On Monday, Sam and I traveled outside of Bangalore for the first time. Raj took us to Mysore. The ride there was not bad-- we stopped for dosa, and not just any dosa...the BEST dosa ever. It was smooth sailing until we almost got into a car accident. Imagine this. You are driving on the 401 (or some other major highway), and all of a sudden, you see oncoming traffic in your lane. Going over 100km/hr, our driver swerved through a God-sent gap in the median to the other side of the road (where oncoming traffic should have been). It turns out that the road had been shut down on the other side, and traffic had been carefully directed into our lane, but the police decided to let us figure out the changes on our own. No pylons, no flashing lights, no police officers to direct traffic. That's India for you.
This being our first real trip on a major highway, I also noticed, and was irritated by the speed bumps all along the way. One minute we're driving 110km, the next, we've slowed down to 20km, and we're wobbling over a speed bump. This lasted our entire highway trip.
Once we got to Mysore, Raj explained our itinerary for the day, and we began by seeing a small palace, which was followed by an exhilarating boat ride at the bird sanctuary. The birds were amazing, and there were bats hanging in the trees, but the real thrill was the crocodiles. We were only a few feet away from one croc. Bear Grylls would recommend against this, as would Billy the Exterminator, but it was just so cool! He was growling at us, and it sounded almost like a vacuum cleaner. Our guide rowed away at that point (yes, we were in a row boat...it fit about 10 people), but the crocodile opened it's mouth and we became more excited. Seeing our excitement, the guide rowed back towards the teeth-baring beast, and we took a few more pictures. At that point, it was getting to be a little scary, so we asked him to move on.
We journeyed onward to the Mysore Palace. It was massive and beautiful and the architecture was amazing, but Sam quickly reminded me that the money that was put into building the palace could have solved the poverty crisis in India. We ended the day at the Brindavan Gardens. This is where Sam peed in a hole, and where we discovered more about Indian culture, the first concept being that we are famous. Sam and I felt like celebrities at the gardens because everyone wanted our picture! I guess they don't see too many white people in Mysore. Raj acted as our body guard and selected a few lucky boys to have their picture taken with the Sinclair sisters. It was very exciting-- for them. Secondly, I discovered that Indians have very little concept of space. In Canada, if you are walking past somebody, more than often you would avoid touching that person-- turn sideways, duck down, etc. In India, that norm doesn't exist. People touch, and they walk right into you and they have no concept of personal space.
We headed home after the garden lights came on, and we drove back into Bangalore through the 9pm rush hour. It was an exhausting day, and we crashed as soon as we got home.
On Tuesday, we moved into our new apartment-- just down the hall from Dad's. We settled in, did some shopping and have been doing some more admin work for TFT.
This weekend, we're heading to Chennai, so we'll see what adventures come from that!
This being our first real trip on a major highway, I also noticed, and was irritated by the speed bumps all along the way. One minute we're driving 110km, the next, we've slowed down to 20km, and we're wobbling over a speed bump. This lasted our entire highway trip.
Once we got to Mysore, Raj explained our itinerary for the day, and we began by seeing a small palace, which was followed by an exhilarating boat ride at the bird sanctuary. The birds were amazing, and there were bats hanging in the trees, but the real thrill was the crocodiles. We were only a few feet away from one croc. Bear Grylls would recommend against this, as would Billy the Exterminator, but it was just so cool! He was growling at us, and it sounded almost like a vacuum cleaner. Our guide rowed away at that point (yes, we were in a row boat...it fit about 10 people), but the crocodile opened it's mouth and we became more excited. Seeing our excitement, the guide rowed back towards the teeth-baring beast, and we took a few more pictures. At that point, it was getting to be a little scary, so we asked him to move on.
We journeyed onward to the Mysore Palace. It was massive and beautiful and the architecture was amazing, but Sam quickly reminded me that the money that was put into building the palace could have solved the poverty crisis in India. We ended the day at the Brindavan Gardens. This is where Sam peed in a hole, and where we discovered more about Indian culture, the first concept being that we are famous. Sam and I felt like celebrities at the gardens because everyone wanted our picture! I guess they don't see too many white people in Mysore. Raj acted as our body guard and selected a few lucky boys to have their picture taken with the Sinclair sisters. It was very exciting-- for them. Secondly, I discovered that Indians have very little concept of space. In Canada, if you are walking past somebody, more than often you would avoid touching that person-- turn sideways, duck down, etc. In India, that norm doesn't exist. People touch, and they walk right into you and they have no concept of personal space.
We headed home after the garden lights came on, and we drove back into Bangalore through the 9pm rush hour. It was an exhausting day, and we crashed as soon as we got home.
On Tuesday, we moved into our new apartment-- just down the hall from Dad's. We settled in, did some shopping and have been doing some more admin work for TFT.
This weekend, we're heading to Chennai, so we'll see what adventures come from that!
That's crazy Carly!!! Can't wait to read your next post. Hope you are enjoying the warm weather, it is cold here and there is lots of snow!!! See you soon.
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