Today after breakfast our first stop was the travel agent office around the corner. We booked bus tickets from Bengaluru to Gokarna, where we will be meeting our friend Mariana. The bus will leave from the main Majestic bus station tomorrow evening at 9pm and arrive in Gokarna the following morning at 8:30am. The tickets were 430 Rupees a piece for non-AC, reclining seats. We’ve heard that on the sleeper buses you go flying up in the air and have nothing to hold onto, so you can even fall off the bed. Reclining seats sound like a good alternative.
After booking our tickets we walked down MG road until we reached the Brigade Road and Church St area. There were lots of foreign clothing shops and fast food restaurants along Brigade road. Church St had more shops, bars, and restaurants. We were able to find a power adapter we had been looking for. We ate lunch at a restaurant directly under the Bay of Bengal restaurant. The place we ate at had a display case full of snacks and desserts. We were pretty hungry so we both ordered the one other option, of curry and dal, with tasty fried bread. The meal was served on a metal plate, with separate sections for each dish. And when I finished my curry the waiter brought me a re-fill. I like the way it works here, it’s kind of like all-you-can eat. Your plate starts out with small portions, but you can keep getting refills until you are full. (We now know that this type of meal is called thali.) For dessert I tried a bright pink super sweet square thing and George had a samosa (not really dessert). Since we weren’t sure about the water that was served we just drank the bottled water we already had with us. We were both very happy with the meal and even happier when we got the bill, which was only 57 rupees ($1.25). We left a bit of a tip, even though we probably didn’t need to at that restaurant, but it was just so cheap!
From Church St we continued walking in the sweltering heat (around 35 degrees Celsius) to Cubbon Park. Cubbon Park turned out to be quite like the Botanical Garden- super dry this time of year, and not too well maintained. Only the center of the park has a watered lawn, while the rest has trees with very dry dusty dirt bellow them. We sat for a while on a shady bench to rest our feet and then moved on.
Our next stop was the Garuda mall, but we were so exhausted from the heat that we just enjoyed a cold Coca Cola, sat on a bench, and then took a quit look around before heading back to Sumanjay Homestay.
It was so hot during the walk that our hands swelled up so much that we could hardly even make a fist. A portion of MG road is still closed for construction, but this time around we did as the locals and walked through it anyway. The construction area, and sidewalks in general, are covered with a powdery dry dirt, that coated our shoes, clothes and hair. Around 4ish we were happy to get back to our room with a fan and freshen up. We’ll probably head out later for dinner, since most restaurants open for dinner around 7pm. Tomorrow we have most of the day in Bengaluru and not much left to see, so it’ll probably be a work day, while we still have internet.
Hi guys!
Wow, I’m so jealous! I wish I were there 🙂
Just for the record, at restaurants it is only standard to tip a few rupees. But thats ok, it is definitely up to you how much you want to tip.
And, most places do use stainless steel plates, unless you go to really fancy restaurants. I think that is the standard, because even at our house we used stainless steel glasses and plates. Definitely keep getting bottled water, and smash the bottles so they can’t be refilled and resealed by people wanting to make some extra cash.
Gorgeous pics, and may I repeat I’m so jealous 😛
Have fun!
Thanks for the tips on tipping! We’ve figured out that we don’t really need to tip at the Indian restaurants and its optional at the tourist/western restaurants, if it isn’t added into the bill. And we’ll start crushing our water bottles. Wish you could have joined us!