I took to the streets of
Bangalore
on my own today, which was quite scary but quite fun. Inevitably
everything which people always say happens happened, beggars followed me
around, every market stall you looked at had the owner coming out and
offering you something to buy, and there were plenty of cows! I kept to
the main streets today, M.G Road and Brigade Road,
though I did spend some time wandering round some of the smaller
streets nearby. These main two roads are the shopping centre of
Bangalore,
and there are several large malls catering to rich Westerners, but
right next to them lie tiny market stalls and dilapidated shops, some
selling a really bizarre selection of goods (I saw one shop which sold
nothing but ladders and ironing boards, and I also saw a street hawker
who had very neatly arranged lines of urinal cakes laid out before him).
I did a bit of shopping myself, mostly things for my room
(coat-hangers etc.) but I did get measured for a suit as well, for the
princely sum of about £80. The main problem with shopping is the helpful
yet pushy nature of the salesmen, even in the more up market shops. In
one I had to politely decline the help of 8 salesmen who were almost
queuing up to ask me what I wanted or to show me things. I had a go with
the camera, but didn't get any sketching done, it's quite hard as
unlike European cities there is nowhere to sit, let alone somewhere to
sit that's out of the way.
On my next excursion I might try one of the large parks,
we drove past a few last weekend and they look a lot less crowded and
generally more pleasant. Barring some complications getting back (You
can call for a taxi but there's no guarantee they'll speak English, all
the ones I tried got the wrong end of the stick and tried to collect me
from the place I was trying to go! the only alternatives are buses, for
which there are no marked stops or route numbers, you just need to know,
or rickshaws, which will try everything to rip you off), I had a good
day, I’m off to see some old family friends tomorrow which should be
slightly more relaxing!