7. Mon 21 Dec : Departure from Bangalore to Mysore

Today we are travelling south to Mysore on Indian Railway’s ‘Shatabdi  Express’, which should have left Madras (Chennai) at 6am this morning, about 500 km away.

We are in good time for the train’s arrival at 11am and as our taxi pulls into Bangalore City Junction,  orange coated porters appear and hoist our suitcases onto their heads for the walk to platform 7.  The station is a hubbub of activity with hundreds of people arriving, departing, asleep on benches, queuing for the restrooms and milling around the refreshment booths. Everything seems well organized, the train announcements are in English and the signs look like the London Underground.

We are told that these long distance services can run late, but today it's on time and we board our First Class coach to find comfortable reclining seats with foot rests, decorative window shades and air conditioning. As the train slowly pulls out of Bangalore, we are presented with chilled bottled water and options for an airline style lunch to be served later on.

Indian trains are heavily subsidized and our tickets for the 2-Hr. journey cost the equivalent of just 6 GBP ( 9 USD).

We settle back watching the landscape change from city to horticultural countryside.  Our new friend in the next seat says that we’ll find all the market garden crops as well as pineapples, sweet corn,  rice, herbs/spices, nuts….just about anything we can think of !

He explains that we will see few tractors or farm machinery as India has no shortage of labour to  work the fields assisted by oxen and donkeys.  Machines put people out-of-work 

These are not all ours!



Looks familiar........

 

6. Sights around Bangalore

Bangalore Palace

One of the top ten places to visit when you get to Bangalore.  Built in 1887 at a cost of Rs 199,000 (19.900 GBP) and designed to look similar to Windsor Palace it is an amazing piece of architecture. with wonderful gardens.

Vidana Soudha

Another immensely grand building made out of granite and porphyry it has  three hundred rooms which  accommodate twenty two departments of the state government.

Shopping Malls

 

There's no shortage of opportunities to shop in Bangalore.  From modern and sprawling shopping Malls, liked Garuda mall pictured above to the crammed streets of the city with humbler stores.  Deals for the shopper and not just the tourist.

 

 

  Whatever you are looking for you will find in Bangalore - it is a complex tangle of lanes with branded showrooms,  street stalls, emporiums, factory outlets, easy on the wallet and offering affordable retail therapy.   Bring empty suitcases to India and take them home full.

Vineyards?- Yes!

The weather and fertile soil of Bangalore has been a bonus to the wine trade. Wineries are mushrooming around the city and there are lots of tours.  We have tasted several Indian wines and have been impressed with Big Banyan Sauvignon Blanc by Grover Vineyards.


Time spent in Bangalore : 13 days

5. No road rage here.....





This is the road outside our apartment - a solid jam every morning and evening.   It's deafening as everyone uses the car horn.   The talk in Bangalore is all about traffic - there's too much and commercial life is badly affected.   The city is building an underground metro but that's years away.

 All Aboard

There are thousands of motorbikes ridden by women as well as men.    Ladies in full saris drive around like pros and whole families clamber aboard.    Helmets are not mandatory.

  The Rolls Royce of Tuc-tuc 

Rakesh is our regular driver for trips around town in his wonderful LPG powered motorized rickshaw with a Rolls Royce sticker on the back.

Rackesh doesn't like using the meter because a 15 minute ride will clock-up only 50 rupees (about   50 pence) so we have to haggle over the fare.

When we moved out of the apartment, Rakesh  organized a second Tuc-Tuc to take the suitcases and we drove across the city in convoy. Frances thought we would never see the bags again but everything worked to order.


4. Pollution




 

 A mist of pollution hangs over the city.   You can smell it and you can see it. People wear facemasks around town.   This morning's paper reports that there's 20% more toxins in the air than Delhi had 10 years ago.    It's a growing problem.  

 

3. Bangalore Skyline - view from the balcony

Bangalore.  Capital of the Indian state of Karnataka, a busy city of 6 million.  Hosting high tech, software companies and manufacturers of a huge list of products.  Take a look at this link :

http://www.indianmanufacturers.co.in/Bangalore/products-manufacturers  

We are staying at the 'Melange Astris', a really good serviced apartment block in the central business district.

2. Bangalore Airport

We'd booked BA to Chennai but were diverted to Bangalore to avoid the monsoon that had flooded Chennai airport. 

After halfway through the flight, it was a relief to see the lights of Dubai blazing below and know that we were past the war zone in Syria and Iraq.

Bangalore International is a new modern airport, bright and clean with good signage.   We sped through the formalities without a hitch.

 

1. Southern India

London, 25th November 2015

It will be Christmas Day in 30 days - time for us to leave the UK for a warmer clime!

Last year we much enjoyed the winter in Mexico's Yucatan and a new plan for this year is slowly taking shape.

Southern India looks good for many reasons - we've never been there, it's guaranteed sunshine, chess was invented there, algebra, trigonometry and calculus originated there, they play decent cricket and we both like a good curry:  Ticks in all boxes!

BA has a daily service to Chennai and Bangalore, so we need to book a flight, pack a toothbrush and (as they say in New York) Getdehelloutahere!