Claire and Morten Travel Blog in India 2012: 04/02/2012

Today was big sightseeing day. We woke up and got up just before 8:00 and I was meant to go for a run but really wasn't bothered. Instead we simply had showers and went for breakfast at around 9:00 - and that was some breakfast! There were sooo many things available to us, including cereal, toast/jam/butter, porridge, fruit and local Indian dishes (this is a B&B btw!) and we ended up eating so much that lunch definitely was out of the question - which was great as we had more time to explore the streets of Bangalore.
During our breakfast we spoke to Ajith about India and he shared with us a good few little anecdotes of his from his travels in India - and gave us a bit of Indian history and facts.
At around 10:00 we were on our way and decided to walk for the day (see below about auto-rickshaws).
We walked via M.G. Road to Cubben Park and had about an hour there before heading up to see the big government building, which looks like a palace. It was closed to the public today and the closest we got were the gates surrounding it for a few pictures. Then it was off south where we walked through insanity squared, A.K.A. Chickpet - the shopping area in the old district of Bangalore. Never in our lives have we walked through something that busy and mad before - the pushing and shoving (don't take it personally - people are going places! ;-) was crazy and we have never seen so many (predominantly old IT) books before, literally stacked in walls against shops or as pillars - it was something to behold alright! We even got more daring and moved through some of the tiny and narrow side streets (and I mean narrow!) with traffic still coming through. There were shops everywhere, not a corner or a square meter was unused. We got the occassional WTF stare but other than that it was certainly business as usual in this big boiling kettle of madness.
After navigating through these tiny little side streets for about 30 minutes we finally had enough and walked south to Lalbagh, which is a major (flower) park in the middle of Bangalore. While we saw the lake, the flowers, monkeys, birs (of prey) etc we somehow missed (forgot! ;-) to go and see the glass house there, which is based on the crystal palace in London. So will have to go back ;-)
We then returned to Gamuda mall for yet another meal in their food court, simply because it was just after 17:00 and we were too tired to contemplate going out for a meal after returning to Laika. So we just had something quick there before returning to Laika.
In Laika we met an English couple from Birmingham who had literally just arrived. We sat in the lounge and spoke to them and Ajith for about an hour before heading in to our room where we watched a bit of TV and Chuck before going to sleep.

Here are some things worth to take note of if visiting Bangalore:
- Auto-rickshaw drivers are major scammers here. They seem to have two different tactics - one is to not run on the meter and instead either agree a price (well above their legally regulated rates) in the beginning or ask for some ludicrous amount at the end - and maybe even just dumping you in some remote area as happened to some Australian girl travelling on her own, who stayed in Laika (and she was charged R.600,-, which is ludicrous here - pure scam!) Another tactic is to tell you that they will drive you to some emporium for R.10-20,- "on your way" to your destination (oh, and they'll tell you all sorts of fibs: town centre closed as there's race but they can bring you in afterwards - or they'll tell you that if you go to the emporium their kids will get a shirt to wear - or whatever) - as they get kickbacks from these places. Oh, and afterwards they can do a "tour" with you - and they will charge you, so they will! So anyway, you have two choices: Haggle hard and/or insist they run on the meter (they have no interest in this so start taking down the rickshaw details and tell them you'll report them) - or ignore them at all cost. We chose the latter today and ended up walking 20-25km to see the major sites - tired feet, but we really don't mind!
- Bangalore is probably the most Westernized city in India - they actually have shopping streets with all the big brands - and a lot of people are well-dressed and even somewhat posing/arrogant, especially the young ones.
- Bangalore is also the cleanest city we have seen in India (but mind you, that's really not saying a lot) in terms of trash and litter.
- You see a fair few IT companies around the place - I even spotted the building where Amazon resides