Bangalore, Mysore and beyond....

Bangalore

We spent about 14 hours on an overnight bus and actually slept pretty well! We the found a hotel and went to explore the botanical gardens thinking it would be a nice way to spend a quiet Sunday afternoon - ha ha! Turned out it was the final day of a rather big flower festival so it was heaving with people! Still we saw some beautiful flowers, a glass house modeled on Crystal Palace and sat down and had an ice cream on a 3 billion year old rock! We have taken in other local sights like markets, parks, aquarium and an art gallery. Eating has also been quite a big feature of our visit! one of the best places was a restaurant where we were served the food on a banana leaf! On our final evening we met up with the lovely Butler family and the friends they were staying with. We had a great time catching up and comparing stories of India.

Mysore

We headed out to Mysore which is about 3 hours from Bangalore. We thought we had booked a simple straightforward bus journey (then we remembered we were in India!) and it turned out to be a tour! So we stopped at various places a long the way which included a Hindu temple and a Catholic Cathedral. We arrived in Mysore about 5 hours later! We found ourselves a very nice hotel which had a rooftop restaurant and it even had hot water shower - luxury. We really enjoyed Mysore, a much smaller place than Bangalore but quite touristy. Highlights included going to the largest Zoo in India which was fantastic. It had a white tiger, lions and the only gorilla in the country. Best off all the animals were all really well cared for and had nice big cages. The following day we went for a walk which involved climbing up 1000 plus steps to the top of a hill to see a temple. A really great walk, especially seeing all the monkeys roaming around. On the final day we went to see the Maharajah's Palace. It really was beautiful - the only down side was having to pay 10 times more to get in because we were foreigners!

And on to Hyderabad

The next leg of our journey took us to Hyderabad. Unfortunately due to state rules we were unable to travel on a sleeper bus which meant we had to spend about 16 hours on a normal bus with reclining seats. Didn't seem too bad of an idea at the time but we soon discovered that we didn't have the best driver (far from it) and the roads from Mysore had more pot holes and speed bumps than we anticipated. So it was far from a comfortable night. We ended up in Hyderabad with various bumps and bruises but glad to have made it in one piece!

Goodbye Goa!

Our final week in Goa has been quite an eventful one......We hired a bike for a few days and took off to explore more of Goa.

Bondla Wildlife Park
Well after a 2 hour ride (which included covering the mining section of Goa were we have never seen so many huge trucks or potholes on one road and as it was so dry we arrived covered in a film of orange dust!!) we reached the wildlife sanctuary. Set at the foothills of the western Ghats it was a beautiful place. There was quite a range of animals (including elephants, a leopard and bison) but our favourites included a porcupine, a king cobra and at last a crocodile! All that for the bargain price of about 25p!!!

An evening on the river

Upon recommendation from our Indian friends at the shop we went on a trip on the river at sunset. we were told that it would be a cultural experience -and it was - just not the kind we expected!! Thinking it would be people dressed in traditional Indian clothing performing traditional Indian dance we were slightly surprised to find a DJ and flashing lights. We then began our one hour cruise up and down and up and down the river watching Indian people dancing to the latest rocking Bollywood beats!!! Needless to say it was a trip we won't forget in a hurry!

Saying goodbye

Our final day at Little Angels was really good fun. We arranged a tea party for the boys. David filled up balloons with water and we all had great fun getting each other wet! There was a presentation of gifts and they boys loved the skate board and new balls (since we bought them a cricket bat they have lost on average about 2 balls each day!)amongst other gifts. It was quite hard to explain that we were leaving and we're still not sure they fully understood as when we left a few of them said see you next week! A great final day.

Everyone asks 'When are you coming back?' Our reply 'Never say never!'

Messing about on the river!

This week we took a brilliant trip out onto the river to try and spot some crocodiles! A friend of our neighbour took us out in his fishing boat - a traditional canoe! Mush to the amusement of several onlookers Zoe wobbled quite a lot as she attempted to get in. Amidst the giggles and shouts of "sit! sit!" she finally made it in without getting wet! It was a gorgeous day, very sunny and we saw some beautiful birds - kingfishers, peacocks. eagles and a rather strange looking white bird with a funny shaped head! David tried his hand at paddling while Zoe sat back and relaxed. All in all a great time - except David is now nursing very aching shoulders!

Our anniversary

We had a wonderful day that began with a trip to Panjim the the five star hotel for breakfast. Eggs made fresh to order and lovely waffles. We followed this with a dip in the pool where we struggled to swim since we made the most of the all you could eat breakfast! As we got out we were greeted by a very polite man who enquired our room number for poolside registration! Zoe made a quick exit and when he told David that we would have to pay David informed him we were leaving! The afternoon was spent in the cinema and then back to Little Angels for a surprise party! They had made us cards and got us a very delicious cake. What a great day.

Social Events

This week we were invited to a birthday party for the local shop keeper. They are a lovely family and we had a wonderful time sharing food with them - and of course Kingfisher beer! Vincy (see pic) is a firm friend of David and they have spent many evenings chatting together while sharing a glass of the local hooch - cashew feni! Yesterday our neighbour invited us out to a lunch party. Never people to turn down free food we gladly accepted. The 'party' turned out to be the one year death anniversary of a lady in the village! So we ate some very spicy food and paid our respects!