**Sorry for the delay in this post. Microsoft is now translating everything I type into Chinese and I CAN'T TURN IT OFF. But here is the post :)**
Wednesday, August 4th
Ugh, I tell you what. I hate being a day behind in my postings. Not only do I feel like I constantly need to catch up, but I can’t even remember the best parts of the day, and my posts are more boring. Sorry guys.
The City Tour
We started off the morning by going on a tour of Bangalore, so that we might have a better sense of the region. After boarding the bus at the leisurely time of 10:30 am, we drove off to the first destination for the day: Lalbagh, or “Red Park”: The Botanical Gardens. Along the way we learned many interesting facts about Bangalore:
1. The name of the city initially meant “boiled beans” after the meal that a very poor woman once fed the king when he was travelling through the region. Yes, it’s a great honor, but personally I think the woman would’ve preferred to be honored with something a little more substantial, like I don’t know, a giant ass bag of gold?
2. Sandhya also claimed that the area was only 4-5% Christian, which surprised me considering the proliference of the churches and “Bible Worlds” we’ve seen populating every street corner.
Yeah, those are the only cool facts I learned. Bangalore isn’t super important on the awesome historical scale (that I have found, that is).
Lalbagh, the Red Park
We arrived at Lalbagh more or less in shape and ready to explore this beautiful park. Along the way, Sandhya gave us a brief history of the park…that I couldn’t really understand, so you guys are going to have it presented like I saw it…just as a beautiful collection of flowers, grass, walkways, and statues of people I don’t know.
Highlights:
· The Watchtower: there was this really cool old watchtower built by some famous guy in Bangalore history. Apparently there were four, I guessss at the four corners of the city.
· Old Rocks: the watchtower was sitting on this large rock that was, as Sandhya put it, “three thousand million years old”. So slightly longer lived than Betty White.
· The Flower Festival: every year, for the week preceeding Independence Day on August 15th, Lalbagh holds a huge flower festival, and they were in the process of setting it up.
· Matt, Leigh Babaian’s husband, kept being approached by the locals who were in awe and kept rubbing his shiny bald head.
· There was this one couple who kept being followed around by a photographer, taking pictures of them. I then proceeded to stalk them too, because they were so cute, walking along holding hands. They must’ve been creeped out of their minds.
· I got approached by a group of men, who first spoke Hindi to me!!! Or maybe Kannada, I don’t know. But this is significant, because they didn’t automatically assume I was American! :D. They then all wanted to take pictures with me, hahaha.
While walking around the park, we spied a local news crew doing a story on the upcoming flower festival. They then spotted us, made a beeline, grabbed a few of us to do an interview. Because, you know, clearly we are probably the most knowledgeable about local festivals and customs. They then filmed our entire group shouting “Namascara, Bengaluru!” and cheering. We’re gunna be on TV! :D
The highlight of this park, though, was by far the gaggle of women. Sitting on the “three thousand million” year old rock was this group of women just chillin’ like a G, as old women are wont to do. I approached them to see if I may take their picture, which they loved, excited passing around my camera so everyone could see. The rest of our group soon caught up, and we started sitting with them and taking their pictures. And then, as anyone would do when sitting on rocks with strangers, they all started singing and performing for us! It was so much fun! I think I got some (not such great) video which I’ll see if I can put up here. Oh got it! It's bad quality (I opted to save upload time), but you can check it out here.
But I also got my most favorite picture of all time here. Just look at those faces and what fun they are having!
Bull Temple
The next stop: Bull Temple. I can’t remember which god this is a temple to (I’ll look it up in a bit…once I have internet again), but this was really cool. We departed the bus and stood then at the gateway for a good ten minutes taking a picture of the archway and the temple behind it. That is, until we discovered that that was not actually Bull Temple and that the actual one was a little bit further up the road. Awkward.
Entering the real temple a little bit later, we had to first take off our shoes. We then walked around down a hallway that ended with a small room filled with a monolithic bull. Like Big Blue (of Paul Bunyan fame) sized. Two acolytes were there as well doing prayers, maintaining the flames and providing the red powder for the dot on the forehead.
Now, as I often do when faced with unfamiliar situations (Hindu temples, foreign cities, strange buffets, and church), I basically put my head down and followed closely on the heels of the person in front of me. They make the motion, I make the motion. They say a prayer, I mumble something unintelligible. They touch the bull’s ass, I touch the bull’s ass. Now, I’m not entirely sure what all the motions meant nor am I Hindu, but I figure it is best not to take any chances with these kind of things. Wouldn’t wanna be disrespectful and then find myself at the receiving end of Thor’s hammer or Zeus’s lightning bolt. Ya feel me, dawg?
