After our visit to the National Park on Saturday we went out for a meal in a restaurant called, "The Only Place". It's essentially a steakhouse, not that common in Bangalore, the cow being a sacred animal to Hindus. Vegetarianism is the big thing here, but I've been a carnivore all my life and I'm unlikely to change now, especially at these prices! A Chateaubriand with all the trimmings for 300 rupees! (£3.75!) I had a beautifully done medium-rare steak, the first in many months, but maybe not the last before I leave India!

Though I happen to be in Bangalore right now, my spies are everywhere! Here is a photo of Ireland's 24 - 20 defeat of Italy at Ravenhill on Friday Night. With O'Driscoll injured, I half expected a phone call, but I suppose they didn't feel it was worthwhile bringing me all the way from India just to play against Italy! But without the ref we wouldn't have made it. I hope he's not planning his holidays in Italy this year!

You can buy nearly anything here straight off the street. The vegetable man and ice cream man, (to name but two) come to your door and the rest are on every street corner. (Note the bell on the ice cream man's cart! Real Mr Whippy stuff!)

You can also buy "The Bourne Ultimatum" on DVD here for 50R (60p)! I'm not sure whether the film has been released yet in the UK but every street DVD seller is selling it!

Was visiting another part of Bangalore today speaking to some staff at a Christan organisation in an area of the city known as "Richardstown!" This was the sign outside the park. Taken up on to the roof of a tall building and shown some great rooftop views of a part of the city I hadn't seen before!

BANGALORE TRAFFIC

One of my regular stops every day has become the "Coffee Day" Cafe on what is called the CMH Road, (The full name is too long!) Their slogan is, "A lot can happen over a cup of coffee". A lot can happen over a cup of coffee here because it moves at India speed and there's nothing "express" about their espresso! I usually sit outside in a covered terrace and on the street outside and watch life pass me by. From "Elecrical engineers" climbing telegraph poles in their bare feet to fix the supply to camel drivers and ox carts and a family on a scooter, "all human life is there!"

In the little booth facing the coffee shop a lady sells sweets, single cigarettes and tiny cups of tea to local men. (The tea comes in the sort of little plastic cup that you sometimes get with a bottle of medicine to measure out the dose!) It's also at a cross roads which always makes for drama with Bangalore traffic. Most days I'm there I see a minor "bump in traffic" accident and a great hullabaloo for five minutes which everybody joins in on.


Today when I arrived a tight rope walker had set up her equipment and for 15 minutes entertained us all with an amazing display. Not only walking, but then walking with a lid on one foot which she deftly lifted off and on the rope with every step. Then she walked across with her feet inside a cycle wheel and finally went across kneeling on a lid and pushing herself forward with her toes! She managed to collect a few Rupees from the onlookers, before the police arrived and moved her on! I've included some pictures of what is happening outside while I'm waiting for my coffee. I'm reading a copy of "Kim" by Rudyard Kipling during my time in India. The young lady told me that was her name. When I pointed out to her that her name badge didn't say that, she told me that "Kim" was her pet name. She is a real pet, no doubt about it.

Passed a booth at the side of the road selling engraved plastic signs. The owner had three samples of his work on display, "NO SMOKING" "WELCOME" & "ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY"! I suspect the last one isn't a big seller!

Bought a bag of coffee on the way home. 18 rupees. There are 80 rupees to £1. So it must be good stuff! I'll let you know!

Saturday is our day off school and so Dean, Lilian and I took an autorickshaw into the city centre centre to what is known as MG Road. (nothing to do with the sports car. MG stands for Mahatma Gandhi.)
Dean loves riding in rickshaws just for the adrenalin rush! They are crazy drivers. We stopped at a large emporium in which there were all sorts of locally produced handicrafts and carvings. Some amazing stuff! Being India of course shopping has to be a bit complicated so having made your purchases the sales girl takes them back off you and gives you a receipt in duplicate for each item you've bought. You then go downstairs and join a queue at a hatch where you hand one copy of the receipt to the guy there and pay him. You then join another queue at another hatch across the hallway and hand the other copy of the receipt to a guy there. His job is to put your goods in a bag and hand it to you. But of course your goods haven't arrived from upstairs yet, so you have to wait! These are the same goods you had in your hand twenty minutes ago! Eventually they arrive. You get your stuff and the transaction is completed.
We went for a snack and then on our way to a bookshop we bumped into the four Americans who were also staying with us at Prem and Rita's house and working in the school (what are the chances in a city of 7 million people!). Really impressed with the bookshop, like Waterstones except that the books are very cheap.

