It's about one month until Muir and I return to the US, but before we do, we thought a trip to India was in order. And I was pumped! I've never been to India before, but I love Indian food and people in India can speak some English (right?), so in my own naive way, I figured that was more than half the battle.
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Traditional south Indian breakfast items.
All vegetarian, spicy, and delicious! |
So on Valentine's Day, Muir and I flew from Beijing to Bangalore via Chengdu to spend about ten days in south India. We made reservations at the SFO Hotel and Suites, the same hotel where Muir has stayed on his previous trips to the Bangalore office. The SFO Hotel is modern and comfortable with free wi-fi, two restaurants on the property, and a free breakfast buffet. Indian breakfast food, of course, but as I've already said, I really like Indian food, so it wasn't a problem. The hotel also has decent decor. Bonus! Each floor is themed like a different neighborhood in San Francisco, and our floor pays homage to the Haight Ashbury of the 1960s and 1970s. The hallway is painted as if covered in psychedelic graffiti with messages of peace, love, and Budweiser. There's also a decent portrait of Bob Marley.
It took us about 24 hours to reach Bangalore due to a 4-hour layover and a 90-minute flight delay in Chengdu. We arrived in the obscenely early hours of the morning on the 15th despite the 2.5 hours we gained by traveling west into a country that understands the concept of time zones... Anyway! The evening--sorry, pre-dawn morning--was a balmy and dry 60 degrees. A pre-arranged driver picked us up from the airport and ported us to our hotel. We took a quick nap at the hotel and went out later that morning to explore the city.
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| Yum, electrolytes! |
We decided to visit the Lal Bagh Botanical Gardens in Bangalore so as to stay close to home base and promised to venture further afield the next day. We tried to buy sunscreen and mosquito repellent en route, but the closest shopping center didn't open until 11:30 AM! We did however try some fresh coconut water for about 30 cents US. (The exchange rate is about 50 Rupees per US dollar right now!)
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| The coconut vendor |
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| The jelly-like coconut meat of our green coconut. |
To get to the gardens, we took one of the ubiquitous three-wheeled auto-rickshaws, called "autos." They're basically tin cans on wheels, powered by lawn mower motors.
As for the gardens themselves, they were a little anti-climactic. The weather was dry, so not many flowers were in bloom, the grass of the gardens appeared to be plain old crab grass, and everything just seemed parched. There were lots of stray dogs sleeping in the garden and lots of young couples sitting on benches in the shade. Muir and I had a good walk around the large lake in the center, and after a few hours called it an afternoon.
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| Interesting vegetation |
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| A central lawn. |
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| Another view of the central lawn. |
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| A large Kapok tree |
Love this post - well worth the wait!
ReplyDeleteSo I thought, where's all the rain? It's India! and it's summertime! I begin to understand ... summer in Bangalore is hot and dry just like in Walnut Creek. The rain in India is what their winter is! duh. Hmmm, kind of like in Walnut Creek...usually. Bangalore is actually high and dry compared to Mumbai and other cities isn't it.
One month! It is going to fly!