Journey into Bangalore

Earlier this week, Kelly and I were able to venture into the main city of Bangalore because I did not teach until the afternoon.  Our driver, Danesh, picked us up in front of our building on the campus of the Tibetan Children's Village College at 7:45 am.  The drive into Bangalore was fine until we hit the city -- then it was traffic, traffic and more traffic.  Dodging cows, goats, carts, scooters, bicycles, people, buses, motorcycles, motorized rickshaws and other cars must make driving in Bangalore one of the most difficult places in the world.  But Danesh knew the way and although we had some close calls, all was fine.

In Bangalore, we first visited the Hindu Bull Temple (photo) and then next door, the Hindu Ganesh Temple.  From there, we went to the Botanical Gardens.  These gardens are set in a huge park in the middle of the city.  There are huge trees and many different plants and shrubs to see.  We must have seen only a fraction of the park.

The Botanical Gardens also was hosting a flower show.  Many of the plants in the show are also native to where I live in Seattle.  For example, many of the plants exhibited were petunias.  Petunias are plants that I have in my own garden every year.  The flower show also hosted many trade tables set up with gardening and plant supplies from around the region. 

After the plant show, it was time for a little shopping.  First we went to Commerical Street.  At Commerical Street, I took 3 steps out of the car, stepped in a hole and sprained my ankle.  But there was no time to stop.  On we went.  We entered a few shops, but did not find anything we wanted.  On the way back to the car, we treated ourselves to some ice cream:  Kelly ordered "The Titanic" and I ordered "The World Cup."  We had no idea what flavors these were, but were pleasantly suprised with the fancy creations served up to us.

Our next shopping area was MG Road and Brigade Road.  This area was a bit nicer than Commerical Street and Kelly found a few items to bring back to the States as gifts.

By the time we finished, it was time to leave because I had to get back to teach at 2 pm.  Again we hit Bangalore traffic, but I made it back in time!