Bangalore - My alarm clock rang in the dead of the night @ 4am. I then need reach the airport at 5am to meet up with Kelvin, whom is going with me to Bangalore. We spent about 1hr the lounge having breakfast. The flight SQ500 left on time and arrive Bangalore at 8.30am. The meals on board this flight were mostly Indian except for one choice of eggs and sausages. I chose Masala Tosai - something different and it tasted quite good.
We arrived at the new Bangalore Bengaluru International Airport - it is still a work in progress but much better than the older airport. This airport is built on 1,616 hectares and modelled after the airport in Zurich, Switzerland, whose developers are working on this project. This International Airport is much further than the older airport. It seems that whenever a new airport is built it gets further away from the city centre. This new airport is 34km outside of Bangalore town, and will take easily 90 minutes from the city centre. My reseller had paid for the hotel car to pick us up at the airport plus sent his friendly engineer to accompany us to the Hotel. I am surprised and thankful. (later when I check out I found out that this reseller had put the airport transfer cost of Rupee 1,500 (S$53.13) on my hotel room - not really nice is it? I thought that it was so nice of them...well I can get a better car for just Rupee 1,200).
The journey to the Hotel took approximately one and half hrs and it was an eye opener coming from an organized city country. At every major junction stop, there were beggers - they look young and so pityful. Half way along the journey, the driver had to make a pit stop to re-fuel and off the road were 2 gas tanks with a sign "India Oil". The service men were pumping diesel without the engines turn-off and collecting rupees.
We arrived at the new Bangalore Bengaluru International Airport - it is still a work in progress but much better than the older airport. This airport is built on 1,616 hectares and modelled after the airport in Zurich, Switzerland, whose developers are working on this project. This International Airport is much further than the older airport. It seems that whenever a new airport is built it gets further away from the city centre. This new airport is 34km outside of Bangalore town, and will take easily 90 minutes from the city centre. My reseller had paid for the hotel car to pick us up at the airport plus sent his friendly engineer to accompany us to the Hotel. I am surprised and thankful. (later when I check out I found out that this reseller had put the airport transfer cost of Rupee 1,500 (S$53.13) on my hotel room - not really nice is it? I thought that it was so nice of them...well I can get a better car for just Rupee 1,200).
The journey to the Hotel took approximately one and half hrs and it was an eye opener coming from an organized city country. At every major junction stop, there were beggers - they look young and so pityful. Half way along the journey, the driver had to make a pit stop to re-fuel and off the road were 2 gas tanks with a sign "India Oil". The service men were pumping diesel without the engines turn-off and collecting rupees.
Another fact you will observe is the incessant honking of honks - my driver does it and everyone does it throughout the journey. The honking of honks could be a signal to 'get out of my way' or 'to keep me awake whilst driving'.
My reseller booked us into The President Hotel located @ Diagonal Road, 3rd Block Jayanagar. This is a 4-star hotel of just 5 stories - it is a boutique hotel. Though it is a small hotel, staff are very helpful, friendly and the ambiance very hospitable. I was checked into a room on the 2nd storey facing the road - the constant horning was very irritating and will cause me not to have a good sleep. I spoke to the duty manager and he immediately change me to the 3rd story facing away from the road. It was much quieter. The room is quite big and decently renovated with a TV in the living room and another in the bedroom.
Views from outside my room
Pressing of clothes - I called housekeeping iron and ironing board and they do not have one - so I have to send my shirts for pressing. But it is cheap just $19 rupees about S$0.70 per shirt. This is the 1st time the press shirts were returned to me in under 1 hr.
Lunch was on the ground floor at a restaurant called "Isys" - we had buffet with a wide spread of Indian cuisine. I like the 'Naan' (or Indian bread) the best, which was offered hot to the table and free flow. Naan is a round flat bread made of white flour. The buffet cost $225 rupees per person, that is less than S$10 per person. We met some Singaporeans having the buffet lunch and they have been staying in Bangalore at the same hotel for 6 months to 2 years. After lunch, the reseller driver was waiting to drive us to their office for training - though it was a short distance but not conducive to walking.
For Dinner, Kelvin and I hanker for some chinese food so I asked the front desk manager and he pointed me to Isys (which is the ground floor restaurant), which I told me that I will be staying for 6 stays and ain't going to eat at this restaurant for all my meals. He was persuasive and keep insisting that the nearest was about 7km away - but my insistance wore him out and he got me the hotel driver to take us there for $350 rupees. This is for the driver to bring us to the restaurant, wait for us and then bring us back to hotel.The manager told the driver to bring us to Brigade Road where 'there are many Chinese and Japanese restuarants?' When we reach Brigade Road, there are none in sight only fast foood chains - MacDonald's, KFC, Pizza Hut, etc. So, the driver recommend another location and I agreed.
For Dinner, Kelvin and I hanker for some chinese food so I asked the front desk manager and he pointed me to Isys (which is the ground floor restaurant), which I told me that I will be staying for 6 stays and ain't going to eat at this restaurant for all my meals. He was persuasive and keep insisting that the nearest was about 7km away - but my insistance wore him out and he got me the hotel driver to take us there for $350 rupees. This is for the driver to bring us to the restaurant, wait for us and then bring us back to hotel.The manager told the driver to bring us to Brigade Road where 'there are many Chinese and Japanese restuarants?' When we reach Brigade Road, there are none in sight only fast foood chains - MacDonald's, KFC, Pizza Hut, etc. So, the driver recommend another location and I agreed.
This restaurant "Aromas of China" served chinese food - we had Singapore chilli prawns (..what is that?? it taste good and one of the best dishes served), stir fried chinese greens (this was not good as it mixed brocholi, white cabbage, pak choy and asparragus stirred fried together. To my limited chinese cooking knowledge, each should be cooked separately), fried wan tons (basically more flour then prawns and meat), stir fried chicken and mushrooms (nice and delicious), Lo Mein soup, plain white rice and top up with good Tiger Beer. The ambiance is good and clean but the food is average, not worth about S$90 for 2.
No comments:
Post a Comment