Nandi Hills Experience

I’ve just realized that I have not written anything related with travelling. Even though this is an entrepreneurship programme, I do think travelling is one experience that also gives us insights into India, its economy, its culture, its history, and so on and so forth.

So let me start from Nandi Hills Experience.

On the first Sunday in Bangalore, we missed the direct bus from Bangalore to Nandi Hills (thanks to our rubber time habit), so according to the guide book and Rax, the nearest area is Chikkaballapur (which we shortened to be chicken ball). I forgot how long the journey was, maybe 2 hours, enough to have a long nap :P In Chikkaballapur, we changed to another bus to Nandi Hills. The situation in the bus interchange at Chikkaballapur was unusual because the beggars entered the bus while the bus waited for the passengers to fill the bus. The first bus costed Rs 40 while the second bus fare was Rs 16.

Once we reached Nandi Hills, most of us desperately needed to go to toilet, but the toilet didn’t look ‘convincing’. Some of the girls were also finding some spaces behind walls but of course at the end we didn’t use the ‘toilet-behind-the-wall’. 

So...we started to climb the hill. It was quite tiring, but the view from the top was supernice!! The wind was very strong. It was not as cooling as how I imagine a hill or mountain is supposed to be, but the view of the cities is just amazing. Many people were just sitting at the top and enjoying the wind. We also went to the playground. In Indonesia, there is this thing that we always use to tease other people who suddenly become childish “Masa-kecil-kurang-bahagia”, which literally means, “unhappy childhood”. We use this term to tease people who do chidren’s activities and be childish for a while because we say, “You didn’t manage to have enough of it during your childhood.” So...that’s what happened to us. We climbed to the ‘clock-tower’. Arrgggh, how to describe it?? There is a circle, you can climb it coz it’s not that tall (of course, I need more effort coz I’m just too short), and in the middle of the circle is a clock. The funny thing in the playground was people often asked to take picture with us, usually it’s the small kids, but everytime Arvin tried to hold the 3-year-old boys, they cried! (two occasions :P) 

Well, the best part was coming back from Nandi Hills. Oh by the way, I don’t know how we managed to hike without having lunch. Thanks to Chang Tai’s biscuit, his survival kit! J We were waiting for the bus at 3pm (this was based on the information given by a lot of people that we met before we climbed up). We were waiting...and waiting...and waiting... One after another auto-rickshaw tried to offer us a ride and dogs were waiting too, but for our biscuits. Around 4pm, the bus came!! And guess what, LOTS of people were running after the bus!! Oh nooo..we won’t get seats! And the people threw their bags through window to chop the seat. In that urgent situation, Arvin climbed into the bus (helped by Chang Tai and Rax) while Kevin, Jessica, Gen, Elizabeth, Jo Leen, Tiang Tiang, and me tried to push and push and push from the main door and push and push and push to walk and sit at the chopped seat. Fiuhhh...

Arghhh... now I regret why I didn’t write the detailed experience as soon as I came back L At least after that trip, we knew how to get into the right bus. Just asked the driver or the conductor, “Nandi Hills? Chikkaballapur?” and just got into the bus. J Then, always bring enough biscuits for 4-hour journey :)