Bangalore new MRT

'Know thyself' - Socrates

Bangalore - The city of Bangalore ran its maiden MRT on 20 Oct 2011 after much delay of more than a year.    The next time,  I will try this service...

http://bmrc.co.in/

It was originally mean to start operations in March 2010, the metro rail project missed three subsequent deadlines before it was inaugurated with great fanfare.  In the 1st phase, the metro will run from the city's Mahatma Gandhi (MG) Road to Byappanahalli, a distance of 6.7km, six stops away.  When completed in 2014, the metro will have a network extending to 42 km.   This will alleviate Bangalore bad traffic problem with a city population of 9.6 million and still growing.

The train services starts every morning from Byappanahalli to MG Road at 6am each direction.  The frequency of trains will be 15 minutes between 6am  and 8am, 10 minutes between 8am and 8pm, and back to 15 minutes 8pm onwards till closing at 10pm.

WiFi Woes..ouch!!

Bangalore - I had a harrowing time in getting onto the Internet.  It started in the Hotel room when the network went down.   So, the Hotel sent their technican to my room to fix the problem.  The technician tried all the ususal keys and it does not work.  I told him that their server is down.  Show him that I am not able to ping to http://www.google.com/.

He went back fixed the problem and for a short time it work and then it went down again.   Throughout my stay, I was not able to use VPN at all.  Tired everything but to no avail.

So, quite pissed I called front desk and told them that I am not able to get onto the internet and I have already paid for it - 'No problem, sir.  We will not bill you'.

Hotel woes => no Internet and cannot use VPN.

Hmmm, maybe if I go to the Airport and sit in the lounge I can get access.  Arrived about 2.5 hrs earlier - sat in the Lounge, it is only free for 15 minutes.  So, after 15 minutes - Tata Indicom will charge INR 100 for 1hr and they accept credit card.   So OK, I entered my credit details, and went through all the process but was not approved.  

There is a number to call - everytime the phone rings, it hangs up! 

Got the Lounge customer service to help me call Tata Indicom, managed to do so and I spoke to the help desk and he will call back to the Lounge after investigating.   I do not want Tata Indicom to bill me when I did not use their services at all.   The call back and  to my surprise - the bank which Tata Indicom used as a credit card gateway does not accept International credit card.

Airport woes => No Internet after 15 minues and cannot accept International credit card.

What a wired city !!!

Streets of Bangalore

Bangalore - After having breakfast, VN driver picked me up to his office.   Look how dangerous it is to hang perilously outside the bus.  Obviously to me, the bus fare is free since there is no seat for him but he has to hang on for his dear life.

Hanging on a crowded bus

Sign in green says 'Follow Lane Discipline'

This sign stems from motorist cutting in and out of lanes - 2 lanes can become 4 lanes. 

Traffic ahead

More Traffic

Amazing tree of  bills

Bangalore during Winter

Bangalore - When I arrived, there was the Hotel taxi waiting for me and we left the airport @ 10:22pm but in Singapore it is already 12:52am (that is 2.5 hrs behind).   There are many touts for illegal taxi - AVOID at all costs.  There are authorized taxis that will bring you to your destination otherwise get the Hotel to fetch you.

On the plane, I finally watch the movie RED (Retired and Extremely Dangerous).   Starring old folks in an action movie.  Solid casts - more laughable than action but I still enjoyed it.

As I am still wide awake.  I decided to watch another movie - CONVICTION.  This is a true story of a sister that puts herself through Law School to get her innocent brother out of prison.  She succeeded after 20 years.

From the airport, it was a straight road with cars honking at one another.  My driver was driving in and out at around 80km/hr and at times 110km/hr.   He was driving a Chevy of a model which I do not recognize.  In Bangalore, hailing a taxi from the main road can be rare and it is advisable to book a taxi.   

After I checked into Le Meridien Hotel, and much settled in and watching a movie on my notebook.  I got a shocked when sometime open my door but fortunately I had the latched on.   Looking through the eye hole, it was a Chinese looking lady with a trolley bag - I complaint to the front desk.   This was the first time it happended to me.  

