeks I was India, I kept thinking my company had sent me to San Francisco, CA instead of Bangalore, India in error. It s no wonder I fell in love with Bangalore. As I first got acclimated to the city, I was stuck by the similarities between San Francisco and Bangalore. Let me explain some of the things in common: First and foremost, both cities are overcrowded and facing a housing shortage. There are numerous buildings being built in both cities to match the demand of its citizens. Like SF, everywhere you look there is construction going on and if they aren’t building a new apartment complex they are remodeling an old one. Both SF and Bangalore are IT hubs. Tons of people in both cities, mostly young highly educated, work in the ... read more

Well faithful readers, I apologize for the long delay in a subsequent posting. I have not had internet access in some time. As a matter of fact I lost my microwave, towels, and much of the food stocked in my cupboards. For those of you that know me, you know that I am quite well anal retentive when it comes to planning and I pack early. Now the place I am staying is well aware that I do not leave until Sunday morning at 2:30 AM, but apparently the fact that I began packing on Monday was a signal that I was leaving early. So my flat was cleaned thoroughly. When I say thoroughly cleaned I am not referring to the floors scrubbed etc, I am referring to the microwave they brought for my use on ... read more