Bangalore.....

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So after struggling to get to grips with the one way system here and the narrow lanes of the bazaar that look excactly the same, we decided to get a rickshaw to meet our friends we met in Goa. We were already running late by one hour due to getting lost coming back to the hotel, so we could get cleaned up before going out. First of all we met up with Namita and Ritu. Since we were a bit stressed out by our lack of sense of direction they decided to take us to a reasonably quiet place to have some nice food. Reasonable quiet by there standards was still pretty loud as their music of choice was metal, the heavier the better! After having a really nice steak, Priya came and joined us, who we had also met in Goa, shortly followed by two of their friends Vinay and Smitha. In Bangalore all pubs and clubs shut at 11pm so the drinking pace is pretty quick. So after about 6 pitchers of beer and a few extra complimentary ones thrown in we decided to go to a place called Styx. This is basically a heavy metal bar but being a monday night its was pretty empty. One awsome feature in this place is the benches you sit on round the table bounce up and down!! After throwing a few more drinks down sadly it was time to go home. Our friends put us into a rickshaw and haggled the price for us, which we were paying well over the odds for before and we said goodnight. On the way home Alicia and I Agreed to extend our stay here from a few days to a week. We had such a great time that night and some excellent hosts to show us around. Sadly the next day we woke up with stinking hangovers and actually didnt leave the hotel till 3 in the afternoon. We didnt really venture far from the hotel that day, we just took a walk around the bustling bazaar surrounding where we were staying and had some really nice indian sweets swimming with sugar. Yum Yum! Then got ourselves an early night. We got up pretty early the next morning and headed into the centre of Bangalore. This journey is always pretty fun as the traffic here is crazy! We walked past a ten pin bowling place and me and lissy couldnt resist. On the first go Alicia got a strike and then a spare, on the first few goes i sucked, but managed to pull it back on the last go. We had a txt from Namita asking if we wanted to meet up with them in the evening, of course we did, so she sent us an address to give to a rickshaw driver and a estimated price so we didnt get ripped off. Again they took us to a beautiful traditional indian restaurant and i found my new favourite dish, pepper chicken. It varies in heat massively in each restaurant from pretty hot to f*****g hott! Later on we went to another metal bar but with a chill out area up stairs, where we met everyone else and spent the evening. The next day, after me and lissy had some practice we decided to meet up with vinay for some bowling. The first game, after we had been bragging at how good we were, we sucked! On the next game though luck was definately on my side and i managed to get five strikes and a few spares and severely damaged Vinays ego! To round off the night we went to The Hard Rock Cafe for a few drinks. This place was massive with a huge elevated stage. As soon as we arrived the staff all got onto the stage and started performing the YMCA which was a laugh and everyone likes to join in, this happens every day! So after an absolute jam packed week, on our last night we decided to have a relatively relaxed one, involving some snooker and pool. I must say i had my ass absolutely kicked by Priya at snooker and then Alicia did the same to me at pool, this really wasnt my night.
We had such an awesome week in Bangalore, its a really cool city, but it wouldnt have been any where near as good had we not had such wicked people to show us around and have a laugh with. So thank you very much guys. It was really hard saying goodbye you lot, especially when Little by Little by Oasis came on in the back ground, it was quite surreal. Thanks again we had such a blast and we know how much you all like your photos being taken, so we put them all up!! HaHa!
Russ

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