The orange saffron wrapped priest gave me a red dot (tilaka) on my forehead at the end. It was very cool. I really like the idea of that sixth chakra and the inner eye. However, after I already left, the cameramen caught up. They wanted to film the whole thing, so they sent me back through. Unfortunately, this time there wasn’t anyone for me to follow so I’m pretty sure I unintentionally insulted the god and botched the procedure. [Sorry Nandi!]Tipu Sultan’s Palace
The last stop on our city tour was at the Palace of Tipu Sultan (also spelled Tippu Sultan on another sign). While it’s not as big as one would expect a palace to be, it is very cool. Both in the temperature and the appreciation sense. It had lots and lots of pillars and only one enclosed room. The rest was open air, in a typical Indo-Islamic style. Also, scattered throughout the palace were the scalloped arches whose name I unfortunately only know in Spanish: arcos lobulados (Yay Spanish IV! I credit that knowledge to Sra. Hill). I think that it’s perhaps called a cusped arch in English? Either way, pretty cool.The Great Rickshaw Adventure
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| Rickshaws! |
Afterwards, we all head to one of the many malls of Bangalore. Apparently, malls are huge here in India, so Sandhya sent us to one of the good ones. It had ten floors I think? Yeah, huge. I was overwhelmed and I don’t think I even went past the 4th floor.
I actually didn’t stay there long as I was expecting a phone call at four. Figuring I should just head back to the hotel early, I exit the mall and begin the trek back. I have a vague sense of where the hotel is (Sandhya isn’t the best at giving directions), so I decide to just take a rickshaw, just to make sure I didn’t get lost. Mistake número uno.
Well, you know what they say about assuming things. Things that I should not have assumed:
1. The rickshaw would be quicker
2. The rickshaw will be cheap
3. The rickshaw driver will know where the hotel is
4. The rickshaw driver saying he knows where the hotel is actually MEANS he knows where the hotel is
5. The rickshaw driver will take me to the hotel
Hmm, seemingly innocent enough assumptions, no?
We started off driving in the direction that I vaguely thought was correct. And then all of a sudden, we took a few turns and we started heading in the opposite direction. Hmmm, who should I trust? My instincts or the native? Well,let’s just say that I should’ve gone with my instincts. Mistake numero dos.
We end up driving to the complete opposite end of the city. He stops and points straight ahead and says something about walking up there. Now, I have NO idea where the hell I am at this point. Inwardly I am cursing my decision to sleep on the bus because I don’t know if any of this should look familiar. Mistake numero tres. Well, since he thought this was the way, it must be. I pay him and exit the rickshaw.
Cue half an hour of mindless wandering. Somehow I found myself in residential areas, wandering past army bases, walking through parks, you name it. Now, I do realize that I am totally lost at this point. I’m not too concerned though, because being lost has never bothered me. That’s when all the adventures happen! I was just concerned that I would miss the phone call I was expecting.
Finally I find another rickshaw. He has no idea where Ista hotel is, even though I give a few landmarks nearby. He drives off. I find another rickshaw. He has no idea either. Clearly, I am in a completely different part of town (btw, apparent size of Bangalore: 85 km by 105 km). I finally find a rickshaw driver that knows where the hotel is, and he takes off. I breathe a sigh of relief.
We drive for about twenty minutes. I am so completely turned around that I don’t even know which direction is which anymore. Suddenly, the rickshaw driver pulls over at this very busy shopping street. He points down the street and says that I need to walk down it and take a right. I have never been here before in my life. I tell him no, this is NOT it. He says it is. I say it isn’t. Finally, I just pay him and leave, because he is obviously not going to take me anywhere else.
I start wandering around this street, just hoping that I am just very oblivious and the hotel actually is around here. It’s not. I turn down the small side street and wander a bit. The good news is, I for the first time see other tourists, which I had yet to see in Bangalore. Finally, I decide that mindless wandering isn’t the best solution, and begin to search for a phone. Spying a Ruby Tuesday’s (yes, a Ruby Tuesday’s) I stop and ask to borrow their phone, I don’t know, figuring since it’s an American chain, I’d have more luck?
The host had no idea what I was asking. It took two waiters and their manager to finally figure it out. But it was successful and I manage to safely call the hotel. I can barely hear the woman on the other line, but I manage to make out that I should tell the rickshaw drivers Middle Mall, no Little Mall, ohhh you mean L-I-D-O Mall. Gotcha.
I exit the Ruby Tuesday’s and inquire as to which I should head. This results in two people pointing literally in two opposite directions. Yay. An argument breaks out. I am now being pulled in two different directions. The girl wins. We start walking and then all of a sudden I hear my name. I glance up and there, walking down this random side alley in this random section of the city is Harris, Lee and Bethany, three of my classmates. I'm saved! But how random is that?! They point me to the best place to catch a rickshaw and I safely arrive back at the hotel...an hour and a half later.
The End of the Night As We Know It
The rest of the night is spent just hanging out, sleeping, chilling, the like. The funny thing was, our news clip from the park earlier was supposed to come on at ten o'clock. All twenty seven people who knew about this...forgot. Well, aren't we on the ball?
We also, I am shamed to admit, went to McDonald's for dinner where I had a Veggie Pizza McPuff. They wouldn't let us take pictures (what is with this?), so this is the only (admittedly illegal) photo that I could muster:
More posts will be coming shortly, when I next figure out where Internet is. Later, gator.