People who have never been to India generally have two types of impressions of India. One thinks that India is too hot and too dirty, and there are too many Indians; the other thinks that life in India is colorful, as if Xanadu is fascinating. In fact, the real India may be somewhere in between. Of course, what you think about India depends on where you go. I go to India more than anywhere else. India always calls me to go again. Although I have been to more than 20 times, I still don’t know much about India. India is very big. Karnataka alone is about the same size as the United Kingdom. Even if you fly from one place to another, it takes a long time. Some places in India are terribly poor and some are dirty, but Bangalore I went to was different. Bangalore has some of the best hotels in the world that I have stayed in. The food there is good in color, smell and taste. There are more than 100 millionaires living there. The old saying “One country, one hundred cities, different cities” is suitable for most cities in India.
If you are traveling to India for the first time, I suggest you go to the metropolis Bangalore first. Bangalore is located on the Deccan Plateau in India, 3000 feet (900 meters) above sea level, so it is not too hot to make you feel uncomfortable even in summer. As the IT capital, English is an international business language in Bangalore and is widely used. All educated Indians will learn English in school, so as long as you have a certain level of English, there is no need to worry about language problems here. Under the influence of urban development and expansion, many trees in Bangalore have been felled, but the level of greenery in Bangalore still deserves the title of “Garden City”. If you go to Bangalore in winter, when the sun is shining, you may not want to fly around, then you can take a few laps in the Bangalore swimming pool and have a spa treatment. I tell you, it is a wonderful experience. It is said that the best time to travel to Bangalore is winter. At that time, the summer heat and monsoon have not yet arrived. But if you come to Bangalore in May, you will be able to enjoy the best-tasting mangoes you have never eaten. The rainy season after May, the sun is shining during two heavy rains. It’s not cold when it rains in Bangalore, in fact, you will feel extra refreshed. Hotels in Bangalore are cheaper in summer, so if you are hesitating when to go to Bangalore, you can take this into consideration. There are air conditioners in restaurants, hotels and most cars. Indians like to leave the air conditioners on very cold, so you’d better bring a jacket with you or sit outside when you go to a restaurant.
When traveling to Bangalore, there are many five-star hotels to choose from. All five-star hotels can provide tourists with high standards of service and excellent room facilities. Each hotel has at least one restaurant, and the price is the same as Europe and the United States. The grade hotel is much lower. Bangalore enjoys the reputation of “Silicon Valley of India” and is not known as a tourist destination. Therefore, when the tourist pool here is rarely overcrowded, it may only be lively on Sundays. People eat the lunch buffet and then swim for a while. In the days when I came to Bangalore, I often owned a swimming pool by myself. If a British tourist who comes to Bangalore chooses, ITC Windsor Hotel may be his first choice. This hotel has a slightly retro feel. The guest rooms on the second floor lead to a secret garden outside. This is an English Brown-style garden that focuses on natural scenery. There are comfortable benches inside and full of floral frangipani. tree. ITC Windsor Hotel has an Irish-style bar and a wild outdoor barbecue restaurant. You can wear a large apron prepared for you by the store and enjoy the fun of hand-cooking barbecue. There is a road not far from the ITC Windsor Hotel. When swimming, there will be some noise from the traffic on the road, but for me, it is quite perfect. If you are not short of money, you can go to the magnificent Lila Palace Hotel. This is a pink building located beside the busy old airport road. It looks like a castle in a fairy tale and covers an astonishingly large area. Walking into the Rila Palace Hotel, there are majestic marble columns and oversized vases, each with 300 flowers, waiting for your arrival. The library bar feels like a gentleman’s club, with church candles lit in the semi-open building, and fine silk cloth on the teak furniture. Both the Zen restaurant and the Yamawa restaurant are first-class local restaurants, one indoor and one open-air. The Leela Palace Hotel has a 9-acre park with a quiet and clean environment. On the side of the park is a large swimming pool and a yoga studio. The Oberoi Hotel is also a very good choice. Every room in this hotel faces the outside garden and ancient rain trees. Each room also has an outdoor space. A chic swimming pool is located in the large garden, which is peaceful and harmonious. The Ramnan restaurant at Oberoi Hotel is a semi-outdoor structure. This is one of my favorite restaurants in Bangalore. But when booking hotels in Bangalore online, there is one thing to keep in mind: you will be charged a 20% tax at the time of settlement.
