With fully functioning limbs, brain and other organs, my aim was to have a couple of days R n R in Bangalore before beginning the rest of my journey through southern India.
The R n R was provided by the relaxing seclusion of my amazing boutique hotel, with the comfiest pillows I've ever slept on, free Wifi for my iPhone, cable TV and the rest. That peace and quiet was a stark contrast to when I left the front door and stepped into the busy, dusty, frenetic Bangalore.
The city population has more than doubled in the last 15 years, an astonishing statistic. Every pavement, mall, cafe and shop is over-populated. A bit like how London has changed in the past decade or so (in my eyes). The fuel for the boom is the IT/online/call centre industry, leading to a young, upwardly mobile population who are quickly taking over the city.
And those teens/20s/30s want the best food, drink, clothes, gadgets to spend their new-found wealth on. I had lunch yesterday in a mega-mall called UB City, where Paul Smith, Louis Vuitton and Diesel have recently opened boutiques. Next door another mega tower was being built by workers in loincloths who slept on a small piece of wasteland in front of the new building, their privacy (from the outside world) only guarded by a flimsy tarpaulin fence. New and old India in a nutshell.
The reason I ended up at UB City was because I had a fruitless journey across town to go on a half-day sightseeing tour. After negotiating an enormous roundabout which, like all major roads and roundabouts in India had no subways, crossings or lights, I got to the tourist office and was told I was the only interested party and therefore the tour was cancelled. Bangalore cearly isn't famous for its sights!
I spent the afternoon walking slowly back to the city centre, through the (relatively) peaceful Cubbon Park:
Leafing through the hotel's copy of Lonely Planet this morning, I noticed that horse racing happens on Fridays at the Bangalore Turf Club. I went a bought some jeans, put on my best shirt (well, my only shirt) and got a rickshaw to the course.
I got there with four races to go and ended up picking three winners out of four! Beginners' luck. I also picked a few duds and actually finished minus 120 rupees (about two quid!) but it was a fun afternoon.
I seemed to be the only western/white person there so got several people coming up to me and asking the usual questions (where you from? you need hotel?), as well as sharing tips and advice on what horse was going to win the next race. Good fun.
I'm trying to maintain a sensible diet for the time being, and had spotted in Time Out Bangalore that the Spinach Au Gratin at Koshy's got a big thumbs up. Koshy's is a local institution: one large cavernous dining room, faded Gandhi pictures on the wall, waiters dressed in crisp white jackets. It was a successful way to spend my last day/night in Bangalore.
I'm off to Mysore tomorrow for a night, before heading further south to a hill station. After the noise, dust and non-stop hectic pace in Bangalore, I'm hoping to turn the volume level down a notch and get a better feel for the real India away from the city. In the meantime, here are some more pics from big, brash Bangalore:
Well I was going to upload more pics, but this slowest-of-the-slow internet connection is making me lose the will to live. I've posted most on my Flickr account already. Link on the right.
The R n R was provided by the relaxing seclusion of my amazing boutique hotel, with the comfiest pillows I've ever slept on, free Wifi for my iPhone, cable TV and the rest. That peace and quiet was a stark contrast to when I left the front door and stepped into the busy, dusty, frenetic Bangalore.
The city population has more than doubled in the last 15 years, an astonishing statistic. Every pavement, mall, cafe and shop is over-populated. A bit like how London has changed in the past decade or so (in my eyes). The fuel for the boom is the IT/online/call centre industry, leading to a young, upwardly mobile population who are quickly taking over the city.
And those teens/20s/30s want the best food, drink, clothes, gadgets to spend their new-found wealth on. I had lunch yesterday in a mega-mall called UB City, where Paul Smith, Louis Vuitton and Diesel have recently opened boutiques. Next door another mega tower was being built by workers in loincloths who slept on a small piece of wasteland in front of the new building, their privacy (from the outside world) only guarded by a flimsy tarpaulin fence. New and old India in a nutshell.
 |
| UB City |
The reason I ended up at UB City was because I had a fruitless journey across town to go on a half-day sightseeing tour. After negotiating an enormous roundabout which, like all major roads and roundabouts in India had no subways, crossings or lights, I got to the tourist office and was told I was the only interested party and therefore the tour was cancelled. Bangalore cearly isn't famous for its sights!
I spent the afternoon walking slowly back to the city centre, through the (relatively) peaceful Cubbon Park:
Leafing through the hotel's copy of Lonely Planet this morning, I noticed that horse racing happens on Fridays at the Bangalore Turf Club. I went a bought some jeans, put on my best shirt (well, my only shirt) and got a rickshaw to the course.
I got there with four races to go and ended up picking three winners out of four! Beginners' luck. I also picked a few duds and actually finished minus 120 rupees (about two quid!) but it was a fun afternoon.
I seemed to be the only western/white person there so got several people coming up to me and asking the usual questions (where you from? you need hotel?), as well as sharing tips and advice on what horse was going to win the next race. Good fun.
I'm trying to maintain a sensible diet for the time being, and had spotted in Time Out Bangalore that the Spinach Au Gratin at Koshy's got a big thumbs up. Koshy's is a local institution: one large cavernous dining room, faded Gandhi pictures on the wall, waiters dressed in crisp white jackets. It was a successful way to spend my last day/night in Bangalore.
I'm off to Mysore tomorrow for a night, before heading further south to a hill station. After the noise, dust and non-stop hectic pace in Bangalore, I'm hoping to turn the volume level down a notch and get a better feel for the real India away from the city. In the meantime, here are some more pics from big, brash Bangalore:
Well I was going to upload more pics, but this slowest-of-the-slow internet connection is making me lose the will to live. I've posted most on my Flickr account already. Link on the right.