My second trip to India on Feb 1, 2015 began with a 20-hour plane ride to Bangalore. The movies I had placed with much intention on my IPad were in the “cloud” to my dismay, and I was left watching the movies and TV shows that American and British Airways offered to their passengers. Thank goodness I had brought along with the book From Death to Birth by Panditji Rajmani Tigunait. I had read this awesome book before, but like many books, the second or third time is even better than the first!

About an hour before we landed, from the window of the plane we could see the sun beginning to rise.  It was just beautiful and this picture does not do it justice.

We arrived about 5 a.m., and once we landed, we were in the airport on our way to customs.  This beautiful picture with sculptures is one of the first things you see along with the gorgeous carpet when you deplane.

It was a little foggy that morning, but Ashok Babu, our driver, was there to meet us to take us to our hotel.

On this trip we were staying at the JW Marriot, a beautiful and well placed hotel in the middle of town.

Once we arrived and checked in, we went up to our room on the 8th floor hoping to get a little rest. There is a trick to working with the time change as there is an 11 ½ hour difference than Dallas. Below is a view from our room.  This is the city’s cricket stadium.

Also from our room you could look out over the city’s “central park” per se, Cubbon Park.  Bangalore is known as the “garden city” and this park seen in the picture below sits pretty much in the middle of town.  To read more about this park see my blog from the last trip: India Adventure part Two of Ten.

I later spent some time with Bala, my concierge, as he helped me plan my itinerary for the next 5 days.

After a short rest we took Mike’s colleague Zack on his first rickshaw ride!

Then we had dinner at a Thai restaurant next to our hotel. It had a great Indian twist to it and the food was fabulous!

It is now today, Monday, January 2. Darshan, my driver and guide for the week, picked me up at the door of the hotel. With Ganesh on our dash, we are on our way–today we are going to Chennai. As we start off the early morning traffic is just beginning to pick up.

We make our way through the busy streets in the middle of Bangalore to the outskirts of town where the truck traffic really picks up.

The Streets are busy but as we make our way to the outskirts of town I got this shot of the city.

Don’t think we are special here in Dallas; they also have toll roads in India.

Here we stop to pay our toll. Below, even the motorcycles had their own lane to pay!

 

We soon reach the RTO (Regional Transport Office) where Darshan has to register his vehicle as we pass from the state of Karnataka to the state of Tamil Nadu.

After entering into Tamil Nadu, we continue on our way. We come upon life just happening:

Girls going to school (Love their hair tied in pigtail braids),

Sugar cane going to market,

A women taking some bags of something somewhere,

One temple on a hill on one side of the road and…

A temple on the hill on the other side of the road!

As we get further and further outside the city we begin to see agriculture at its most glorious: Coconut trees, rice and sugar cane.

But not to be outdone are the banana groves.

After about 1.5 hours of traveling we pull into a restaurant for breakfast. Darshan is careful to pick a restaurant for me that is “hygienic” and he orders breakfast for us.

We have dosa with chutneys (coconut, herb, tomato/curry), sambar (a lentil based vegetable stew based on a broth made with tamarind) and bottled water. After we finish our breakfast we order coffee with chicory. It is always served in little metal cups with metal saucers that look like a bigger cup.

There are quite a few people here, as he tells me this is a franchise diner and known for its cleanliness.

Before we leave the restaurant I use the restroom, not knowing when we would be close to another one on the way. I often get asked about what the bathroom situation is in India and I have to say it varies.

This is what the toilet looked like at this restaurant. Yes there was toilet paper available, but it is always smart to take some wet wipes with you just in case. Because this was a franchise restaurant, on a main road, it had better facilities than some. This is a good place to stop the story for the day.  I will continue this adventure in tomorrow’s blog, so keep following.

Thanks for reading and please share this with your friends. Check in with me at www.thebalancedyogi.com

For now, blessings!

Peggy