Le Meridien Hotel apologized and gave me a Red Wine as a token of apology.

Work, work, work...

Bangalore - I had breakfast with Lesley - it was the same type of dishes served the last time I was here.   Well, I ate the same food but more fruits and juices.  Ate eggs without yolk - full of cholesterol....

It was seminar day for me and I did about 2 hrs of presentation and it felt really good - I had not done public speaking for a long time.  The audience was really good and some participated.   Lunch was part of the seminar.   The lamb Goulash and Chicken was really good and it went well with their special rice.  I really don't know why the Nann is always burnt - it taste good but tried to avoid charred food as it's carcinogen.

This is what I gathered from the Internet....If foods are overheated or burnt, a group of carcinogenic substances called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are produced. PAHs represent a very large group of compounds. Chemically, they consist of fused aromatic rings made up of carbon and hydrogen atoms.  After being ingested, PAHs can be absorbed in the intestine and distributed to other organs through blood circulation.

Besides cancer-causing, PAH exposure is also associated with many adverse effects in laboratory animals, including reproductive toxicity, cardiovascular toxicity, bone marrow toxicity, immune system suppression, and liver toxicity.

Dinner was at the Hotel restaurant - remembering that the last time the main dishes were large portions - I just ordered 1 portion and it was a seafood dish + complimentary soup.   The seafood is not fresh but frozen and I think they cook it with heavy spices to musk any taste - I would prefer simple BBQ (i.e. without heavy spices)  if it is fresh as it brings out the freshness of the seafood dish.

Back to Banglore

Bangalore - I was on a SQ 502 flight when there was a passenger that was SMOKING on this flight.  You can smell the strong smoke and the flight stewarders was around and they identified this idiot.  Not sure what happened to this passenger but I believe there is a heavy federal fine.

I watched this movie 'Nanny McPhee And The Big Bang' - family movie.

The weather was beautiful around 21 degrees with a light breeze and staying at Le Meridien Hotel.  Fortunately, this time I brought a jacket..

Maiya Restaurant

Bangalore - My flight back to Singapore is at 11:05pm and so there is still a full day of meeting.  My customer pick me up at 9:30am - I have already checked out but left my baggage at the front desk.   He took me to his favourite restaurant - Maiya located @ 459/30, 30th Cross, 4th Block, Jayanagar.

Maiya Restaurant

We had Vada, Masala Dosa and Poori...the Vada is very good and delicious.   The Masala Dosa was also very well done and the skin was nice and crispy.    I was persuaded to try their coffee which comes in a silver cup and an empty silver cup.  I don't drink coffee but only tea but this time I tried and it was so good.   You are to pour the coffee into the empty silver cup till it is cool enough to drink.   The aroma is so delicious that is out of this world - even better than any of the coffee smell in Singapore.

I told VN that the best coffee in the world came from the shit...coffee from the civet cat.  

After meeting, we went to ITC Sheraton  Windsor - which is next to Le Meridien Bangalore.  This hotel is part of the Sheraton Luxury Collection and it is really grand and the room rates is very expensive at USD 300- 400 per night.   

Peanuts Masala

The food is not good as compared to reknown restaurant within Bangalore.  I had Chicken Briyani and it was really not as good as outside.   The yogurt which was supposed to go with the Briyani was sour and I avoided it.   I was told by VN that the yogurt is not sour but have a neutral taste.

On the flight back to Singapore, I watched Iron Man 2 - which is the new cycle of movies for the month of August.

UB City

Bangalore - Had a sumptuous breakfast with Lesley and we went to our separate meetings.

Which waiting for my customer to arrive and pick me up at the Hotel,  I took pictures from the front lawn of the Hotel.

Geese in front of the Hotel

Small garden

Geese on the Hotel garden

Lunch was at UB City - UB is an acronym for United Breweries and the company is the 3rd largest spirits company in the world according to their webpage http://www.theubgroup.com/. The restaurant that we had our lunch at Khansama serving buffet lunch - there is such a wide variety to choose from. You drink water from copper cups.

