3-2-1 Blast Off!

from hampi, we took an overnight train to bangalore. unfortunately i spotted a roach (that ended up crawling to my 2nd tear bed), and i had a difficult time sleeping. but at least the mosquitoes were not covering me. at goan corner in hampi, my mosquito net had holes all over it, thus making it quite ineffective. for this mosquito-attracting girl, that can be disastrous.

in any case, the train is 100 times nicer than the buses that create involuntary head-banging to the beat of the rattling windows. we rolled into bangalore in the wee hours of the morning and did our usual exploring by foot. bangalore is more modern than other cities we have been to in india with well-known hospitals, shopping malls, but mostly is known as (and its modern feel is probably a result of) the technology/IT mecca of india and maybe even asia. so to see a little for ourselves, we checked out the technological and industrial museum where i learned about motors and carborators. and to stick with the theme, that night we had a kingfisher beer at a bar called NASA, an '80s space theme bar that feels like you are walking into a spaceship and about to blast-off. it was quite surreal, and the urge to do the robot nearly took over. the best part is that the bars close around 12am, but many of the internet joints are open 24 hours.

day 2 was a highlight. in the morning we strolled into the lalbagh botanical gardens, then found an amazing restaurant for lunch called Mavalli Tiffin House, and apparently a famous institution. there are 2 rooms filled with tables and chairs, and they fill them in shifts so that everyone is served a set meal at once. there were multiple courses with curries, salads, raita (yogurt salad), chapati (flat bread), rice, and on and on. it was the food that just kept giving and some of the best i have had in india. perhaps the whole ambiance contributed. and to finish, pan was given to freshen the mouth. pan can either be betel nut that is similar to chew in the states, but this paan was a typical and more artistic form of some sort of edible leaf with anise, lime and various other herbs. delicious!

in the evening, we met up with friends of friends (and now our friends), VJ and Ragu and their little one, Harsheetha. they are living in bangalore, and graciously showed us around the city, sharing some of their recommended spots and places off of the beaten tourist track. it was refreshing to experience the city from a local's perspective. we kicked it off at an extensive bakery with tempting sweets (and were introduced to a healthy variety of them), and were shown some of the highlights of the city including elaborate Hindu temples with informative explanations and some of the IT campuses. VJ and Ragu patiently answered our stream of questions regarding indian culture, Hinduism, and infrastructure, and filled in some of the blanks that we have previously tried to fill with speculation. the hosts with the mosts, we visited over more delicious food and drink at one of the nicest restaurants we have eaten in. they truly made our experience in bangalore a wonderful and memorable one and hope that we can some day return the favor.