Well, after two weeks.. this appears to be my last post in the Bangalore saga. It’s Wednesday night, I’m home in Chaska, and I still don’t have my luggage. It appears that it went from Paris to Minneapolis tonight, but there’s no word from NWA. I really hope it shows up tomorrow!
My last day in Bangalore was spent sightseeing and shopping around the town of Bangalore. I spent the morning sleeping in and repacking to try to get everything in. It was a very tight squeeze.. but somehow my suitcase closed.
Naveen picked me up at noon to set out for the day. Our first stop was the Lalbagh Botannical Gardens in Bangalore. This was another spot originally laid out by Tipu Sultan and his father, Hyder Ali. The Brits really took ahold of it and made it a proper garden park. Of course, there was now trash absolutely everywhere to be seen. Still, it was a nice walk around on a sunny afternoon. The disappointing part was when I found out that even though it was 5 Rupees to get in (about 10 cents), my guide was 450INR for a half-hour. The tour lasted about 2 hours. That translated into about $40. Nothing in India costs that much, so I didn’t have near enough money. I gave him $25 and said ‘enough’.. which was good because I found out that they were only supposed to be 450INR per HOUR.
Some Muslem schoolgirls walking in Lalbagh Gardens
After I took a short lunch break back at the restaurant Tandoor, it was time to do a little more shopping. Naveen dropped me off in the area around M.G. Road where there are a lot of shops. I first went to a grocery store to get curry and other spices to take home for Heather and some others. Next, I went book shopping. Books are very cheap in India.. they are on flimsier paper and are about 20% of the price that they are in the US. I bought a $60 book on Photoshop for about $10. The funny part is that books by popular Western authors are full price.. and in either USD or Pounds Sterling!
When darkness fell, we went to the Vidhan Soudha – the state administration building. There wasn’t really anything to see there other than the fact that they light it up at night and it makes a good picture. It looks old, but it was built in 1969.
From there, we went to ISKCON temple.. which I later found out was a Hare Krishna temple. This was a gleaming white palace on top of a hill, brightly lit and very fancy. One thing I noticed was that it wasn’t run down like the rest of the temples I’ve been to.. it seems that a lot of money goes in to it. My driver also said that pretty much only foreigners go to it. Being that the Krishnas are a cult, I think I know where all that money is going!
ISKCON temple in Bangalore
I saved the best for last. We went to see the most rediculous and the most preposterous thing I saw during my entire trip. Naveen took me to a giant toy and department store called “Kids Kemp”. It looked like a huge Disney castle, brightly lit. On the way in, they had this huge sign:
Yes, the path to enlightenment lies through a Toys-R-Us
As soon as you get in, all the store employees shuffle you toward the “Shiva Temple”. Of course, you quickly realize that you are queuing through the rows of merchandise on the way in. Once you weave your way through the trinkets, you see something straight out of a theme park.. the 65 foot statue of Shiva, all lit up. Somebody call Universal Studios Islands of Adventure.. somebody stole their Shiva Statue!
Hindu temple, built by Disney
This was too much. I quickly saw all the businssmonks collecting rupees for all manner of service and I decided that I had had enough. I had no desire to pay somebody to watch my shoes just to be fleeced for more cash at a toy store. I whirled around and hightailed it out, calling Naveen to pick me up as I walked through the store.
I still had 3 hours to kill before going to the airport, so I went back to the Park Hotel for dinner at i.Talia where I nearly fell asleep in my pizza. When I was done, I went to the i.Bar in the Park and sipped a Pepsi while I read and changed into my sweats for the long flight home.
At midnight, Naveen picked me up and we went to the airport. It wasn’t as chaotic as the entry, but the 2.5 hours I had to wait for the plane was painful. The plane was only 1/3 full, so I had a full row to myself. Thank heavens for minor miracles! I inflated my big lap pillow and settled in for the flight. I zonked out somewhere over Mumbai and woke up somewhere over Budapest. This is where things went awry.
In Paris, I started by fighting with a security guard to allow me to take my camera case (my third bag) with me and not check it. Next, my flight to Amsterdam (as you read), was delayed 3 hours. This caused me to miss my 2:10 flight from Amsterdam to Minneapolis. It finally left at 1:30 and I arrived in Amsterdam at 3:00. My rescheduled 4:30 flight was already boarding, so I had to sprint to the gate. They had no clue who I was and what my story was but they were able to squeeze me on.. in an exit row by myself, no less! This was on a nearly jammed full plane, too. This flight was mindlessly boring and I arrived in Minneapolis to rain and snow (yay!) at about 6:30 PM. And, as I mentioned, my bag never did show up.
Well, that’s it.. no more updates for this trip. My next travel journal will either be from a ski trip or China. We’ll see! Thanks a lot for reading.
All my pictures can be found at:
Bangalore 2005 Pictures
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