Let’s go cycling

Bangalore really needs it’s own little blog. 15 million people somehow crammed into a pretty small space and making it work!

We decided to spend a couple of restful days here,  a bit of luxe, a smorgasbord of food options and plenty of (good!) beer on offer.

Traffic.
Countless tuk tuk drivers lolling around with seemingly no place to be,  peacefully waiting for a fare.  Put the same guy(s) behind the wheel and they turn into speed freaks,  driving with a manic urgency as though a life is counting on it!

On the surface there seem to be no rules,  but the more we ride amongst the craziness the more we understand the “how tos” on the road.  In the city we were given almost no space (2cm if we’re lucky!) with the occasional inevitable touch, and yet we didn’t feel unsafe at any time.  Plenty of jostling, horn honking and bravado but we’ve learnt to hold our ground, make way sensibly…and always, always give way to buses!! 😆

Couldn’t help seeing a little comparison to Sailing dinghy racing…up up up!

We needed to have our wits about us constantly,  that’s for sure, with awareness of every direction.

Climate:
Well…it’s just very pleasant! Around 26C max and 20C min… what’s not to like!

Puttin’ on the Ritz…
Our hotel is 100m from a Ferrari showroom, and a couple of 100m from the Ritz… so we decided to “pretend” for a bit in our “classiest” gear and sandals with splotchy feet… the Ritz delivered overpriced cocktails and a lovely city view, but gotta say we were happy to head back to our cheaper lodgings and enjoy a similar view at a fraction of the price!

A city of contrast…
With a couple of days off the bikes we explored a bit of the city. The area we’re staying in is busy…but a few km of walking to the city market was something else indeed. The number of people squeezed into a tiny area was simply phenomenal! The only way to get anywhere (we quickly learnt) is to shove your way through.

The poverty is evident and the contrast with the more wealthy area just a couple of km away was quite marked. The city market was full of colour and smells, a heady mix of flowers, spices and sewerage. (and more people than we’ve ever seen in one place at a time!)

Now, imagine a city centre, jam packed with people…and add a dairy farm!! Seriously…right in the middle of the city centre, a little stone barn housing maybe 6 cows. You’ve really got to see it to believe it…

Of course cows aren’t a surprising sight on the streets…we stopped several times in our explorations to take the odd “cow” pic but an actual dairy…that was something else…

The nagging tuk tuk driver outside our hotel finally convinced us to go for a ride so we explored the city palace- quite impressive! We were then also (of course!) duped into setting foot into a souvenir shop. Managed to avoid buying a carpet but somehow I am now the proud owner of a very expensive Indian shawl that I could probably have found for a few rupees in the market…