That's my lunch from the Buffet platter

Dinner we spent it at the Hotel - it was nice having a seafood BBQ in front of the Hotel swimming pool.
I had mutton and 4 nice pieces of giant prawns and it was good..

13th floor

Bangalore -  Breakfast was a good spread of Indian and Western.  I had 'Vada' and it was good, mango and orange juices were served.   I stayed away from sausages, ham, bacon due to the high salt and nitrates content.  Especially in India, I do not eat cut fruits as I had a bad experience of 'dehli belly'...lol .

It is a lovely weather but chilly around 24 degrees and the time was 9:30am.   I should have brought a simple sport jacket.  Many rich and famous people like to come and stay in Bangalore because of the year round good weather which inadvertably raise the cost of living and high property prices in Bangalore.

Lunch was at a restaurant called 'The Unwind Island' and they serve buffet @ R300 per head (about S$10) but they charge a bottle of water at R100 - which is expensive.

Dinner was at a cocktail lounge called 'The 13th Floor' @ Hotel Ivory Tower, 84 MG Road.   The ambiance was lovely and we were sitting outside overlooking the whole of Bangalore.  The weather was cold at around 19-20 C and I was not wearing any jacket just short sleeve.  After a while, it became unbearable and had to move indoors - it was really cold.

We had some finger food and Indian Kingfisher beer...later we move across to a restaurant Ebony for Dinner. 

Newspapers galore

Bangalore - One observation is that there are so many English newspapers around the Hotel Lobby and restaurants - I counted around 10 English newspapers to choose from all from India.

1.   Bangalore Mirror
2.   Financial Express
3.   Business Standard
4.   The Economic Times
5.   Chronicle Bengaluru
6.   Deccan Chronicle
7.   Indian Express
8.   Deccan Herald
9.   The Hindu
10.  The Times of India

Le Meridien Bangalore - very nice hotel

Bangalore - Singapore Airlines departed on time @ 8:05pm.  Along the way - there were many weather turbulence and hot meals had to be discontinued.    When I had my lamb goulsh dinner - meal is cold.  The Magnum ice-cream saved the otherwise horrible meal....

I managed to catch only 1 movie as the flight to Bangalore took only 3 1/2 hrs.   The Korean movie 'Forever the Moment' - this is true story of grit of the Korean handball team.    The Bangalore airport is new, the immigration and custom clearance was fast.

The airport transfer was waiting at the enterance of the arrival gate and was zipped in a 'Skoda' car.  Took about 40 minutes to reach the hotel without traffic and it was pleasant talking to the driver of the Le Meridien Hotel.  Apparently, there are 60+ drivers and cars and 30 will be on duty in the morning and 30 for the night shift.  He said because of the low business - he started work at 8am today to pick up his car keys and when he dropped me off it was around 10pm.

I am staying @ Le Meridien Bangalore located at 28, Shankey Road.   The rooms are tastefully designed wiht 42 inch LCD TV, Apple iHome and comfortable beds. 

The only drawback is:
- The room is too cold and the air-con cannot be adjusted warmer so I switch the air-con off and it is at a nice temperature
- The curtains are kept shut because the outside view are building under constructions, shambles and lots of rubbish.

On the whole - I will come back to this hotel again....

The iHome is a neat device that allows you to dock an Apple Nano and you can play music through the speakers of the iHome.  It is also an alarm clock.   I tied to dock my iPhone but it does not recognise but it does charge the iPhone.   Having an iPod docking station in the room is a first for me...

iHome

Another unique feature of this room is that it is secured with the latest, state of the art Hafele locks from Germany called 'dialock'.

Dialock

This is what the hotel lobby looks like from the glass lift of the Le Meridien Bangalore Hotel.

Taken from the glass lift of the Hotel

City changes name...

