This is a huge statue of the Hindu god Shiva, located on Old Airport Road.

Getting around the city of Bangalore would have been a bit of trouble if it were not for the help from family members in the area.  However, many will not be so lucky, so I decided to put together some notes about the city and what there is to see.  This project is a description of what you can see and do in the city from the perspective of a United States citizen.

Bangalore, or Bengaluru, is the capital of the state of Karnakata, India.  Recently (September 2006) the government accepted a proposal to change the name from Bangalore to Bengaluru.  This is the original name of the city before the British colonized the area.  The city is well known as the information technology capitol of India.  Through the past decade the city has exploded as a source of “low-cost labor” for numerous companies from the United States and elsewhere in the world. 

The common currency in India is the rupee - shown here are 100, 50, 20 and 10 rupee notes.

At some point you will probably hear of the Maharaja.  Basically, a Maharaja is a ruler over a large area of land.  Incredibly wealthy and revered by the locals, the Maharaja still exists today, though the Maharaja today is more of a figurehead such as the Kings and Queens of Europe rather than the political power for the state that he was in the past.

The old capitol city was Mysore, which is located to the North East of Bangalore.    You will probably hear Mysore mentioned quite a bit if you hang out around the craft stores.  Mysore is the seat of a lot of the arts and crafts in the region.  They are known for their silk exports as well as paintings and wood carvings with metal inlays.  If you can make it to Mysore during your stay it’s a great experience to visit the palace of the Maharaja.  See this other project page about Mysore for more information on visiting this city.

Language : The local language is Kannada, the official language of the state of Karnataka.  You can generally get by knowing only English as most people you interact with will likely speak some English.  That said, you won’t get the best deal at the craft stores if you’re only speaking English.  You can find some common phrases on wikitravel.[1]

There is a rich variety of local crafts to buy in Bangalore.  The places to find such crafts are in the numerous shops which dot the city.  Craft shops will be labeled “Handicrafts” or something like “Arts Emporium”.  They are not hard to find, but just ask a local and they can likely point you to one within a couple blocks.

I highly suggest taking back some trinket or craft item as a memento of your travels.  Some of the items have truly great craftsmanship in materials ranging from Bronze to Sandalwood.  Others are cheap knockoffs of the good ones using inferior materials or inexperienced labor.  You will just have to choose for yourself which you like best.  You might just find the cheap ones charming in their own way. 

There are two types of craft shops – those run by locals and those run by the government.   The ones run by the government do not allow haggling for the price of an item.  You pay the list price or you don’t buy it.  If you try suggesting a lower price you will get a reply: “Oh no sir, this is not that type of store – state subsidized”…. or something along those lines.  All of the stores look similar, but the ones run by the government will state this on their sign on the front.  You can always just ask a person at the store if you are unsure.   In general, the government stores will be larger in size with a bigger variety of items, lots of attendants, and located in the areas which have the busiest traffic.

On the other hand, at a locally-owned store it is highly encouraged to haggle the price.  The prices at these local stores are designed for tourists that don’t know any better, and it is usually around the same price as what you will find in the government –run stores (or possibly higher).   If the store is having a good day they might not haggle with you at all, but that’s not too likely.  If they haven’t seen a lot of customers recently they will probably give you a “discount” price if you simply look at an item.   This can start off at 20% off, but if you walk out the door it might go up to 50% off!

If you look like a foreigner you will have a harder time getting the best prices, but it isn’t so bad - usually the price listed on craft items is fairly cheap considering the amount of labor involved. 

The stone craftsmen also do some amazing things with granite around here.  I was surprised to see entire sing basins carved out of a solid block of granite.  They're actually pretty common in households around here.  Granite is so common in the area that much of their sidewalks are even paved in granite slabs.

First the simple, common rules : don’t drink the water unless it comes from a sealed bottle (Aquafina, Kinley, Bailley …etc).  Water bottles are easy to find at any little store, so that’s not a problem usually.  Don’t be shy to refuse a glass of water – the locals understand that foreigners often cannot drink the water.  Another simple rule : don’t buy food from the street vendors.  It’s impossible to say what their hygiene habits are like.  It may look tempting, but there is nothing you can’t find in a good restaurant. 