The food in Bangalore is generally delicious, not just curry. The growing middle class of India and tourists from Europe and the United States are very particular about eating and drinking, so restaurants in Bangalore must be able to meet the tastes of people everywhere, authentic Italian, Thai, Japanese, Chinese and other regional cuisines are here. Everything. Perhaps only 10 years ago, if you wanted to find a good restaurant in Bangalore, you could only find it in a five-star hotel. Now, independent high-end restaurants can be found everywhere. In the center of the business district near Gandhi Road, you can go to Chapel Street and the surrounding restaurants, where the dishes are authentic and inexpensive. To the east of the business district, walk along the “100-meter road”, you can see numerous restaurants and shops, the gorgeous neon lights flicker, competing for people’s attention, so coming here at night will be particularly interesting. There are no shortage of time-honored restaurants here, one of which is the MTR restaurant located near the Ljubljana Gardens. You can eat a few potato pancakes and drink a cup of hot coffee in a silver cup for the equivalent of buying a newspaper. Wine imported from abroad to India is generally expensive, but India is also committed to its own production of high-quality beer and wine. In recent years, the quality of Indian wine has been greatly improved, and the wine is good and cheap. If you like bread, you can go to Trinity Circle Hotel, where more than 70 types of bread are sold, including Italian bread and Indian delicacies.
Walking in Bangalore is not a comfortable thing, because many of the sidewalks here are not very flat, there are few crosswalks, and the two crosswalks are far apart. If you are not far away, you can take an electric rickshaw, and you can see the rickshaw everywhere. Bargain with the driver before taking the rickshaw, and make sure that the driver knows where you are going. The hotel’s limousines are equipped with a uniformed driver. The cost is the most expensive of all transportation in India, but compared with the luxury hotel cars in my hometown in Europe, the price is affordable. Bangalore has a population of 11 million, with a large number of people and vehicles. The transportation facilities seem to have not kept up with the development. Traffic jams are common. So if you are going out, it is best to avoid the morning and evening peaks.
Bangalore now has many air-conditioned American-style malls. You can buy internationally renowned brands in most malls, but there are also some Indian brands worth choosing. Some malls have restaurants, and the food inside will often let you Have a great appetite. If you want to buy some souvenirs, the Koffrey souvenir shop on Gandhi Road is the most famous, but I don’t like the silk and wood carvings in the Koffrey shop, so if you don’t like these things like me, then go around. If you want to buy cotton clothes and scarves, you can go to the commercial street, where you will surely get your wish. Also in the commercial street, the owner of the clothing store will make a tailored suit for you, and it will be delivered to your hotel the next day.
Many hotels in Bangalore have spas and massage rooms, which are not only attentive but also cheaper than those outside. I like the massage room at the Oberoi Hotel, where I do manicures, pedicures, and foot massages for less than US$20.
Traveling is tiring, but fortunately, there are not many attractions in Bangalore. If you just want to enjoy some peace and tranquility, I suggest you go to Joe Bang Park. The Joe Bang Park is located in the center of Bangalore. It covers an area of 300 acres. The park is lined with trees. There is also a library for walking or reading. It is a good place for leisure. Not far from Chopin Park is St. Mark’s Church, which is modeled after the shape of St. Paul’s Church in London, but it is obviously much smaller than St. Paul’s Church. In St. Mark’s Church, there is an organ donated by British cricket star Colin Caudry, with a beautiful sound. The Italian stained glass windows of the church were hand-made by artisans in the early 19th century. There are many temples in Bangalore that can be visited, but all the temples are in their natural state, and there is no grooming to attract tourists. Going to the temple often asks to take off your shoes, but the ground is not very clean. If you mind this, don’t go. I booked the air ticket 5 months in advance, and the flight to Bangalore from the UK is only £400, including baggage fees. Walk out of the airport, walk into the warm sunshine of India in the morning, and get on the waiting hotel car, you can start to enjoy the ordinary Bangalore journey. Maybe like me, you will come back to Bangalore again and again.
Garden City
