Bangalore

After the bus to Hampi I was hoping for a nice smooth train journey to Bangalore, that wasn't quite to be: I was stuck beside the noisiest faffiest family possible, who went to bed hours after the rest of the carriage and got up hours before them too. I'd also ended up with the side bunk: the shortest one so I couldn't stretch out, and I hadn't realised there was no bedding given out in sleeper (my precious sleeper journey being a day one). The result was a very minimal amount of sleep before I got to Bangalore at 6am. I walked to some nearby recommended hotels (I'd just like to say I say the hugest dead rat ever in the station!), but they were full (or only had super-expensive rooms) so I ended up going to this dodgy one nearby. I had a look in the room, noticed the smoky smell, go the light fixed, but failed to notice the lack of a window pane, or toilet seat, or that the TV didn't work (not that I was too bothered about that). The main things were it had a good fan, a bed, and hot water (for the first time since Mumbai). I slept a good few hours there and then then headed out into Bangalore. On returning there at night I discovered that in one of drawers there was a sex education/guide book. (Un)Fortunately(?) it was in Tamil and had no photos. Not quite what Rocky Raccoon found. I also discovered that as I checked in at 7am I had to check out by 7am. Hmmm.



In Bangalore I was back to being just about the only westerner around (unlike Goa and Hampi which are tourist Meccas (Meccae?)). Only when venturing into the MG Rd area (Mahatma Ghandi Road, every Indian city/town has a prominent one of these!) you see westerners in coffee shops and Internet cafes (like this one!). I've walked a lot the last few days (in the sun as usual) but I've got the time and it's good to see the city properly. Bangalore is the busiest, more polluted with traffic fumes city I've been to here. It has an amazingly rich and modern central area (more than Mumbai) and some amazingly dirty and smelly areas too, as well as some nice parks.



After much walking on the first day (Yesterday) I visited the Science and Technology Museum. I'm ashamed to say I enjoyed this rather too much, especially the hands on exhibits some. Many of the displays were ancient and dated (a slightly more modern one featured a Motorola sponsored display on the pager being the future of communications), one of the most up to date being a rather one-sided biotechnology company sponsored display on the wonders of biotechnology and GM.



Anyway, Bangalore is not really a city of sights, though I've also seen Tipu Sultan's Fort and Palace (unfortunately his toy organ shaped like a tiger mauling a British soldier is somewhere in England!), the Botanic Gardens (glorified park really) and some other impressive parks and buildings. I've also had some very good meals and spent a lot of time in internet cafes trying to get this damn blog up to date (photos soon I promise!). Tonight at 1145pm I'm off on the train to Chennai, where I think I'll get straight on the bus to Pondicherry.