In general, the locals in Bangalore are vegetarians.  You will have a hard time finding beef anything unless you visit a good hotel (cows are a sacred, holy symbol here).  Keep in mind that you can almost always eat at any hotel even if you don’t have a room there, so think of hotels more like restaurant options.  Since they cater to foreigners they will have more “western” options on their menus such as hamburgers.

Just to make it clear, the local food here is great!   Delicious!  It’s amazing what they can do without meat and only using spices and vegetables.  However, just because it tastes great doesn’t mean your stomach will agree with it.  I was able to handle about a week of eating only the local foods before I started getting acid indigestion from all the spices I’m not used to eating.  For this reason you may want to keep in mind where to find some of the western foods – they will be a familiar beacon of hope in your times of gastronomical hardships. 

Standard U.S restaurants : Some of the restaurants familiar to western travelers are KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken), Hard Rock Café, McDonalds (of course), and Ruby Tuesday.  McDonalds here sells you these tofu-like veggie patties called Paneer.  The difference is that Paneer is usually coated in some sort of spicy, crispy breading.   Without the breading it would taste like boiled tofu … bleh.  The overall flavor isn't so bad though.

Coffee : you won’t find a Starbucks for some reason (maybe it’s currently not allowed by the government?), but there are many coffee shops, the most common ones being “Café Coffee Day”.   You can get the usual latte and cappuccino at these places.  If you buy coffee anywhere else you may be confused at the flavor.  Ground coffee sold in this area is different from in the United States and Europe.  The ground coffee beans are usually mixed with something called chicory, a type of leaf which when baked and ground up, looks a lot like coffee grounds.  If you buy it at the store it will usually say the percentage of chicory, commonly around 10%.  The more chicory, the cheaper the coffee.  Only the best restaurants (Oberoi, for example) will have coffee which tastes similar to what you are used to.

Alcohol : We visited several families during our stay (relatives), but we were never offered any sort of alcoholic beverage, nor did I see any bottles of beer or liquor anywhere.  That said it is not hard to find a store which sells brandy or whiskey.  Also you can find beer at most of the restaurants.  They will sell some foreign brands but none on tap, or draught beer from a keg.  The only beer on tap is the local brand called “KingFisher”. 

Bakeries:  When I think of bakeries I think of doughy pastries and croissant-type foods, but in India it’s quite different.  There’s nothing that is really equivalent to a fluffy bready pastry around here.  In fact, most of the desserts are not even baked.  You can imagine how this came to be, considering the lowest temperature is around 80 degrees F, and it can reach up to about 120 degrees F in the summer months.  Who wants to turn on an oven in that temperature?

Mahatma Gandhi Road
The main road for shopping and the main area of traffic is Mahatma Gandhi Road, more commonly referred to as “M. G. Road”.  There are also a few busy shopping streets running off of MG Road (Brigade Road) and parallel to MG Road (Church street) which offer some good shopping experiences. 
If you look at it literally, MG Road is a standard street with a definite start and end point on the map, but judging by the way locals refer to it, I would consider “MG Road” as more of a general area, such as Downtown, or Uptown.  So if someone says you can find a good bar on MG Road, they might just be talking about Brigade road which runs directly off of MG Road.  Keep this in mind when you want to wander on the streets. 
MG Road is also the location of one of the new train stops (the Metro), so if you would like to try out the fancy new public transit being created right now you can get on the train and take it to the last stop (Bayappanahalli) and back within about 30 minutes.

