Turkey Turkey Turkey

---

Just before 4:00 a.m. on Sunday. I have been unable to sleep despite all my efforts at doing so. I am suffering from a head cold for the past two days. I hope that it will pass before I depart India on Wednesday or I fear my head shall explode at 37000 feet. Yes, I am so looking forward to returning home to the U.S. I have enjoyed hospitality here unlike any I have ever witnessed and shall regret leaving.

On Wednesday, we were invited to enjoy the seafood buffet at Leela Palace. We worked until 8 o’clock before heading out. The Leela is Bangalore’s crown jewel of Hotel’s. The place is so large that it has its own indoor mall. I can not describe in words the beauty of the place. Before dinner we were seated in the bar with its silk fabric covered walls. I drank dirty martinis and we had light conversation with the boss before heading over to the Citrus, one of the restaurants at Leela. Dinner was excellent. I had sand lobsters which I had never had before which were tasty but not exactly the lobster I was looking for. I have given up on finding a good broiled lobster tail. I am told that Mangalore is the place for seafood, unfortunately, we never got there.

On Thursday, Thanksgiving Day we woke up early. Prasad was late picking us up. We headed out to Kelly’s place which was not too far from where we are staying but the traffic was terrible. Some dignitary was in town so lots of roads were cut off which made the normally grid lock traffic almost unbearable. I was concerned my cat allergy would act up so I tried getting Prasad to stop at one of the medicine shops but he just kept driving. Luckily I did not have a problem the entire day. Kelly lives in a gated community where all the houses are the same off white color with red tiled roves. We had coffee and got to meet Stella, Kelly’s housemaid. We headed over to the club house for lunch before being installed in the spa for a day of R&R. We had facials (my first), manicure/pedicure and massages. Mucho nice. After that it was back to the bungalow where we go dressed for Dinner. I felt like I was going to the Oscars. Dinner was at The Leela Palace. Nemish was kind enough to invite us for dinner. We had the traditional Turkey with stuffing, mash potatoes and gravy, green beans and some other local Indian foods as well. I have fallen in love with lamb; mutton is the local name for it. I stuffed myself until I could not eat anymore and probably drank a bit too much.

Friday, I woke at noon and decided I would go to the gym. Chisel gym on Richmond Road is where I had decided. It was advertised as Bangalore’s premier fitness facilities, complete with sauna and steam room. The cost was nominal compared to a day at the gym and U.S. The gym was not very busy most likely due to the time of the day. I did a truncated work out and sat in the stem room for 15 minutes before being overtaken by the heat and fumes. Prasad and I returned to the flat just after 3 o’clock to collect Diane. From here we headed over to Brigade Road for some window shopping. We popped in a music store where there were dance classes going on. Lots of young people in Bangalore. Lots of people period. The malls/stores here are small as well but always packed with folks. Prasad suggested the Taj West End for dinner which was excellent. The hotel is set back from the street and surrounded with Palms and other tropical plants all over the place. We had drinks in The Blue Bar, surrounded by waterfalls and a lagoon. At 8 o’clock we headed over to Mynt where we had perhaps the best meal since we have been here. We elected to sit out on the patio and has like 8 servers at our beck and call. The buffet was Italian, Lebanese and South Indian….. We stayed away from the Indian food as we had had our lot of it. The Lebanese was the best of the trio in my opinion. I can not recall the name of the dishes but my favorite was the beef tek meshwi which is grilled tenderloin in a pepper sauce…yum. I had some lamb cooked in artichokes and a red sauce and some stuffed yellow peppers with Egyptian rice and herbs..yum. Food bill has not been too much which is why we have been able to enjoy the food.
Saturday we went to Bull Temple which sits atop a hill. It is in the old part of Bangalore and there are little to no Westerners around. It was kind of scary but we had Prasad to protect us but did not need him. We climbed the stone staircase to the temple where I got some good snaps. We were invited to come inside by some young man who had given himself the job as tour guide. We had to remove our shoes which made me think twice about going in but I capitulated and took off both shoes and socks. It had been raining so the ground was wet and the mud red in color. Those who know me know I never walk around bare footed, never so this was big for me. Inside we found of course the Bull, a huge black statue carved out of on piece of granite. We prayed as we touched the but of the bull three times and ran in to a couple more temple gods before being let outside. Before leaving there was a donation pot, no self respecting church would be caught without a collection box, which was followed by the red dot between the eyes on the forehead. We returned to the car to learn we had been blocked from leaving by Betsy the Cow. All the folks just stood around laughing at us as we waited for her to move. After a few minutes Prasad lured her away with a couple ears of corn. By the evening I was feeling yucky and we were worn out so decided to skip Taika. Our tour guide Ashish had returned home to Mangalore for the long weekend. He was disappointed we decided not to join him but we were prohibited from riding the busses. We decided to just go home and grabbed some Pizza Hut on the way back to the flat. How people eat that stuff on the regular I will never know.

Sunday afternoon we went to a mall again as Diane had to pick up a few more gifts. We went to an Asian arts store where there was this beautiful Kashmiri guy trying to sell us everything in the store. These guys sell hard. Diane called me shameless because I used her to lure him in to taking a snap….. We returned to the Taj West End for dinner. Lakshmi, the waiter was so excited to see us. Diane reminded me that his politeness should not be taken as flirtatious. What doe she know anyway. You can not get her to flirt to save her life. I mean, all these Indian men and she can not buddy up to one. She is so proper and controlled you just want to stab her.

It’s Monday afternoon. I could not sleep so I got up. I will probably regret it. My head cold has now moved in to my chest. I have a low grade fever and will be taking some Nyquil soon. I walked to the Airtel Shop to unload my phone. I got a better price than Prasad was offering me. I feel bad cause I agreed to sell it to him but I got like almost twice what he was offering. I will just shoot him a nice tip cause he has been great with finding us activities to get in to in Ashish’s absence. We missed Ashish this weekend and believe he missed us cause he kept calling to check in on us. The hospitality we have enjoyed is unequal to any I have ever seen and I can not wait to get an invite back. Next trip I will see more of the country. Bangalore has 10 million people and is known as The Garden City….How I do not know cause I saw few gardens. Space is a commodity here and plus the air quality is very poor. You get in the car and suffocate from the exhaust fumes from all the rickshaw’s and motor bikes. I thought we had seen it all until last night on the way home we saw some guy riding a rose along with all the other traffic. No kidding. So you have cars, motor bikes, scooters, bikes, rickshaws, oxen pulled carts, and now horses all in the same traffic zone. No traffic lights but traffic cops with face masks on to protect them from the fumes…. What a country. I have really enjoyed the place and highly recommend anyone who gets a chance to come. Don’t come alone though, you need someone to experience this with and you must be willing to experience new things or your trip will be one big suffering.

This is perhaps my last blog. I will have more photos tonight. I hope I don’t suffer to much with this cold on the plane ride home. I am a BIG baby when I am sick....my body aches and there is not such thing as a heater in these flats Take care all.

---

« Previous Entry Next Entry »

Comments

[Cash]

Cool Account!
Hey Craig, I live in Bangalore, and I vouch for the accuracy of your account! Nice narrative you have out here, just wait for my detailed comments!! :-)