Nandi Hills

Trip Start May 07, 2005

Trip End Aug 28, 2005

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Flag of India Nandi Hills, India
Saturday, May 21, 2005

In India people are willing to help you all the time. If you need the help or not, it doesn't matter! This time I was very happy about the Indians who pointed me to the right bus to Chikaballapur. I still can't pronounce the name of this town but the people told me that it would be on my way to Nandi Hills where I wanted to this day.

In the early morning the bus was not very crowded, still the hard seats were challenging on the bumpy Indian streets. I do not want to complain I was looking almost all the time out of the window seeing working people passing by and soon the bus escaped the crowded areas of Bangalore's inner city. More fields appear and of course more cows can be seen. We are crossing several railway gates, all of them with a small house and a crank handle to open and close them by hand. I am amazed by the exotic charm of the country. A little girl sitting the seat row in front of me starring the whole drive with big, wide opened, glancing eyes at me is the only reminder that not this country is so exotic, but I am

another breathtaking view

!

I arrive at Chikaballapur. It seems to be a small place. The bus arrives at a small terminal which is probably the wrong word for it, because it seemed to be more a market place. People were running in between the busses and trying to sell ananas, bananas and more. I had to ask around to find out that I just missed the bus to Nandi Hills. The next would be in one and a half hour. I decided not to wait and took a rickshaw! Nandi Hills is a small station on top of a mountain which arises some 600 meters out of the vast plains around Bangalore! It was a awesome drive to the top of the hill and also a challenge for the small engine of the rickshaw. After a while and quite a few other vehicles overtaking us we reached the top!

The first thing I did realize were the animals on this mountain. I could see some colorful lizards laying in the hot sun and there was a small dirty tarn with some frogs inside but the most impressive for me were of course the monkeys jumping all around the trees! Only a few beggars bothered me, but the lack of these was replaced by the brashness of the monkeys. They are used to get feed by the Bangalore's weekenders and so they were very excited about my bag of chips! I felt sorry about the monkeys but I ate all of the chips on my own

Bus

!

Further on there is a small temple to be seen which makes a nice view against the blue sky but the best is the breathtaking views you can have down the mountain over small Indian villages surrounded by fields and dirty roads heading to the horizon!

A especially steep part of the mountain is called 'Tipu's drop'. Tipu was a ruler in this part of India a couple of hundred years ago and what are mighty people like him doing on places like this? They built a big fortress, right! Well, Tipu did not do this, he actually thought this would be a nice place to get rid of some enemies and prisoners. So they were pushed over the cliff and I am sure that this was a really final and deadly judgment.

It was very hot and after some hours enjoying the place I decided to go back. I thought the bus in Chikaballapur already was full but still I am not used to the Indian way of transportation. People standing everywhere inside the bus sticking to everything which seems to be attached or semi attached. The bus only slows down at stop and a man starts screaming for Bangalore and even more people are jumping into the open door! A TV is showing an Indian movie which -at least for me- makes no sense at all, because only the people standing in the very first row just before the TV could be able to see it... I am happy to get out of the bus around one hour later!