Bangalore (Bengaluru), Karnataka, India

Apparently, to be "Bangalored" means that your job has gone overseas, outsourced to someone who will work harder and cost less than you. For us, being Bangalored means basking in the incredible warmth and hospitality of our friends Mini and Baskar and their boys Vikram and Gautam. It also means being so spoiled by the comfort of their home, the delicious home cooked food and the parties with their friends and family that we stayed a little longer than we meant to. Add to that a little sightseeing and a lovely day visiting with my friend Deepa and her Mom, and we kind of forgot we were supposed to be "on the road".

Many of the people who live in Mini's community work in IT, and either went to school or worked in America. It's in coming home though that they are really living the American dream. The kids play in the street, and move from house to house visiting the neighborhood dogs, knowing someone's always watching, ready to call home if needed. There's a clubhouse with yoga for the adults and art classes for the kids, a pool, science fairs and children's theatre. The parents can enjoy a raucous dance party (which we were fortunate to attend) knowing that the little kids are safely sleeping in one house, the big kids in another. When we went out of the gate to the dusty street after a couple days we suddenly remembered we were still in India and not SoCal. 

Bangalore has a nice old town, steeped in colonial history, and sprawling suburbs, accommodating the IT crowds. We ate at Mavalli Tiffin Room, a traditional south indian restaurant, serving diners en masse, 40 at a time, since before independence, and at Toits, a busy brew pub with loud music. There were a number of day trips we meant to make, but they will have to wait for the next trip.

Sadly, we are back to fending for ourselves and repacking every few days, such is life!

- Bree

Bannerghatta National Park. We saw lions, tigers and (sloth) bears.

A white Bengal Tiger.

We helped out Vikram make a costume for his  school project on France.

Bree and Mini at the Aerospace Museum.

Vikram and Gautam looking cool in front of a helicopter.

Gautam stops running around just long enough for a photo.

Gautam points out some models of airplanes.

Matt and I went to the Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum.

A room devoted to Dinosaur.

There were several scenes, complete with dusty mannequins, displaying key inventions throughout history. Dad, this may be the same machine you did your computer science homework on at university.

Mission Control.

Bree with Deepa and her mother at the Botanical Garden.

Baskar, Vikram, Mini, Bree, and Gautam displaying an iPhone.

Hampi, Karnataka, India

Dusk from the train from Mumbai to Hospet.

Once again adventure found us. We knew ahead of time that our hotel was across the river from Hampi Bazaar. And that the boats that ferry people across the river stop at 5:30pm. And that we'd be arriving after that. Which left the only option (we thought) to take a car or auto-rickshaw the long way around. However, when we arrived in Hospet, the rickshaw driver said he had a friend who could take us across the river. Sure, we thought. It'll be quicker and cheaper. When we arrived at the Hampi, we were told to be quiet as we walked down the pitch black stairs to the river bank. There we met a Austrian couple with their daughter attempting to cross the river as well. The boat turned out to be a round woven basket called a coracle. We hadn't realized how illegal crossing a river would be. I do think they played up the secret-mission feeling to up their price. Anyway, we made it across with wet butts but aside from that, we were fine. Luckily the Austrians were staying at the same hotel and we followed them there in the darkness. 

The north side of the river, Virupapur Gaddi, more commonly referred to as Hampi Island.

The view from our hut, looking out on rice paddies and palm trees.

Working in the rice paddies.

Vikupaksha Temple from across the river.

Fishing on the river in a coracle.

A man baths in the Tungabhadra River.

Langur monkeys crossing a rice paddy.

The remains of Bukka's Aquaduct.

A Macaque grooms his Langur buddy.

Time lapsing in the rice paddies.

Long exposure at night.

Hampi has a sleepy beach town feeling, which is odd considering it's hours from an ocean. The main tourists here are mostly European, dreadlocked, rented-moped mounted, hippies. Considering drugs and alcohol are both prohibited, that is also odd.

Hampi has a surreal landscape, covered with massive boulders, rice paddies and interspersed ancient temples and ruins. We roamed around for a few days, wandering through the paddies, over boulders and across streams, which was nice way to avoid the aforementioned hippies. 

- Matt

* edit - I have to reassure my Mom that we are referring to the anachronistic, ethnically-ambiguous-clothes-wearing, inappropriate-didgeridoo-toting, me-seeking young hippies. Not the ones who may still be there from the original hippie invasion. To those guys we give respect, and a wide berth.  - Bree

Courtesan's Street leading to Achyutaraya's Temple.

Achyutaraya's Temple.

Pilgrims walk among the ruins.

Caution sign near the river.

Stone pillars are all that remain of the old bridge.

Vikupaksha Temple in Hampi Bazaar.