Trip Log #3 - Friday 10/24
Oct. 25th, 2003 02:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
volksdragonYes, I skipped a day. I was busy. But now, since my TV's exploded, I have no excuse to not sit here and type to you folks.
Friday: Friday here was the official holiday of Diwali, festival of lights. Yes, there are lights on everything. Colored lights, white lights, and PLENTY of firecrackers. I'd forgotten about the fireworks until last night, about 11pm, when a HUGE BOOM went off outside my window. Yeah, it's interesting. So, anyway, holiday, Friday, Prasanna, the guy I'm working with here, took me to Bannerghatta Park, which is a Zoo and Game Preseve 15km or so outside of Bangalore. It was nice to get out of the city and the traffic and pollution. The weather was very nice, and we left about 10:30am, arriving there around Noon or so. We arrived and got the tickets for the Bus trip into the game preserve, and then got seats way up front on the bus, in order to get good pictures. The Game Preserve consists of several thousand acres of relatively open grassland, and then, segregated into several hundred acre sections, fenced off(and I mean like Jurassic Park fenced off) areas containing Lions, Tigers, or Leopards. After going through a chain-link double-door lock mechanism, the bus driver simply drives into the fenced off areas, and then wanders around on the little access roads looking for Big Kitties. The cats are, of course, relatively non-plussed by us being there in a huge metal vehicle, and in a stunning display of disdain for animal feelings, the bus drivers rev the engines on the busses to get the cats to walk around for better picture-taking possibilities. :| Well, since I was there, I took pictures. They have some very pretty tigers, and a beautiful white tiger. Pictures to be posted soon, of course. The Lions weren't quite as magnificent, but they were decent cats.
So, after looking for big cats we were driven back out to peruse the Zoo. Bannerghatta Zoo has plenty of birds in cages, of various types, some monkeys, some VERY pretty snakes, some absurd looking alligators with teeny narrow snouts, and an "aquarium." The aquarium is a bunch of tropical fish in over-algaed 25 gallon fishtanks in a dim room. :) Yeah, well, Zoos here aren't like Zoos in the US! I did get a picture of a funny sleeping Black Bear and some nice Zebras.
The weather was very nice, so we stayed at the zoo for probably 3 hours or so, and then retired for lunch, some rather spicy Indian Food, along with a very good bottle (or two) of Kingfisher Strong Ale. It's one of the strongest Lagers I've ever had, and quite tasty. :) After that, Prasanna suggested we retire for the day, since the next day (Saturday, today) was going to start early and end late, and he wasn't kidding! But, that's for the next log, when we visit Historical India.
So, I headed back to the hotel where I proceeded to play Battlefield 1942 for the next EIGHT HOURS, while watching cricket on TV. I'm starting to understand it more. Prasanna described Cricket as "Baseball, but with some extra rules." Uh, yeah, I'll say. Somewhere in there, I ordered dinner, and ate it, and then the TV blew up JUST before the end of "Jackie Brown." Grr. That was Saturday!
Friday: Friday here was the official holiday of Diwali, festival of lights. Yes, there are lights on everything. Colored lights, white lights, and PLENTY of firecrackers. I'd forgotten about the fireworks until last night, about 11pm, when a HUGE BOOM went off outside my window. Yeah, it's interesting. So, anyway, holiday, Friday, Prasanna, the guy I'm working with here, took me to Bannerghatta Park, which is a Zoo and Game Preseve 15km or so outside of Bangalore. It was nice to get out of the city and the traffic and pollution. The weather was very nice, and we left about 10:30am, arriving there around Noon or so. We arrived and got the tickets for the Bus trip into the game preserve, and then got seats way up front on the bus, in order to get good pictures. The Game Preserve consists of several thousand acres of relatively open grassland, and then, segregated into several hundred acre sections, fenced off(and I mean like Jurassic Park fenced off) areas containing Lions, Tigers, or Leopards. After going through a chain-link double-door lock mechanism, the bus driver simply drives into the fenced off areas, and then wanders around on the little access roads looking for Big Kitties. The cats are, of course, relatively non-plussed by us being there in a huge metal vehicle, and in a stunning display of disdain for animal feelings, the bus drivers rev the engines on the busses to get the cats to walk around for better picture-taking possibilities. :| Well, since I was there, I took pictures. They have some very pretty tigers, and a beautiful white tiger. Pictures to be posted soon, of course. The Lions weren't quite as magnificent, but they were decent cats.
So, after looking for big cats we were driven back out to peruse the Zoo. Bannerghatta Zoo has plenty of birds in cages, of various types, some monkeys, some VERY pretty snakes, some absurd looking alligators with teeny narrow snouts, and an "aquarium." The aquarium is a bunch of tropical fish in over-algaed 25 gallon fishtanks in a dim room. :) Yeah, well, Zoos here aren't like Zoos in the US! I did get a picture of a funny sleeping Black Bear and some nice Zebras.
The weather was very nice, so we stayed at the zoo for probably 3 hours or so, and then retired for lunch, some rather spicy Indian Food, along with a very good bottle (or two) of Kingfisher Strong Ale. It's one of the strongest Lagers I've ever had, and quite tasty. :) After that, Prasanna suggested we retire for the day, since the next day (Saturday, today) was going to start early and end late, and he wasn't kidding! But, that's for the next log, when we visit Historical India.
So, I headed back to the hotel where I proceeded to play Battlefield 1942 for the next EIGHT HOURS, while watching cricket on TV. I'm starting to understand it more. Prasanna described Cricket as "Baseball, but with some extra rules." Uh, yeah, I'll say. Somewhere in there, I ordered dinner, and ate it, and then the TV blew up JUST before the end of "Jackie Brown." Grr. That was Saturday!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2003-10-25 11:36 am (UTC)Pictures sound like they're gonna be fun, though! :-)
no subject
Date: 2003-10-25 09:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-10-25 11:48 pm (UTC)*giggles*
no subject
Date: 2003-10-25 12:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-10-25 01:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-10-25 06:53 pm (UTC)Speaking of baseball....
Date: 2003-10-27 09:14 am (UTC)Re: Speaking of baseball....
Date: 2003-10-27 07:39 pm (UTC)