The Second leg of my trip: Back in Bangalore

The first leg of my trip ended just before Christmas, I had a great time based around South East Asia (Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand).  I loved that area, it can be very inexpensive to travel there, the food is great and the people are some of the kindest and friendliest people on this planet (or any other planet for all I know).

I spent Jan and Feb at home spending some quality time with my friends and family and contemplated what the future may bring me.  I have taken a number of online IT courses, almost completed the TEFL teacher qualification (2 day on-site course in June to close this out) and got my house on the market.  After speaking with a few recruitment agents both in the UK and overseas the overall message I received from them was if I don’t need to find work immediately then take more time out to ensure my next career move is the correct one.  With that in mind I jumped on Kayak and booked a flight to Bangalore, India at the end of Feb, returning from Seoul, South Korea early in June.

The second leg is scheduled to be 17 days longer than the first leg which was 78 days,  I have a vague route planned, but only penciled in that is to start in India and head East to Philippines, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea.  The latter four are currently 'unticked' countries on my ever decreasing bucket list of places i want to travel to.

The India leg started at the end of Feb in Bangalore (Bangaluru) and I plan to take in Kerala, Goa, Mumbai, Agra and Delhi.  The 2nd half of my 28 day visit will have a little focus on the T20 cricket world cup, where I'm catching 2 England games in Mumbai and 2 more in Delhi.

Lunch when I arrived, Vegetable Momas - the red and green stuff was potent.

Time for Masala Tea

Bangalore is a city I’ve visited on two previous occasions and may seem an odd choice of first destination, there is little to do in terms of tourist attractions, and what there is I had mostly done on previous visits.  What Bangalore does have to offer to me is that it is the home of a few guys that I have worked with over the past couple of years.  I planned to catch up with most of the people I knew over a curry and a Kingfisher.

Breakfast in the hotel was OK at best

Whilst in Bangalore I was treated to some fabulous hospitality by the guys I knew.  I was invited into their homes and experienced some delicious home cooked meals (all with the spicy dial turned down to medium to suit my pallet).  I was never short of someone to have lunch, evening meal or a cup of tea with. Almost as soon as I arrived I was whisked off to Manoj's home to have a fabulous meal and meet his family.

One evening I played badminton with Sreejith and Sharath.  You often hear the saying about Latin American footballers “let’s see how they play on a cold windy Tuesday night in Stoke” well for me it was “let’s see how he plays on a sultry steamy Tuesday evening in Bangalore”.  It was on the top floor of a school and the roof would have served more use in a greenhouse. After starting well I faded in the heat losing litres of fluid from my body.  The guys said I’d got better from the days we used to play in Darlington, but politely suggested that stamina may have been my problem.  It was a tough away game, but great fun, the evening ended with a superb meal at Sreejith's house.

Action shot

Two of my old work mates play whilst I took much need rest

Fabulous dinner prepared by Sreejith's wife

Overall I stayed 6 nights in Bangalore separated with a 3 night trip to Kerala to stay at one of the guys’ family homes.  It was an amazing trip and deserves a blog of its own (to follow).

Cow going for a leisurely walk in Bangalore.  Mooooooove!

I managed to squeeze a few tourist attractions in whilst in Bangalore.  I visited Tipu Sultan Palace, Venkatraman Temple, Krishnarajendra Market, Jaima Masjid, Bangalore Fort and the Shiva Temple. The latter of which had a huge queue for the free entrance due to it been Shiva day in India. However, I found a VIP entry for £5 and was told the money would go to help the poor, so didn't feel too bad at marching straight in. All attractions were OK but nothing to write home about – so I won’t.

Shiva Temple

Shiva Temple

Tipu Sultan Palace

Bangalore Fort

I got to experience the horrendous traffic problems that Bangalore faces almost 24 hours a day from the eyes of Auto-Rickshaws (Tuk-Tuks), Taxi’s and local buses.  The bus journey was particularly interesting, it was standing room only and each time a 5ft gap appeared in the road in front of the bus the driver would hit the accelerator hard throwing the passengers collectively forward, in the same motion he would slam the brakes sending passengers backwards in a whipping like motion.  This continued for around an hour to make the 2km journey.  If I had known the direction I would have definitely walked it.

Since I last visited Bangalore it now has a plush new metro system which is a skytrain, it is cheap, clean and efficient.  The locals do not use this as it has limited coverage of Bangalore, but for me it was great as it connected the two main areas where bars are concentrated. I got to sample a few of the bars on my last evening with Manish. 

Decent craft beer scene in Bangalore

Bar in Bangalore 

One thing that is very frustrating about India is the challenge to get a local Sim card for your phone.  Most places requested me to get a certificate from the police station verifying who I was and where I was staying.  I felt that this would be more hassle than it was worth.  After finding somewhere with slightly more relaxed rules they took copies of my passport, visa, letterhead from my hotel saying where I was staying and a local persons contact details who could verify me.  I was told it would be activated tomorrow.  Sadly tomorrow never came, one week later I had to take the approach my old mate Podge would use to resolve issues in India.  I left the phone shop with an activated Sim.

I like Bangalore, I will return, not for the tourist attractions but to see my mates again, and sample some more of the many plush bars, maybe time it with some cricket also.  Outside the bars in local restaurants you could get a full meal for around a £1, but inside these bars it was almost Western prices.

Lunch I had out with Ramesh

Local dessert

Evening Meal - bargain at just 50p

My next blog will describe the amazing time I had off the beaten tourist track in Kerala.