Bangalore EXPLORED

FIRST THINGS FIRST, HAPPY BIRTHDAY REFFA!!!!

Wow I had SUCH a romantic day by myself in this great city!!!
I slept in as long as I could (which is 7am since I am still jetlagged) and enjoyed my free Indian breakfast. mmmmm It was so good I can't wait until the morning for another. Then I slowly got ready (because nothing opens until 9).

I was delighted to find that the weather was tolerable today, unlike the past few days. I hardly broke a sweat until 2pm. So I wandered out of my room after a millennium of getting ready and watching Animal Planet (which is what I do during my down time since it's the best channel ever, and one of the only ones in English...) and I hardly made it 500 steps before I came across an auto-rickshaw driver (that is what they call tuktuks, or cheap taxis). This is what I was hoping would happen since there's no way I am going to rent out my own motorbike in THIS place (the traffic I would argue is crazier than anywhere else I've been, except maybe Vietnam where there aren't even intersections with lights....). So I had in my mind that I would only pay this guy 1000Rp (about $25) for the day , no matter what! and so he showed me his little map thing and listed all the places I Wanted to go (yay!) and then said "okay, 200Rp?" and I said... for everything??? and he said, yes. I'm sure this is still overcharging, but I Was SO excited by this low price that I said OKAY! hahahahaha.

Off we went to the botanical gardens (I hope you like greenery pictures... I took lots..!!) I couldn't stop taking pictures I so desperately wanted to capture the essence of this huge garden complete with lakes and trees and flowers and temples and pathways and vines and kind people (who were taking my photograph all day). I loved it! <3 I'm afraid the pictures just look like trees though. You can be the judge once I put them up on facebook! AFter that I went to a creepy electrical park. It was this abandoned place with old rusty metal electrical things.... it costed $.25 to get in ... but I was really jumpy! I Can't wait to show you pics from it- just because it was sooo creepy and weird!!! hahahahahaha

After that we went to the government castle. It was very pretty! Lots of kids were running up to me and taking my photo and being in photos with me and people were following me with cameras (again.) IT was fun, but gets a little old after a while! Then the final place I went was the castle where the king used to live (30+ years ago) it was about 150 years old and in rough shape for a castle, but it was still beautiful! I was lucky enough to get to peek in on a wedding that was being held on the main floor of the castle. I took a picture of the bride and groom (hope they didn't mind!!) they looked so lovely.

After alllll that we parked at the end of the road- and the guy goes "1500 rp please."
I was like WHAT?! and he was like, yes, 200 Rp per place visited. I Was bursting! I Was like "EVEN if we went to 8 places it would be 1600 NOT 1500!!!!!" LOL and he was like "yes 1600." and I was like "no, we only went to 4 places, and you told me 200 for the whole day" and he was like "okay okay, 1`000" and I Was like NO!! that's not fair! (just testing- I Would have paid it if it were any danger to me but he was just playing me..) . so then I handed him a 500 and he said "NO pay me more" and I said "no that's not fair" and he said "okay okay, 200 more" and I gave him 100 more just to shut him up and I left. He didnt' come after me so I guess that was that. I still spent under what I Was planning- but STILL. ugh. the nerve.

Other than the odd time like that though, India is much better for heckling then Thailand / Vietnam / Cambo / Indonesia so far!!! Most things are the right price !

Then I Was starving because I hadn't eaten anything since 7am and it was 2 pm, so I wandered around until I found a cute coffee hut where I saw people eating food that I Wanted to steal from their plates, so I went there. I must have sat there for an hour and a half on my own, sipping watermelon juice, eating a veggie samosa... or two as it turned out. =D I watched people walk by, smiled, and thought of what to do next. I was hot so I Decided to go inside to my air-conditioning until the late afternoon air cooled off enough for me to venture to the computers, the market and just around.

hmmm. Oh, I found out around 2pm that the temperature that I was "relieved" about , was 37.5 today. CELCIUS. hahahaha I guess there is a heat wave and the weather has been 40-45+++ each day so when it was 30-something I Was like THANK GOD I CAN BREATHE hahahahahaha. Isn't that crazy? Erin told me it was like 5 at home this week. Such a big difference!

One more thing before I go. There were 30 minutes of monsoon rain in the evening here. I love the smell of monsoon rain. I love it's determination. It's heavy and meaningful, not like a wimpy sprinkle, not just muggy air, and not puddle forming rain. It's river-creating, drench-you-till-you're-soaked, make-the-power=go-off, DETERMINED delicious warm obsessive thick heavy MONSOON RAIN. and I like it.

That being said.. I hope I never get caught in it with my backpack!!!

Sooo. I have no idea what I'm doing tomorrow. I think I might head over to Goa (the west coast). I was hoping to catch a cheap flight but so far that seems impossible. I'll let you know!

xox
Jess