Oberoi Hotel
As I said before, even if you don’t have a room at the local hotels, you are free to spend your money in their restaurants.  Oberoi Hotel is a great place to unwind from the noise and pollution of the city.  The inner courtyard is basically a large, well-groomed garden with a pool and several restaurants including the Polo Club (American/English food), a Thai restaurant, and a Chinese restaurant, all of them served by top quality chefs.  Although the prices are very high for India, they are average prices for a standard restaurant that you would find in the United States.  You can expect to pay about $15 to $20 for a good Entrée dish, and about $7 for a pitcher of beer.  It’s one of the only places to find a good burger (or a bacon cheese burger) but there are so many good dishes on their menu.  You can get caramelized onion and mushroom baguettes, tenderloin medallions, steak sandwiches with gorgonzola cheese, lasagna, Croque Monsieur (basically a fancy ham and cheese Panini)…etc.  There are also plenty of dessert options such as crème brulee, ice creams of different sorts, and chocolate delicacies.   You can also get some good quality brandy and whiskey if that’s your kind of thing. 
At the Oberoi, you can also find an impressive breakfast buffet.  The staff treats you like royalty and the food is diverse and delicious.  If you like you can try out some of the local options, or if you’re just in the mood for the regular stuff, you can have them make you an omelet, or pancakes – even eggs Benedict.  There are also waffles, pancakes, bacon, sausage, roasted potatoes.  There are plenty of juices, pastries, fruits and even cold cereals to choose from.   Really, it’s pretty much every possible breakfast item you can think of if you’re from the United States, as well as several types of local dishes.  It’s a great place to have breakfast if you can’t handle the spices any longer.

ISKCON : International Society of Krishna Consciousness.  This is a huge temple on a hill overlooking the city.  It is the seat of the devotees of Krishna.

Lalbagh Park : This park has the "Glass House" which is basically a conservatory which used to house foreign plants for aclimatization to the environment.  There is also an ancient watchtower on top of a big stone hill which is a .  Garbage bins that look like tree stumps.

Science Museum : The Banalore science museum has a good assortment of hands-on technology exhibits.  It is a fun environment for kids, although it is also enjoyable for adults.

Art Gallery : The art gallery is next door to the science museum.  It has a good assortment of local historical pieces, but nothing foreign as you might expect at a typical art gallery.

St. Marks Cathedral : Ceiling collapsed 4 times since it was built about 100 years ago.  Pretty sad case.  It's a nice place but it's fairly unimpressive as far as cathedrals go.

The flower market is filled with the scent of fresh flowers in various forms and colors.

Unfortunately, the city has not adapted well to the accelerated growth of population and traffic.  There is little improvement to traffic regulation or infrastructure to compensate for the population boom.  That said, somehow the system still works and people get around just fine, if not in the most efficient and organized manner.

As a result of the lack of appropriate improvements, it has become common place for drivers to honk their horns for just about every action.  People honk ALL the time - they honk to change lanes (usually no one uses their left and right blinkers), they honk to tell people on the sidewalk that they're coming past (apparently so they don't jump out in front of them), they honk to signal that they're starting their engine, they honk to say they're pulling over...etc.  It's kind of ridiculous from our perspective, but everyone around here is used to what I would call noise pollution.  In fact, it seems to be encouraged, as pretty much every truck has the words “SOUND HORN” painted on the back above the bumper, apparently implying that this is the only way they know you want to pass them … or something.

We took some video of the street scenes to give an idea of how the traffic operates around here..  We also took a few videos from our rides in the "autos" which are the rickshaws with little 2-cycle engines (auto-rickshaw).  You can catch an auto from pretty much anywhere in the city.
You can also pay a local Travel Agency to arrange a car and driver to get you around the city.  This is nice to have in some situations like driving further away, but for short rides it's pretty fun to ride in the rickshaws.  It feels similar to riding on a fair ride or a roller coaster.  I would really hate to drive on these streets – there are almost no traffic lights and no one pays attention to the lines in the street or uses turn signals or anything.

The auto-rickshaws are everywhere - even in the outskirts of th ecity as well as villages which are close by.  However, motorcycles, out numbers them.  This seems to be the most common form of transit, and for good reason.  You can weave around the traffic, and go through gaps which would not be available to a fullsize car.  Before you start thinking evereyone is being super "green" by using less gas, think again.  These little motorcycles spit out a lot of fumes, and since there are so many of them, it gets pretty smoggy in the city. 

