Category: India, 2019

Bangalore, a Taste

October 18

We spend some time in the Business Lounge at Heathrow, then sorta stagger, dead tired to our gate for the flight on to Bangalore (Bengaluru).

The plane is considerably more comfortable and, because of a magic little pill I took, I actually slept. Not sure how long, but I definitely dropped off a couple times. I’m so proud.

Anyway, after our roughly 1000-hour flight through London, we arrive in Bangalore at 5AM, pass by the elephantsand are met after we clear custom formalities, encountering the inevitable Bangalore Pizza Hut signand are transferred to our hotel, the Hotel Taj West End, which has been booked from the night before to ensure the room is immediately available for our early morning arrival. Mercifully, nothing is planned for the rest of the day, though our travel agent has arranged for us to have a car and driver for the afternoon.

Hotel is very nice, upscale and we’re upgraded to a suite. And don’t you love it when you see this in your closet?

we partake of the lavish breakfast buffet, then go up to the room to sign the books we’ve brought and relax. The grounds of the hotel are lovely, the lobby a little odd in its decor and the rooms, very nice and spacious, but not as special as some of the best Indian hotels at which we’ve stayed (the Imperial in Delhi or the Taj in Mumbai for two).

At 2:30, we’re picked up by our driver and we drive around in a vain search to replace the Backjoy seat that I left on the plane. We do get to see some street life, all of which is captured through a closed van window

Here’s the cell phone tucked neatly into the bottom of a motor bike helmet

We also stopped at an art/archeology Museum, which proved once again to us that not all old shit is interesting, particularly when the lighting is not very good, and the descriptions non-existent.

Back to the hotel, where I went to the spa to use the steam room, hoping that it might help the cough. We had dinner at the hotel’s Vietnamese restaurant in a beautiful setting, with excellent and unusual food and very good service. We return to the room and collapse, not long after nine.

All and all, an unexceptional day, but not a bad way to reenter the world after our long trip over. Tomorrow is our first real day of the trip.

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