Freizeitaktivitäten in und um Bangalore

Leisure activities in and around Bangalore

Arriving at bowling, we were surprised by the long queue at the counter. Even after paying and asking another customer if the price was justified, we stil had to wait 15 minutes.

After bowling, we continued to explore the city in search of a suitable place for our dinner. Finally, we ended up back at the UB City Mall, where we discovered a good Italian restaurant. The food was absolutely great, only the local beer „Kingfisher“, which was recommended to us, we could not try, because the age for the consumption of alcohol is 21 years.

13.08.2022 – Hike to Shivagange Betta
Today we started early: At 04:45 the alarm clocks rang, so that we could meet the two trainees Nithin and Arjun in time, who were already waiting for us in a small bus at 05:30. Afterwards we set off to collect Pavan, the third trainee.
Happy and with good music, we made our way to Shivagange Betta with a stop for a traditional Indian breakfast.

Full of energy, we made our way up the mountain. At the beginning, the path meandered comfortably from one temple to the next. But the higher we climbed, the steeper the steps became. After a sporty 1.5 h running time we reached the top and were rewarded with a fantastic view of Karnataka. Besides the breathtaking view from the top, we could also visit a small temple and watch the monkeys in the wild.
After we rested a bit, we went down again. This time we stopped at a temple that had been left out before. We had to take off our shoes as usual. But what surprised us then was that we first had to wade through a piece of water. Then in the temple, we came to a hole where there was some water at the bottom. It was explained to us that if someone could touch the water, good fortune would befall him/her. Of course we had to try and sure enough, we were all able to touch the water. A good omen for the rest of our stay! For the way out, we had to duck and walk almost on all fours. Especially for Ramon, who doesn’t exactly fit the Indian size norms, the „path“ was a bit narrow.

Back in the bus, we made our way back to Bangalore. We made one more stop and ate Indian food for the first time outside the canteen and were completely thrilled!
Our last stop was at a larger temple near Bangalore. Again, without shoes of course, we walked next to huge statues of Krishna, an aspect of the Hindi deity Vishnu, into a huge hall with hundreds of stone slabs. The trainees explained to us that the commandments Krishna had explained to Arjuna were written on them. Impressed, we admired the statues and tried to decipher some of the stone slabs.

After a final bit of bus travel, we said goodbye to the trainees and after dinner we all fell into our beds. What a great day this was!

14.08.2022 – Lalbagh Flower Show & VEGA City Mall
Since Independence Day was just around the corner, there was a flower show in a large park about a half hour drive from us. As we got close to the park with our Uber driver, the traffic got more and more backed up and slowly we realized what we were getting ourselves into.

We weren’t very surprised to see a huge crowd when we arrived at the entrance. Ramon and Sascha had the advantage of being able to look over the whole crowd and thus keep an overview. At the entrance we got a small tourist bonus and were let ahead a bit. In the park itself, fortunately, everything spread out a little. We casually walked along the lake and looked at the park. We enjoyed the fresh air by the lake, but we didn’t see very many flowers yet.

When we arrived in the middle of the park, there were many different stalls selling food and drinks, but also flowers and snacks. Between all the stalls we found what we were looking for. At the beginning of a very long queue there was a big tent. Since the waiting time was too long, we decided to look inside only briefly at the entrance and exit. It was a magnificent colorful sight. There was an house made of flowers, many colorful bushes decorated the tent and there were many pictures of people on the walls. Since there wasn’t much else to see, we walked around the rest of the park and then drove to the nearby VEGA City Mall for some shopping. The mall looked very nice and also had a few well-known stores like H&M. In the evening we went to eat at an Italian restaurant in the mall. It was very tasty and to our surprise we could even listen to a German song during the meal.

Billiards, table tennis, Tichu and more
During the week we are back from work at about 6:15 pm. After dinner, which we usually order, but occasionally cook ourselves, there is not enough time for a trip to the city. So we spend our evenings mostly in our apartment, which offers a lot of entertainment possibilities. Besides an existing pool, a small gym and a table tennis table, the big billiard table has kindled the fire in us. We often amuse ourselves there and so we regularly get into conversations with other guests of Guesture (our accommodation).

What is also almost part of our evening routine is playing Tichu. Tichu is a card game for four people that combines strategy, risk-taking and luck. Often we are so immersed in the game that we almost forget the time, and so every now and then we go to bed later than we had actually planned. But that’s not too bad, says Ramon, who is visibly loving the game. 🙂