I decided that i needed to take care of several orders of business:
-get a plug adaptor
-get a phone
-find a travel agency and book tickets to my next destination
-check out the more "hip" areas of town
I got a fairly early start to my day and took a rickshaw (my first one) out to the electronics district to find myself a power adaptor so i can finally use my netbook. it was a quick 5 min ride but once I got there I realized the Indians didn't share my enthusiasm for starting the day off early. I knew i was in the right place from all the signs but it was still another 30min-1hour before the shops would open. I started wandering around and saw a coconut vendor. Breakfast of champions. I sipped my coconut as I waited around for the shops to open when i saw a small corner store was open before the others. I tried my luck and was rewarded finally with an adaptor. I also haggled the guy down to half the price he quoted me on it. Great success. Not having this thing prevented me from using my laptop for the last 2 days..
I hopped on a rickshaw to the main strip of Bangalore, Mahatma Ghandi (MG) Road. As I got off the rickshaw I was greeted by the sight of McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Nike, and Adidas retail stores. I walked down the strip but it was still too early for any of these places to be open. At the end of the strip was a dude that approached me and told me there was a market nearby. I've had cheerful helpers guide me to places and then ask for payment for guidance upon arriving in other cities before so I was wary of accepting help from this seemingly friendly fellow. I probed a bit and found out he was a rickshaw driver. Apparently shops will give these drivers vouchers for petrol for bringing customers to them and he wanted to take me shopping. Good thing I knew about this beforehand (thanks Chanda), but since I had time to kill before the MG stores opened I agreed to go along with him and check out the stores and help him get some petrol since he said he'd drive me for free and bring me back to MG road when we were done. The first couple stores were kinda fun; haggling by this point had gotten kind of addictive, but after several more it was a little tiresome. The store owners say that the first customer is special, and that if they make a sell to the first customer it will bring them good luck throughout the day. Therefore they claim that they are willing to make a sale at cost just so they can start the day off right. Its a clever sales tactic since the implication is that if you don't buy anything you've singlehandedly ruined their day. It was interestingn to let them each do their presentations and see what kind of sales tactics they used. One guy was particularly agressive and said "ok, lets play a game. you tell me what price you want to pay to walk out with that scarf and I'll let you walk out with it." One thing kind of refreshing, sales people always have the best english no matter what city you're in and it was a bit nice to have extended conversations in english. On a side note, its a little frustrating that for a country that has english as an official language, most of the "english" i've encountered is barely intelligible. Another side note, I really really am loving my camelbak. Its pretty perfect for staying hydrated and the tube has caught the attention of several curious salespeople.
After hitting up a bunch of stores i remembered my checklist for the day and told my driver that I wanted to get a mobile phone, and I wanted one cheap, even better if it was used. The driver offered to sell me his phone so I bought it from him. We went to a Vodaphone to get a SIM but apparently foreigners need some special letter to open a new account. The office that issues the letters is closed on weekends and I probably need to leave Bangalore on Monday. mmm just my luck.
Back at MG road I grab lunch and start looking for the Government of India Tourism Office which is supposed to be in the area. I figure they might be a good resource for trying to plan my next leg before I meet up with Jake in Delhi and so I bust out the map in my trusty Lonely Planet and try and find this office. I wander around for a good hour in the hottest part of the day looking for this place but cant find it. Eventually I realize the street I was let off earlier in the day was, in fact, NOT MG road but another busy street perpendicular to it. After finally getting my bearings straight I find the tourism office and discover I am 40 min too late and have to wait til monday if I want to go there. Indians sure take their weekends seriously. A little frustrated and extremely hot, I head over to a hip looking cafe I passed no less than 3 times wandering around looking for the tourism office.
Inside, I am actually pretty impressed. This place wouldn't be out of place with other cafes in Gangnam, Seoul. In fact, I have a sneaking suspicion this place is owned by a korean judging from the decor and several parties of koreans i've spotted here. The inside is pretty huge and comfy, its airconditioned, and there is free wifi. I dont think i've ever been so satisfied by a random cafe. After 3 hours of enjoying internet, catching up on news (esp happenings at CES), and blogging, this place is really starting to get busy in the late afternoon.
I guess its time to check out the real MG road, and try and contact my friend from the airport and see if i can see a night of bangalore from his perspective.
Update:
So for dinner I succumbed to my curiousity and went to McDonalds to check out their offerings in the land of no beef. I ordered a McVeggie meal and didnt specify a drink and so I ended up with a coke. The veggie patty was pretty good. Crunchy breading outside with curry flavored veggie patty inside. I'd eat it again. My first sip of coke after a 6 month break was also marvelous.
After McDonalds i hopped in a rickshaw to go back to my hotel and see if i could get in contact with my friends from the airport. On the way there my legs felt a little odd and i suspected that i could be coming down with something. It was then I remembered I had ordered an iced cappuccino in the cafe earlier and feared the worst that the ice in the drink will be causing me to have stomach problems for the next several days. Thoroughly psyched out, i decided to keep it a low key night by resting in my room and playing hearts and solitaire on my computer.
Fortunately when i woke up this morning i was completely fine and was just overreacting to nothing. whewww.
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