Pretty much no one wears a seat belt in the cars, and most motorcyclists do not have any form protection for their skin (like a leather jacket or long sleeve shirt) if they were to fall on the pavement, although some wear a helmet.  This might be because usually you can't even reach the speed limit because of all the congestion.

There is actually a huge metro train project currently in progress in Bangalore.  This is an impressive effort – the train is elevated a hundred feet above the ground on massive cement pillars.  At the time of this writing there are only 7 kilometers built so far between MG Road and Bayappanahalli.  It’s worth it to spend about 35 Rupees (less than one U.S. dollar) for a round trip just to see the city from high up on the tracks.  There is currently nothing at the end point in Bayappanahalli so you just end up getting right back on the train and heading back to MG Road.  However, I can imagine it will become a great spot for growth in the near future, given that the train travels to this area which was previously too far away for any sort of shops, restaurants or tourist activities.  The current plan is to have the train go North, South East and West for a pretty good distance, and it looks like they are progressing fairly well.

The city of Bangalore is LOUD.  It might not bother you too much at first, but this can be especially stressful after several days of it.  One way to get a bit of respite from the noise is to carry a pair of flesh-colored earplugs.  Don’t wear the yellow/orange ones or it’s too obvious (you will look like a dork).  I know you can find tan ones at Target in packs of 10.  These are very useful, not only for walking around the city, but also for sleeping on the plane, or, if your hotel or dwelling has very little sound-proofing you can wear it to sleep at night.  Locals are used to the noise and apparently do not mind it, but it’s hard to get used to.

There is no bug spray in India!  However, they do sell bug repellant lotion.  Generally there’s no real need for bug repellent within the city, but if you go outside of town to any wooded areas (such as on a safari) you should use some bug repellant. Coming from Minnesota, where the state bird is the Mosquito (not literally), I know exactly how to handle them.  A liberal spray-down from a can of deep-woods OFF or other DEET-filled spray keeps them away just fine.  Of course we all know that mosquitoes can puncture your back even through your shirt, so a lotion is no good unless you are willing to continuously take your shirt off to apply it like sunscreen.  It’s just a lot more convenient with a spray so make sure you get a can or two before you head out there.

You won’t find Tums or Pepto Bismol in India.  They do have an equivalent form of Tums called “Digene” and it comes in liquid form or tablets like Tums.  However, I never found anything close to Pepto Bismol, something for stomach aches or nausea.  For that the locals turn to traditional medicine, such as the tender young leaves of a pomegranate tree… or they just suck it up and wait for it to pass.

Breakfast options : One thing that we noticed about staying with my wife’s parents in India is that their breakfast is completely different than ours.  We tend to focus on foods like milk, eggs, grains (cereals and oatmeal) and sugary sweets (pancakes, waffles…etc).  This makes sense to me because you want all your sugar calories and carbohydrates in the morning so you have something to burn throughout the day.  Around here, most people eat what seems to us like any other meal of the day – spicy vegetable dishes with yogurt and rice.  A couple of items which are fairly easy to acquire is toasted bread with jam, corn flakes, or if you’re adventurous you can get a few bakery items and snack on them in the morning.  I have seen some other cereals in the grocery stores, but have yet to see anyone eating them.

Ovens-baked meals : You won’t find them!  It may be surprising to some, but you will find it difficult to find an oven in any homes, even in some of the restaurants.  Instead, most of the dishes are cooked on burners and cooktops.  The reasons for this, as I stated earlier, are obvious when you think of the temperatures.  The “low” temperatures reach about 80 degrees F, while the highs in the summer can be around 120 degrees F.  No one wants to bake in that kind of weather.  Add humidity on top of that and it can actually be a health hazard to bake in your home, turning it into a perpetual sort of sauna.

Animals on the street : You will see all kinds of life on the streets : dogs, cows, ox, pigs, chickens.

Funny Signs : There are quite a few interesting signs found around the city.  They may seem normal to the locals but here is a collection I found worth noting.