Karnataka | FindPenguins

Day5

The 2nd blog ever :D

July 20, 2017 in India ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

Start : 2:00 pm
Places visited on Day 1 : The Mysore Palace, the market, the clockwatch, the cathedral.
The day started when we dumped our stuff in the hotel and left to explore the city. The Palace was the 1st place we visited and apart from the trouble caused to us by bad targeting (of marketing) by the salesmen outside offering to sell us pics of the Palace or stuff too unpractical to buy, the experience was amazing!! So place was a huge mahal bordered by gardens and a temple with a wall having decorated gates on all 4 sides. After roaming around for sometime taking pics, we entered the Palace. Technically we were not allowed to take pics inside the Palace but we used the SNEAK PEEK METHOD to successfully record useful memories. It has many paintings along with beautiful roofs and chandeliers to see and marvel at. This place is definitely worth a visit!
Next we went to the market where my friend tried different types of Indian food. Also a place worth visiting on our way to the market would be Arya Chats and Juices. (The Gobi Manchurian there is amazing like no other!!!) The market had all sorts of vegetables, flowers and God knows what all!
The atmosphere there was electric and everyone was shouting on top of their voice in language that I know not of :p. Having tasted the imratis, bought chikoos (which later got squashed in my pants :/) and also kulfis we walked around teaching each other languages. The cathedral was a beautifully faked place which looked very old and ancient from outside but was just very new on the inside with nothing so special about it :(. From there we walked on to the watch clock and then back to the hotel. Now we'll go out for dinner :).
The dinner was not the best ever and the place suggested by our owner was not really great !
So we just got back to the hotel and finished our blogs :)

DAY 2
Start : 11:00 am
Places visited : Chamundi Hills, Sandalwood factory, Silk factory
The next day we got up gingerly after a tiring previous day and left our hotel for the Chamundi fort by 11:00. We took a bus from the city central bus station hoping to reach the foothills of the place but ended up getting down only at the top of it :(
The place was f***ing crowded !!! (Later we got to know that this was a special day for Chamundi and her worshippers) With the atmosphere like in locals of Mumbai, we had to scamper our way through to encircle the temple. We then had an overpriced sugarcane juice as the owner of the place out a DIFFERENT FOREIGNER PRICE :/. Hoping that the way down would be better than the place us we decided to move our asses :P. Besides the usual pushing and pulling, we noticed something very new; some ladies were praying on each of the 1000+ steps and also sprinkling a red powder on each step (kunkoo). After climbing down a while, we decided to halt at a viewpoint and take a few pics. The next expected thing did happen as lots of locals wanted selfies with my blonde companion but unexpectedly i was also asked for a few lol :D.
After having done with the photo session of the others we decided to take a few pics for ourselves. There was a path right below the PHOTO SHOOTING AREA which lead to the bottom of the hill and after having a discussion we decided to choose danger of slipping over dying a death like MUFASA. (simba's dad from lion king) The path was a bit slippery but definitely worth the adventure and we were constantly encouraged by seeing lil kids climb their way down with ease. We then took the road not taken on our way down but soon realised that there was a reason IT WAS NOT TAKEN!! (It was too long lol) Hoping to hitch hike a ride we kept on walking while listening to Spanish music. After a failed attempt to ask a police guy for a ride we reached the bottom of the hill sooner than expected but then it started raining :(. Without any protection we decided to halt at a nearby fruit godown. Luckily for us there was a van ready to deliver fruits to the city and we asked for a ride. The kind gentleman agreed without any hesitation :)). As rain slowed down we thanked him and got off at the city market. We then proceeded to have the customary Gobi Manchurian at out favourite place and then also tried our hand at various sweets. We then took a TOOKTOOK (auto) to the Sandalwood factory. Where we saw the whole procedure of how Sandalwood oil is extracted. The people there were super friendly!! (I won't bore yall with the details of the process) Then we headed to the Sandalwood shop where we had a look at all the goods produced by the factory. A gentleman there suggested that we should also go to the silk factory nearby and so we did. Having arrived there later than the factory time we begged the factory security Incharge to let us in and finally he did. It was also an interesting exercise!
Then we decided to go to the market again and God knows why :P. But we did a lil bit of shopping! (A big mirror a few cuetips and a knife for murder lol) Another round of fruits and we headed back to the hotel. I still remember the sky blue eyes of a girl though :). We then packed our stuff and headed out for the pelican pub. Nothing so special about the food or the ambiance so we decided to play a game of chess. After that we left for the railway station and finally got to our seats and worked on our blogs :)Read more

1 like

Map

Prady P.

Day1

The Start Of The Adventures :D

July 16, 2017 in India ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

Well the city of gardens had many delights to offer. We arrived in Bangalore in the afternoon and then took one of the AC buses from the airport. Anjappar was the restaurant we had our first meal at. The reason for us choosing the restaurant was that it was a recommended south Indian restaurant from lonely planet but ironically we ended up having a really great north Indian meal with parathas and pander butter masala. Then we left for our hotel THE DOUBLE TREE SUITES where our dear host was eagerly waiting. Having dumped in the luggage and packed our bags for hampi we left to explore the hotel. The terrace presented us with one of the best views in Bangalore. After chilling on the terrace for a while we moved on booked a cab and started for our bus to hampi.
We got onto a van which took us to the bus which freezed us at night. The Air was literally CONDITIONED for murder!!!!

