Goldfinch Hotel Bangalore

... New York (16-18 Mar 2011) and in Moscow (08-10 June 2011).

The event brings together hosted VIP buyers from specific regions around the world to meet with the world’s most sought after suppliers and makers of wine, spirits, beer and other alcoholic drinks to meet, exchange business terms and seal deals. This formula is successful because it is based on an unrivalled pre-qualified, pre-scheduled appointment system and ...

Well, the kids surprised us again. They wanted to go to school with Niko and Sonia and see what school was like in India. So with a couple of calls and emails, Nita arranged it all for us. And Sejal and Rahul went on the bus and to the Indus International School with their "cousins".

Sejal went to Niko's class in 5th grade, and Rahul hung out with Sonia’s class in 1st grade. Niko had golf ...

The first thing you notice about Bangalore is how green it is. As we were landing, it was lush with open spaces and you did not feel crowded in like we did in Mumbai and Hyderabad. The next thing you notice is the weather – it is mild and reminds me of Portland. We did not need the AC every second and the evenings had a nice breeze.

Today, Nita arranged for us to go to Family ...

... is 7 months younger than Sejal, and Sonia is 6. They get along great together, and we saw them this summer when Nita and the kids visited us in Portland.

In the evening, the kids stayed back with the cook and the 4 of us went out. We went to downtown Bangalore to a place called Aqua for drinks and dinner. Got home around 1:45am. Vijay’s friends from college joined us. It is cool that he has friends from school that he grew up with that he still is close to.

We took a cab 3 hours south back to old Goa. We stayed on a beach named Bogmalu near the Goa Airport. We walked the beach, watched sunset, and readied ourselves for an early departure the next morning. We were to board a Kingfisher Airlines flight to Cochin, in Kerala state. We could not get a direct flight so we had to make the connection in Bangalore, then fly on to Cochin.

We were up at 6:00 AM and found a cab (Hotel had failed to call on at our ...

Today was the last day of the trip, so we ate breakfast and then left Mysore. We were flying out of Bangalore Airport, which is inconveniently located 40km outside of the city. The drive should only take around 3-4 hours, but with the unpredictable nature of Indian traffic, we did not want to take any chances and left with ample time to make our evening flights. (It had rained in Bangalore the day before ...

... out of the shower head, there were literally 7 that sprayed water in all directions.  The buckets all of a sudden made sense, so I began to fill them and pour the water over my head.  Not a bad shower, just a little difficult to be sure I got rid of all the soap.   Cleaned up and feeling good, I headed over to Christ University with Ankur.  We hoped into one of those rickshaws, and honestly, it was like a roller coaster.  We were tearing in and out of traffic, ripping on ...

... in flip flops with no helmet- At lunch, we ate at pizza hut which was an extrodinary value and went to a local mall for dinner. We pased on McDonalds and ate at a nice restaurant that had a train on the inside. Here I am enjoying a Kingfisher beer (Good Times!)

... were in the other. Marie and I, being the harmless Canadians that we were, were under the impression that our rickshaw driver would simply follow the other rickshaw driver and take us to the correct hotel. Nope, that was too much to ask for. The two of us were brought to another city centre that was not Bangalore, and we were lost and separated. Marie had a cell phone but had no minutes on it. We didn't know what the hotel name was or the street our hotel ...

Part Deux. Our story continues after leaving the Mysore Palace. We stopped to get some lunch in one of the hotels locally, then continued on to the Dam Who's Name I've Forgotten. The Dam is about an hour away from Mysore Palace, so on the journey my driver told me the story behind the Dam. Apparently, the guy that designed it is heralded as a genius and a savior. He was riding a train in India some decades ago when he started to develop a severe headache. He pulled ...