Bangalore - The Indian IT hub of Bangalore is about to be rebranded as Bengaluru in recognition of the original name of Benda Kaal Ooru - that's "boiled beans town" in the local Kannada lingo. This rather unsavoury name came about when a king named Vira Ballala lost his way on a hunting expedition and was eventually offered boiled beans by an old lady. In recognition of this act of kindness, he named the place Benda Kaal Ooru. The Brits couldn't pronounced Benda Kaal Ooru, they simplified the name to Bangalore. There may still be hope for the Bangalore lobby - the name change is not yet official and must be cleared by the state legislature, the federal government and India's president before the Bengalurians can legally refer to themselves as such. That is why the new airport is called 'Bangaluru International Airport'.

Besides Bangalore, 'Bombay' was changed to 'Mumbai' and 'Madras' to 'Chennai'.
I always wonder when a city or country changes her name whether it is for the better? and why do they changed - could it be due to past colonials rulers who do not care about the local culture.

'Saigon' changed to 'Ho Chi Minh City' - many dwellers and tourist still used Saigon in daily conversation.

The British occupied the country of Burma and when the Military Junta tooked over they changed the country's name to 'Myanmar'. Even the capital was changed from 'Rangoon' to 'Yangon'.

The British also gave the name 'Peking' and 'Canton' but China changed it to 'Beijing' and 'Guangzhou'.

It was fortunate that Singaporeans love their Singapore and Singlish otherwise it will be Singapura or Singapureans...

What Traffic Rules?

Bangalore - There is hardly any traffic rules in Bangalore as far as I can see.

• It is not compulsory for drivers to wear seat belts.
• It is not compulsory for front seat passengers to wear seat belts.
• Crossing cows has 1st priority
• Drivers can cut into the on-coming lanes if there is no on-coming cars. The central divider line is just a guide.
• 2-lane traffic and become 5-lane traffic.
• Cars can cut into other driver's lane without indicating their intentions. The changing lane indicators are just a guide.
• Honning is to tell other drivers to "get out of the way
• Pedestrian should never stand in the central divider line to cross half-way because cars can use the central divider line too. Once we were crossing the road and standing on the central divider line until a heavy truck was coming along on the central divider line, we had to cross back to where we were - it was very dangerous.

Trash everywhere...

Bangalore - Along the roads of Bangalore, there are litter and trash just spewed on the roads. On one occasion, I saw a woman came out of her house and walk a distance and throw and bag full of rubbish on the main road. You will find nice modern buildings and next to it sits a land full of trash. It's everywhere. I will point to Kelvin to look at scene where a man will stand back facing the road, and just pee - it was so common. This scenes made this trip interesting!

We are on our way back to Singapore...

Mainland China restaurant

Bangalore - The 3rd Chinese restaurant on this trip was the best - "Mainland China" located at 14 Church Street, Bangalore. The ambiance was nice with Chinese music - the waiters were attentive. Most importantly the food is quite close to authentic Chinese food. The worst dish that we chose was the seasonal vegetables which came in a mushy greeny dish - did not look very appetising to us after the first serving. The prawns and seafood fried rice was really good and tasty top up with some local Merlot red wine.

The bill came up to S$55.

Hyderabad Biryani

Bangalore - We had breakfast with VN at the President Hotel and after which we adjourned with his guys to see the customer. The journey will take us about 1 hr amidst the heavy traffic. We arrived on time and had a good meeting. VN driver dropped us off on the way back at our 2nd reseller office.

During lunch, Jobi and Shirpa took us for a Bryani meal at "Hyderabad Biryani" - known as India's best. "Biryani" is Indian Spicy baked rice. It was so crowded at lunch time - we had to take a queue number. After waiting for 20 minutes, we were served to a table. The portions was large so we order only 3 plates of chicken Biryani for the 4 of us. The Biryani was "heavenly" - nothing I have tasted in Singapore. Singapore version of Chicken Biryani is too oily, unlike this restaurant whereby the rice is steam and the aroma is so nice. Furthermore, the chicken is so tender. The meat that goes into the biryani is marinated with "35 kinds of spices and for three hours". Lunch for 4 persons = S$19 very good value for money.

