Sunday Brunch

Today was Sunday, and we went along to the 5star hotel in central Bangalore for their Sunday Brunch - an insanely extravegant affair, where you sit down at 12.30 and dont leave till 3.30, and graze on a massive buffet of - thankfully - western foods. A bit too long for me, so nice to walk around the gardens and see some of the shops as well, but the food was certainly excellent and very reasonable (about £20 per person including all drinks)

Kind of felt like I should try everything - but certainly didn't get near trying everything! Will try different stuff next week (think this will be a regular Sunday occurance!) Although I shall have more cheese next time - I am really missing European cheese more than anything else!


Gazpacho


Starter Selection


Roast Beef and trimmings


Pizza and Salad


Cheese (so nice!)


Pudding Selection


and an enormous chocolate fountain



The Gardens

Long Weekend

This weekend was a long weekend, due to India Day falling on Friday. Therefore a nice relaxing time to catch up on sleep and explore Bangalore a bit.

On Friday we had a lie-in. I watched a DVD - 'From the Earth to the Moon' - an excellent Christmas present, and then in the afternoon Adam, Simon, Doug, Ben and myself went into town to the local amusement arcade. We played on the machines (I won a frog and a digital radio!), and also went bowling (see score).


My score after the second game - respectable I feel


My bowling technique - no copying!

An interesting facet of life in India is that even normal activities have an Indian twist to them! Take bowling for instance, the game is stopped intermittently by power cuts every 15mins or so, leading to the machines being reset, and on one occasion an attendent scrabbling down into the machinery at the far end to loosen some stuck pins! All highly amusing.
We then proceeded to have a relaxed meal at a local restaurant before heading back to our houses.

On Saturday we left at lunchtime to explore a couple of local sites. Both of which were very pleasant. The local Botanical Gardens were an interesting experience, much more of a community atmosphere than at Kew or other gardens I've visited. Lots of local people shopping, relaxing etc. Also they were dirtier and slightly more bedraggled than some I've seen, but that's to be expected really. We took a couple of gold carts to tour the gardens, with amusing commentary from the drivers (the cacti house has 100 colours of cacti in it, the rose garden has 100 coloured roses in it(conveniently similar numbers!), and depending on who you listend to the glass house was between 300-116 years old!). However, my favourite peace of eccentricity was the statue of the ancient King of Mysore - surrounded inexplicably by a floral clock, Snow White and her Seven Dwarves!



Botanic Gardens Glasshouse


Flowers


Simon and Doug take it easy


Ben, Mike and Adam posing


Topiary Indian style


Garden View

After that we visited Tipu Sultans Palace, a building built in 1791 but now largely decrepit, with some nice gardens.


View from the Palace


Inside the Palace

Both sites were interesting, and it was very pleasant to get out of the house, and see some of Bangalore - however I would not have gone to Bangalore to specifically see them! It's nice to see some local sites, and I have plans for the next few weekends to sample some of the local attractions!

Ben's Birthday in Bangalore

Yesterday was Ben's Birthday, he was 21 again today. He recieved a number of presents from his fellow trainees out here. Including a scarf, shirt and plectrum box - all very ethnic.


Ben opening a gift

After work we rushed into town (not that you can rush thorough Bangalore traffic - a journey which should have taken 25mins with light traffic took nearly three times that). We had reservations at the Ebony restaurant, followed by the 13th floor bar.

Both of these are on the top floor of a tower block in downtown Bangalore, and are a real find. The view from both the restaurant balcony and bar balcony are rather spectacular, as 13 floors is pretty high for Bangalore. The restaurant offers views of the town out towards Whitefield (the IT Park). While on the other side of the tower block (on the bar terrace) you can see the hotels and cricket ground.

The food in the restaurant was delicious, and the cocktails were also excellent. Much merriment was had by all, and I think we sent off Ben's birthday in style by the time the bar closed at 11pm (everything closes at this time in Bangalore)


Mike and his food


Cocktail


Cocktail

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Nice steak!


View from the bar (not great camera shot as it was so dark, but you get the idea)

Eating out

Hi all,
Another update from the subcontinent. Work ploughs on. Starting to see some of Bangalore a bit more now, and have got over a bit of illness over the last couple of days. Some pictures of us going out to various restaurants. It is insanely cheap to eat out in India, so it is well worth doing most evenings, although this evening we had a takeout from the local Pizza Hut.
Doug, Simon and myself also had to go to the Police Commissioners office in downtown Bangalore to get our VISAs approved.
Its Ben's birthday tomorrow so we are all going to a nice restaurant in town - hopefully some picture updates will follow!


Ben - who likes Diet Coke (a rather insane amount!)


All of us at Herbs and Spices (Anisha taking photo)


Doug and Simon at a local Indian/Chinese

House

Hi everybody, its the weekend now, so I thought it would be a nice opportunity to post some pictures of the exterior of the house. We are in a little gated community, and it is very pleasant indeed. But rather than describe it, here are some pictures.



One of the ministreets on our estate


The communal garden


My house


View from my front door

First few days

Eating at a nearby restaurant in Whitefields


Nice Indian Food

The first few days are continuing apace. Work is not too demanding at the moment, and I am learning various IT skills. Food is amazingly cheap. We all eat out most evenings and the cost is amazing. £3 each for a full blown meal in a restaurant! Obviously hotel restaurants are slightly more expensive, but nowhere near Western standards in pricing! I plan to put some pictures of the house up soon, so stay tuned for more updates soon!


Flouresant Mushrooms - always the sign of a good restaurant

Arriving in India

Dubai from the air

"Toms travelling again?" you are no doubt all thinking. Yes I am, but this time I am being payed for it! For those who don't know I am now working out in India, and so I thought a nice way of keeping in touch would be to get back on with the blogging!

I only touched down yesterday, and Emirates lost one of my bags, the electricity doesn't work in my room yet, and there is loads to sort out. Despite these setbacks the house is lovely, the work environment is also really nice (although the work I suspect will actually be really quite hard), the people are friendly and the weather is awesome!

I've posted a few pictures of my first couple of days here. More to follow as and when! In particular flying business class was a first and very pleasing indeed!

Hope to hear from you all soon!



Bangalore from the air



Outside my House in India - more House photos will follow!