Malcolm's India Trip: Bangalore Sightseeing

The drive from the airport had already revealed that Bangalore was a much different city to Chennai with better roads and overall a more modern feel, not a surprise given this is a newer city and is thriving on its IT industry with many firms based here. I thought I'd spend the first afternoon just driving around some of the city to get a feel for it a bit more.

These statues are great and I liked how they'd just appear whilst driving around breaking up the monotony of big construction.

I like the local version of the movie poster to sit alongside the mainstream ones.

This cool red building (almost as bright as VGP) is the city's library.

Part of a nice mural alongside one of the city's roads.

and a similar golden statue seen soon after.

More Dravidian Temples.

This one is the Iskon Krishna Temple, which I thought I'd go and explore. It got off to a weird start when my driver advised that being a temple shoes couldn't be warned and I should leave them in the taxi. So I had to do the entire walk barefoot and I've not done that for years. Fortunately the ground wasn't too rough for my underexposed western soles.

No photography was allowed in the temple and you have to hand your cameras in to a locker so there are no photos but here are the highlights and lowlights.

I bought a ticket that included a VIP tour of the temple, this I didn't realised. It meant that during the ascent to the main temple I was allowed to pop into the smaller temples that you pass on the way.

I got access to the front row in the main temple which meant I could pray whilst behind me the locals did their thing (mostly rolling on the floor or throwing their arms into the air).

I was taken behind the temple to make a donation. I explained that in buying the ticket I'd already done so.

I was given 2 sealed goody bags. When I got back to the hotel I opened them and put them straight into the bin. I've no idea what the food was inside.

One of the Krishna folk offered to say a blessing to wish my family good luck. Whilst doing his chanting I had to hold my hand over a basket of flowers whilst he poured water on my hand.

To leave the temple you have to do the Banksy thing and exit through the gift shop, only this gift shop has 3 floors and attempts to sell you loads to make cash.

I'm not a religious chap but the temple is an amazing structure and their charity work is something to be proud of. Clearly the gift shops are turning a tidy profit as there are plans to build an even bigger temple complex outside of the city.

This one is so big it'll have a water park so perhaps more attractive to theme park fans.

If you're going to model your look on the West, a German Motorcycle soldier is not the best look to go for.

This is the Vikasa Souda, one of the administrative buildings in the city. Being as security conscious as they are because I had no official reason to enter I couldn't get in.

Unofficially, I wanted to take a picture of this Gandhi statue inside the complex, so I had to make do with zooming the camera in through a hole in the fence to get it.

On the other side of the status is the Vidhana Soudha, which is the largest administrative building in the city. It's huge and imposing and was built in the 1950s. It's a shame we're not allowed close to it. They must get annoyed with people walking along a 10ft wall taking pictures through holes in the fence.