A Thali meal

Bangalore - After hours of discussion and presentation. Jobi brought us to a Thaili restaurant. In Hindi, 'Thali' means 'plate'. A thali is a selection of different dishes, usually served in small bowls on a round tray. The round tray is generally made with steel with multiple indentations on the plate itself or with a number of small metal bowls known as Katoris on it. Mostly the plate is a big Banana leaf.
A thali consists of a variety of vegetable curry dishes, relishes, a couple of papadams, puris or chapattis and a whole lot of rice. A deluxe variety would include a Pata, a rolled betel leaf stuffed with fruit and nuts. It may also include curd and one or two Desserts. The main plus points of thalis are they are cheap and 100% filling.

A Sumptumous Indian Breakfast

Bangalore - Met Kelvin @ 8.30am for breakfast buffett. Everyday the breakfast spread is different. For BREAKFAST we had..

"Vada" or "Vadai" - shaped like a doughnut made from lentil or potato with some spices served with coconut chutney. Vada and Idli was served everyday at The President Hotel. In Singapore, the Vada has a small prawn and you eat together with green chilli.

"Idli - steam rice cakes (usually eaten at breakfast, white and round shape, and made by steaming the batter of fermerted black lentils (de-husked) and rice, served with chutney and sambar.
"Masala Dosa" - Spicy Dosa or South India Crepe. I had Masala Dosa for breakfast on Thursday. Masala Dosa is made by placing potato masala inside the Dosa and folding it in half.

"Poori" - I had Poori on Friday - these are small round pancakes size rounds of dough that are slipped into hot oil or ghee, where they fill with steam and balloon in seconds. Pooris are soft silk like breads with which curries and vegetables are scooped up.

Roti, anyone?

Bangalore - During lunch, Jobi brought us to Desmond's - a restaurant that is popular with the lunch time crowd for their Kabab and Nann. We had chicken Kabab for starters, tomato soup for myself, chicken curry and spinach (green sambal) to go with the Nann.

The Indians called their bread "Roti" which at times we use this word also at home. My kids know what is Roti. Roti is the name for bread used also in Malaysia and Indonesia. The following are some of the breads I ate in Bangalore:

Nann (leavened bread with poppy seeds) - The bread dough is rolled out and then slapped on the inside of the tandoori, near the top where it cooks very quickly in the fierce heat. It is then flavored with onion or garlic.

Paratha or Prata, meanwhile, is rich, flaky, and flavored with ghee. It can be eaten together with curry or by itself. We have prata for lunch at least once a month and is readily available in every hawker center in Singapore.

Chapati is another leavened bread. It resembles flat discs and has a delightful flavor and chewy texture.

"Gufha" - A Theme Restaurant

Bangalore - For dinner we decided to stay in the hotel and experience a theme restaurant which was highly recommended. "Gufha" means cave in Hindi and as the name suggests, is done up like a cave, with stone-like walls and ceiling, dim lighting, flame. It was an experience to feel the 'cavey' feeling and it's like being transported to some faraway exotic cultures. There is even a waterfall that flows over a carved face, and stuffed bird toys hang from the ceiling. The waiters are dressed like jungle guides with khaki uniforms, safari hats and guns and the tableware is brass.

This restaurant provides Indian North West Frontier province cuisine. , coupled with gracious hospitality. The entire interiors go along with the gufa theme with tiger print upholstery, elephant shaped tissue holders. The cutlery and glasses are so unique and made of copper, this added to the rustic environment. The restaurant made it so realistic with the sound of the jungle and loud cicardas. We had a huge menu cards to choose our food from, we had lamb ghost with rotis, and some tandoori chicken as appetizers.We ordered "lamb gosht" but the waiters brought out "Chicken Gosht" -we ate a couple of slices and definitely knew that it was not lamb - called the waiter and he had to move the meat chucks about in the gosht to see whether it was lamb or chicken. I told him to bring it back to the chef to verify - he came back and apologize for the mistake. Very quickly a new bowl of "Lamb Gosht" appeared. The "lamb gosht" was tender slices of lamb in a thick creamy gravy with a hint of saffron, was delicious, but very heavy. This goes very well with Nann. Cost about S$61 for 2 persons.