We were back in Bangalore after a day in hampi. A quick nap in the morning got us charged up for the rest of the day. We took a bus pass for the whole day for ₹70 each. On our way we stopped by to see a HUGE statue of the monkey god Hanuman and then explore the area around, strangely though we saw a death ceremony of someone. With our initial destination as the Bangalore fort we got off near the Bangalore market. Aromas of the food around us got our taste buds aroused and our stomachs interested and we decided to have our breakfast nearby. After looking around for a bit we decided to settle for a simple restaurant nearby. The parathas were HUGE!! And just one was enough to fill our stomachs which cost us a mere ₹30 per person. Then we decided to explore the nearby market. It was filled with different types of flowers, spices, bangles, rangolis, vegetables and lots more. It was really vibrant and a colourful place like no other.
The fort was definitely not a place worth going as besides the big doors that were something out of the ordinary, nothing else seemed very delightful.
Hoping to have a better experience we set off for the Tipu Sultan Palace nearby but the tickets were too pricey so we just had a look from the outside and then went off exploring the area nearby. The hospital building opposite to the Palace was more beautiful than the Palace itself.
The Cubbon park was our next destination. Well it was nothing out of the ordinary but still a quiet place worth going to for just the peace of mind. Tired from all the walking throughout we relaxed in the park for a while. When I was busy playing pranks with a dog nearby my friend was trying to remove threads from her thin jacket ( I dunno what the name it has but I'll get back to this ). The library in the park was almost fully occupied with students who were preparing for different examinations and this could be felt from the expressions of their serious faces. The Bangalore Palace looked very beautiful from the outside but the tickets were too much so instead we decided to go to a nearby mall for bowling (The Garuda Mall). But unfortunately the bowling had been closed so we decided to go to the FOOD STREET in VV Puram.
This is definitely the place to go to!! We started our big meal with a peri-peri potato chips like something (I'm sorry for not remembering the name ). It was damn tasty though for just ₹50. Then we had a couple of Dabelis and a chicoo milkshake along with a pineapple juice. This was followed by a round of pani puris, gulab jamun and pav bhaji. With a hint of rain around it all seems just perfect.
We struggled our way through (improving our road crossing skills) by talking a couple of buses to Toit. The place was overcrowded as always and we we 47th in line to receive a table. Putain de merde!!!! But we decided to give a shot by sneaking in and hoping to grab a couple of chairs. We found one at first sight and then a sweet gentleman offered us another and we felt so happy to have saved an hour of our time at least !! Having ordered our drinks we skimmed through the beer digest (might be some other digest too)kept next to us. The music at the place was very singable (almost all songs were one's we knew ) so we joined along as sipping our drinks. The digest talked about a STAN LEE like person whose love for beers had no bounds and also about a bartender working there who never had drinks. Having ordered another round of drinks (Lemon juice and Toit something), we were enjoying the pleasant atmosphere using our judging skills to look at different people around us and guessing which part of India they were from. As it may be in our stars, we received no bill for our 2nd round. (Maybe they were free for us) We decided to head back home and well that's when we thought it was our day.
But noway!!! Our host (high as f***) talked and entertained us about his idols and his favorite musicians. Sensing him quietening up a bit we decided to sleep. We later heard him shouting in the middle of the night!! (He doesn't admit so but we know).
The next day we headed to the LinkedIn office nearby which offered us the best breakfast in a very long time !! From South Indian food to pav bhaji to juices that place had everything!!! The office was the place to work at!!! The gym, the music room, a cricket room, different types of arrangements woah!!
We then marched on towards ISCKON temple by a couple of bus hops and a few road crossing practices. The temple was so beautiful from both inside and outside. On the inside of it, was a stage and a platform with gods and statues made of gold. People (overwhelmed by it perhaps) were donation all they had hoping that God might help them overcome their misfortunes. Finally after escaping a maze of sales people and food stalls we grabbed our shoes took a view pics and headed for the metro. As soon as we reached the station rain hit the place like lightning!! Old habits die hard and well we ended up taking a wrong train ! (Cause well maps and me never work)!! Finally we reached MG road and headed off for shopping. After losing all hope we planned to head to the Phoenix mall but then we ended up shopping in Bangalore central. My friend became busy shopping soon while I resorted to chatting with my old friends. We tried a few restaurants then but none seemed to satisfy us. So we had a goli wada pav instead which my friend liked (I'm happy). Then we met our host at a pub had a good time returned home and slept. We missed our train to Mysore the next day but got the next one and now bye bye Bangalore!!
Back to Bangalore after Mysore with just a day more to spend, we decided to go to the nandi hills but unfortunately we couldn't afford a cab early in the morning directly from the railway station so we just went back to the hotel and had a nice nap. After getting ready gingerly we started off for nandi hills by taking a bus to majestic. We had our breakfast there. After searching for terminal 3 for a while we finally found out bus to someplace near nandi hills (chiklapur or something I don't remember). After the autos named an overpriced price to take us to the hills we just decided to wait for a bus. This bus took us directly to the top of the nandi hills and it was already 3:30 pm. We then took a circle around the hills where my companion took many many pics of the views. I wish we had some more time to spend there. But we decided to hurry up because we had made plans with our host for the night. Sensing our quickest option was the hitch hike a ride we tried our best and finally got a ride.We got off near marathalli bridge and had our customary Gobi Manchurians and then took a TOOKTOOK back to the hotel. Wherein we relaxed til our host arrived and finally left for the bus to chennai. Now we're finally travelling back to chennai after a long adventure :))Read more

1 like

Map