Bangalore (Bengalūru)

Getting ready for a day of shopping!

Mahin, Jeff, Stacy, Anna and I headed to Bangalore this past weekend for another quick 2 day trip. Bangalore is the first city to have electricity in India, and is the most developed. It's a hub for big technology and computer hardware firms; their presence was well known throughout the city, all the billboards and street signs advertise the big tech players there (esp. Yahoo!) For more info, Click Here.

It was much more developed and civilized than my last weekend trip to Varanasi, which was nice. We aplanned to just shop and enjoy some good food and that's what we did!

We stayed at The Park Hotel, situated in central Bangalore. Shopped around the entire day at Geruda mall and Commerical street; I bought some flip flops, a dress, Anna got some fun shirts and converse shoes in red, Stacy bought a super cute floral top, and Mahin went all out on Indian attire! Stacy also got suckered into buying a map from a street vendor -- she bargained him down from 500Rs to 100Rs (~$1USD), what a great deal!! That night we had dinner at Sunny's, recommended by a friend at work. It was delicious :)

Stacy bargining for an India map

Me and Anna trying on nighty's at 'Her Choice Nighty Shop'

Delicious dinner at Sunny's

The highlight of the trip was Jeff driving an auto rickshaw to dinner. He asked our driver if he could drive and he (surprisingly) said yes! Jeff did pretty well, I wouldn't be able to tell if it were an Indian driving or him!

Yes, Jeff is driving a rickshaw!

... and I'm pretending to :)

Sunday we headed to National market to pick up some "discounted" DVDs. I also bought a fake book off a street vendor, the book cover and pages are all photocopies. What can you expect for $1USD right? After the market we went to The Leela hotel for Sunday Champagne brunch. The Leela is a 6star hotel; it felt like we were in Maui!

Our flight home was delayed (what a surprise) but not too too bad, we didn't have to play charades to kill time. I really liked Bangalore, its a nice getaway and a fun place to hang out and shop. Next time I go to Bangalore I will visit Mysore and do more sightseeing, and also find a good place for sushi :)

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