July 9, 10:35 - Arriving in Bangalore

We arrived @ Bangalore International Airport at 1:20 am. It was not quite what I was expecting at all. Here was a huge beautiful white building that looked like a quarter of the Hong Kong airport was taken out and put in the middle of India. Not only was it gorgeous, it was emmaculately clean. Immigration was a little bit of a hassle because of my camera gear. I was asked to show the contents of my camera bag including the laptop. After a little bit of a discussion, we were allowed to pass through the doors. The humidity was about 60% and it hit like a stinky dog. My clothes instantly felt heavy and my eyes became groggy.

We met my uncle who gave me a quick hug and we were ushered forward to the taxi cabs along with our 7 pieces of luggage. My uncle brought his little miata but definitely not enough to carry all the luggage so he rented out a taxicab. The model was a Toyota Innova, 2.5 L which is equivalent to a Sienna in Canada. The total up front amount for the rental was $30 Canadian. After waiting around the airport with the cab driver to meet up with my uncle we headed into town Bangalore. Although we were traveling at an average of 80 km/h, it still took a while. All in all, the airport was 40 km away from the city.

It was a crazy scary drive into town. First off it was fairly evident that my uncle didn't know how to go back into town. With the roads being so new and the airport being so "far away", it was understandable that he lost his way every now and then and we had to do a few U-Turns. And also, to his credit, it was 3 am in the morning for him so grogginess was definitely understandable. There were a few abrupt stops and it became all too clear that traffic laws are not upheld, but then again I knew that already.

As the freshly paved highways with their bright "in the middle of nowhere" street lights transitioned into old roads with deep potholes and aging buildings I couldn't help but feel I was a complete stranger in my own country. I didn't recognize anything and at the same time, I recognized everything. Coming into the main part of the city, it became clear that Bangalore indeed was on the forefront of a new way of living in India. By the time we reached my uncle's house an hour on the road had passed and the time was now 3 am. Once again, we only drive 40 km with hardly anyone on the road. I'm afraid to see what rush hour in Bangalore would be like.

We chatted away the remainder of the night with my uncle and his wife in their very modern apartment complete with western toilets. The apartment is a very nice 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom layout. It has two balconies and also marble flooring and concrete walls. By the time I hit the sack again it was 12 pm local time. I thought I'd only take a ten minute nap but it turned out to be a 3 hour sleep. Food wasn't sitting well with me all day which was frustrating because everything tasted so good and I couldn't eat it. The moment of truth came when I finally had to use the washroom. Ah well, when in Rome... lol


We hit the streets in the evening, going to a local shopping mall but we didn't buy anything. There was a slight drizzle and I survived yet another drive through crazy roads with my family.

My Cousin with his new binoculars

My younger cousins have really taken to me. One is 13 and one is 8. The 8 year old can be a handful but he's quite fun to have around and I find myself liking him as well. I don't mind sticking around in Bangalore for another day and if our schedule would allow it, it'd be nice to stick around here for the entire trip. I love this family and I like being fairly relaxed even though I still find myself thinking about home and work every 5 minutes. Took some pictures, but nothing fantastic. I'll have to try harder tomorrow when I'm not feeling so light headed or nauseas.