Eventually made our way home.

Went out and lay down in the park and read for a while.

We all went out for a meal that night to a beautiful Indian restaurant. Although you can't see it in the photograph, the cucumber in the centre of this dish has a candle glowing inside it like a little nightlite!Incidentally the bill for 9 of us was probably about £20! Can't get over these prices, and I'm putting on weight!

Thought I would just throw up some pictures of life here in Bangalore. We seem to be staying in one of the better "middle class" areas of the city. Indian society has a very rigid class system which I find I difficult to cope with sometimes. The people at the bottom seem to be existing on a few pence a day while at the other end, shops are stacked with the very latest high technology, mobile phones, cameras and HD televisions costing hundreds and thousands of pounds.
Have met a Christian guy here from Northern Ireland, Deane Lappin, who has been here for a number of weeks. He's a schoolteacher and has been helping out at Asha Kiran school and doing some travelling around India. He's from Aughnacloy. He's moving on to Dubai on Sunday.
I'm preaching again on Sunday and then going to a wedding on Sunday evening.
Lilian has been helping in the school and has been introducing some people to "Precept" Bible studies.
Still hot here. Tomorrow is a day off, and Prem comes back from a conference up in North India. Rita is holding the fort, cooking for everyone and making sure we don't get "ripped off" in the shops!

It's been a busy couple of days here and Internet access broke down so I'll bring you up to date.

We celebrated Indian Independence Day at Asha Kiran School on Tuesday, a day early, because the school was closed on Independence Day itself. The children and their parents all turned up in their finery and the schoolchildren put on a display in the playground. Then there was a further programme indoors. Then we all had lunch and went home.

The following day was a public holiday with lots of flag waving, fireworks and street parties. Went out for a walk and enjoyed the spectacle.

Later that evening Rita took us to a mall which demonstrated very forcibly to me the two faces of India, one very poor and the other fabulously rich! This mall stretched to 4 floors and was packed with some very expensive shops.

You could buy anything from a CD to a £50,000 necklace in here!

Eventually arrived in Bangalore but without our luggage! BA promised they would forward it to Prem and Rita's. Didn't arrive until Monday morning, but BA gave us a credit card with about 3000 Rupees on it! As I was able to buy 3 coffees and 3 samosas for less than 100 rupees, (or about one pound sterling) it should last us for a while! Bangalore is a cacophony of sounds and smells. I thought I heard about a hundred mobile phones going off at once, but it turns out to be cars reversing. When they reverse they play a tune like a mobile phone. Probably necessary here as the driving is crazy here and people just reverse out into fast moving traffic, and come at you from all directions and on both sides of the road!

Prem and Rita took us to a flower show on Saturday at which there were tens of thousands of people and the most amazing displays of flowers fruit and vegetables.

India is working its way up to its 60th Independence Day celebrations and Indian flags are everywhere. Wednesday, Independence Day itself, is a public holiday

Went down to see Rick and Katie in Greyabbey. Nice day again and so Rick and I went for a walk round the ruins. Greyabbey was founded in 1193 by Affreca who was the wife of John de Courcy, who also built Carrickfergus Castle.

Also some pictures of Reuben in the bath! You're not afforded much privacy when you're only 8 months old!

Well we left Omey on Sunday afternoon when the tide went out and eventually made our way home. There are still a million places I would like to visit in Connemara. I'd like to climb the 12 Pins and visit many more of the little villages but it was a great week in every sense. It's a beautiful place.

Here's me closing the door of the cottage. For all you non Irish speakers the shirt says, "You'll never see the likes of me again!" But I hope it will many times!

We drove up home on a glorious evening past Ben Bulben. WB Yeats is buried in Drumcliff graveyard underneath it.

Thought this was good! Letterfrack sea tours! hope this isn't the boat! The local boats in Connamara are of course curraghs, a light wooden frame with a tarred canvas skin.
Still enjoying the West of Ireland, although we haven't travelled very far from Omey.
Here is the little cottage in which we are staying. Really a delightful place with a turf fire and here is me coming home with some wild flowers I have gathered for my wife!

We are going to be on this island until Sunday which means we have to go to the mainland from time to time for drinking water and groceries. Really feeling the benefit of being "away from it all" and slowing down. No phone, no internet access, (I'm writing this a week later when I'm back in "civilization"), no callers at the door even and we've imposed a TV and radio ban, and it's amazing the difference it makes! Lots of time to read and think. (Sometimes I sit and think,... and sometimes I just sit!)