I have to clarify that my company is not rich, and normally we travel with a tight budget, but this round, we had 4 Americans travelling together (all first time to India), and so for their sake, a better hotel was chosen.

This is the continuation of the trip.

♥The Roads, Buildings and Traffic♥
Roads in Bangalore are dusty, narrow and bumpy. Drivers are constantly pressing on their honks, and 2 lane roads turned into 6 lanes because no body stick to their lanes, and all cars just squeezed into whatever space there’s available on the road, causing traffic congestion every where.

Just a few km away from the hotel, we saw little shacks at the road side, made from 4 sheets of planks and a zinc roof. Children were playing topless, while their mothers cooked from a stove outside of the house. These houses were built just next to the main roads. A skidded car could have knocked down the make shift stove or even the house. (Compared to this rv camping seems like a luxury.)

At traffic lights or a busy junctions, there’ll be beggers trying to get money from the people in the cars, and sometimes, we saw vendors trying to sell things like phone chargers, stationary from car to car.

On the street : Buildings in Bangalore; I understand in Bangalore, only the rider on the motorbike needs to wear helmet, but the pillion riders are not required; a shop providing kiddy rides which can be rented for parties.

There are lots of street vendors selling all kinds of things from coconut, roasted nuts, drinks, yogurt, cucumber slices and even rice.

We saw some signs with witty phrases for users of the road.

Motor rickshaw waiting for customers and one of a main shopping street, Brigade Road, in Bangalore.

♥My Little Adventures♥
The first day to work, I was in the car with a colleague who is also in India for the 1st time. 10 mins into the journey, the driver turned the car into a tiny lane, and stopped in front of a shaby looking building (as the car was arranged by the office, we didn’t think the driver had any bad intentions). We asked each other, “Is this the office?” The driver got down and with a big grin, told us apologatically, “Sorry sir, sorry mum, the wheels punctured. Give me 5 mins.” And then off he went like an expert and got the tyre changed in 5 minutes, as though this is his daily routine.

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On Wednesday and my first visit to the yoga class, I went through the gym and took the lift there to get to the pool side where the lesson was conducted. A hotel employee was with me in the crammed lift. I realised it took forever for the lift to climb 1 floor so I asked him what happened. He took a look at the penal and exclaimed, “Oh shit! Lift stuck!”. Oh great! My first time using this lift and I got stuck!

He immediately rang the emergency alarm, talked into the intercom. “Lift stuck. Guest with me.” To kill time, he made small talks, “Sometimes this happened.” “Very hot right? No aircon here.” (oh yes! it was like a sauna). A moment later, we heard some people outside telling us to wait and probably working on the problem. 5 minutes later, the door of the lift opened, and we were back at the gym.

The over-zealous staff pressed the 1st floor button before I could get out, and the door was closed again; and guess what? It went dead again! The same routine happened, the guy pressed the emergency alarm to ask for help, then people shuffling outside, and 5 minutes later, the lift moved and the door opened with us on the gym level again. This time, I immediately dashed out and used the stairs before the staff did anything.

See, this is a 6~7 star hotel, and the ‘sometime this happened’ just annoyed me!

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On one of the evening, a colleague brought me shopping. She’s hired a small car, and in the car was her friend and her friend’s daugther, the driver, and the 2 of us. The aircon in the car wasn’t working very well, and the taffic was really bad on that day. The winding and bumpy road, and the driver’s constantly stepping on the break didn’t help. After about 30mins we were still on the road in the hot car, the smell from our sweating bodies started to fill the car up, and I felt sick. When we arrived at the shopping street, I felt everything was spinning, and I had to tell my colleague I wasn’t well. It was after I threw up in the toilet and a hot chicken soup later, that I felt better. India’s traffic is just not for me.

♥Security♥
After last year’s bombing of 2 top hotels in Mumbai, the security in hotels, office buildings and shopping malls have tightened. All cars before driving into hotels or office premises will have to be scanned by security. They checked your booth, and under the car to see if there’s any hidden explosive. And to enter a building, you will need to submit your bags for checking or x-rayed.

In this shopping mall next to the office, the guards were checking bags at the main entrance, but I saw some people entered from the side entrance without going through a check. o.O” I wonder what’s the point if it’s not consistant.

This guard was very unhappy I took a shot of her searching through my bag. What the heck, I’m a tourist and I just acted blur.

♥Sight Seeing and Shopping♥
I have a full day on Saturday as my flight was night time, so I went exploring with 2 English ladies I met from yoga class.

We did a little sight seeing. More of the driving through the tourist spots like the town hall.

And a stop at Lalbagh Garden, where we were conned INR350 each for a guided tour.

The driver also brought us to 2 silk shops where we were able to buy silk and cotton Kurtas and pasmina shawls at a very good price.

We also made a trip to the supposedly shopping street Brigade Road, and it was a dissapointment, so dusty and dirty and the shops there were not interesting.

What I love best is the various curry pastes, bryani rice mix, premix roti flour, soup packs that I bought back home. They all had terrible packaging but I’d tried 2 of them and they were exceptionally good (MSG free and very tasty).

I have to say, besides its horrible traffic and dusty roads, I rather like India, the food, the people, the shopping. I was careful not to drink anything with ice, bottle water was always opened in my presence, and even with teeth brushing, I used mineral water, so I have no stomach problem.

I think since I have a multi entry visa for a year, I probably may go for a trip there on my own.