Bangalore: My Farthest & Yet, Quickest Business Trip Yet

Created by Lester Martin
Last updated: Feb 03, 2018
3 min read

I thought after A Lightning Fast Trip to Johannesburg a couple of years ago that I had learned my lesson.  ALWAYS take a little time to yourself when you go to a far away place you have never been before!  To be fair to myself, I actually was going to Bangalore, India, for a two week trip and had planned some outings during the weekend in the middle.  But, alas, things can be very fluid with my job and I, if nothing else, am FLEXIBLE!  So, when my two week trip turned into a two DAY trip I said, I'd better get out there and see something in Bangalore on the Sunday afternoon after arriving in country.

I was fortunate enough to be staying at the Ritz-Carlton which ended up being an oasis of a retreat in a very busy and hectic city.  The view from my room wasn't too bad either.

 

I decided my main attraction of the few hours I had to burn would be Bangalore Palace.

 

 

Afterwards, I got a chance to ride in my first auto rickshaw.

 

We even had a drag race with another rickshaw!!  Yep, we ALMOST reached 30 mph!!

My driver was nice enough to take picture of me in front of the Vidhana Soudha.

 

After this, we basically drove around and checked out various temples which the city was full of.

We continued to check out some of the local flair of Bangalore.

These pictures are pretty representative of what I saw on this brief outing.  Afterwards, it was just a two day cycle of taking an Uber to/from my client's office and the hotel, but you can get a real feel for this city just by looking out the window while driving down the streets.  At the tail end of this video you will see something you have always been told simply walks down the streets in India.  And yes, it is true!!  How's that for a teaser?!?!

The traffic was a bit crazy driving into work, but the mayhem really presents itself on the commutes after work.  I did record the following audio clip that I'm going to start using as my "white noise" generator when I need to drone everything else out.  (wink)

I'm sure the opportunity will present itself again to return to India and I promise to do & see more and I'll surely share my experiences here on my blog.