please! i need help! (Bangalore/Mysore)

dmontgom22

<sigh>

I am in a full-on panic here. I am traveling to Bangalore, arriving on 4/8. I will be on business until 4/13, checking out on the morning of 4/14.

My 16 year-old son, and my 17-year old daughter are coming with me. This is our first trip to India. My kids are pertty flexible and adventuresome. Their mom and others think bringing them is a horrible idea. I am viewing it as more of an opportunity of a lifetime for them (and me).

We are flying out of Bangalore on the morning of 4/21, leaving us 5 days and 5 nights of vacation time.

My thoughts were this:
Saturday, travel Bangalore to Mysore, spending Saturday night in Mysore. Visit the Mysore area.

Sunday, travel Mysore to Nagarhole, spending Sunday night near the park and visiting the park 2 times. (Originally planned on Bandipur until I read in various places that Nagarhole would be more to our liking).

Monday, travel back to Mysore, spend Monday night in Mysore. Visit Rangana Thittu bird sanctuary

Tuesday, travel back to Bangalore,spending Tuesday and Wednesday nights in Bangalore

Seeing wildlife is VERY HIGH on our want-to-do list. (ok, tigers would be cool, but birds and all others are infinitely satisfactory).

so, here is the source of my panic. We become stranded in Bangalore on Saturday morning, 4/14. And while my proposed itinery seems reasonable with regard to not being too rushed and enjoying our trip but i have NO IDEA how to make this happen. How to arrange transport, accommodations, tours, etc.

Is there are reputable tour operator in Bangalore that can assist me in setting up this itinery?

Should I try to schedule it myself once we get there?

What is the best way to communicate while I am still in the USA?

Thank you, thank you,thank you in advance for ANY advice you can give me. I'm fairly desparate here. I want my kids (and me) to have a good time, and I REALLY don't want to hear their Mom say, "I told you so!"

dana

Merchant

Here's just some quick advice:

India is a fascinating place, even you are not doing something extravagant, so your kids will be entertained--and challenged in good ways--just by being there. It really is the opportunity of a lifetime.

India's wildlife options are relatively poor, especially compared to Africa. You can probably see some birds but tigers--actually seeing them on a preserve--might be pretty hard. India is not Africa when it comes to this stuff. Demand is low; infrastructure is weak; and plain and simple, there's just not much wildlife left in India. There are too many people.

Bangalore is a modern town, with modern conveniences, plenty of travel agents, etc. If you can't arrange everything from home, don't worry about it. You can do it once you arrive, where it might be a little easier anyway and you'll feel more comfortable about it.

Communicating with home is easy. You can email from anywhere, including the "business center" at your hotel. Bangalore has an internet cafe on every corner. Also, text messaging is cheap. If you subscribe to a cell provider in the US like T-Mobile, and have a tri-band phone, you can just use your cell phone--but it's expensive. You can also buy a local sim card for a tri-band, unlocked phone, and you can call your wife more cheaply.

The NYTimes just explained all this stuff in a great article:

link

Good luck. You and your kids will have a fabulous time, even if it's hard to feel comfortable with that notion right now.

TulsaisntFar

Youve got the right idea. Your kids will love it, they are far old enough to love it, i was only 17 my first time. Go to mysore and nagarhole and dont forget, bangalore has a lot of cool stuff too. Good luck

Indizen

Kabini river lodge is not far from Nagarhole. It is popular with nature lovers. It was once the hunting lodge of the Maharaja of Mysore. You can see elephants over there.

capt_mahajan

dana, have moved this to the Bangalore forum, and added (Bangalore/Mysore) to the title... to make it clearer for people to respond.

crvlvr

I'd second Indizen's suggestion . Here is the link to some resort info -- http://www.junglelodges.com/resort_o...esort=Kab ini

If you can, plan to do your wild life viewing during the week. Weekends are generally booked up by the local crowd.

Merchant is quite right in his comaprison of the pronbabality of seeing wildlife in India (v. Africa) However, It hink its more to do with the fact that India's wild life live un thick jungle where visibility is poor. Typically you will not be able to see more than 50-100' into the jungle and won't see animals unless they want to be seen.

phantom

I went to nagarhole and it was hugely dissappointing.. heck.. we spot more animals on the street of bangalore ... !!

If you really want to see wildlife, you should go to parambikulum (which would be a tough trek inside the jungle to actually spot wildlife) or forget south and go to north (jim corbett national park) or else you can visit Bannerghatta national park, in bangalore.. (their zoo safari is quite good)

jyotirmoy

The temples of Halebid should not be missed

rudy

i think the link i am sending you would be more than sufficent to check for u r travel...
http://kstdc.nic.in/

Rudy

canoeberry

Hi Dana,
We just got back from 2 weeks in South India in February travelling with our 2 kids 11 & 12 year old (boy and girl). They LOVED it. It was an amazing family trip.
We spent most of our time in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, but did go to Tholpetty wildlife sanctuary, Mysore and Bangalore. I have alot of information to share with you!
While in Bangalore, your daughter would probably enjoy having clothes made. You can go to a fabric shop, and then a tailor. If she takes pictures of clothes she wants, or the actual article of clothing she wants copied, they will make it for her in a matter of hours or days. Very inexpensive and a fun project!
We ate at a great Chinese restaurant while in Bangalore - the Green Onion. Near MG Road and Residency Road.
I think your teeenagers should be fine going around Bangalore by themselves. My only caution would be that your daughter is surely not accustommed to covering up as much as one should cover up in India, even in the modern city of Bangalore. She will get less unwanted attention if she follows the local customs in terms of dress.
For wildlife viewing, we stayed at Pachyderm Palace (booked via email see the website indiatraveldesk.com) only one night. They arranged jeep safaris for us in the evening and in the morning (call ahead to tell them you want it for the evening when you arrive). We saw more wildlife in the evening - wild elephants, bison, langurs, macaques, kingfisher, wild boar, samba deer... It was great. Not sure where the elephants are in April, if they are still in Tholpetty, but we saw wild elephants both times out. But no tigers...
We used Indian Panorama (recommended elsewhere on this site) to book our car for the first week (a Toyota Qualis) and then just arranged taxis and cars on our own for the second week. Both worked out fine. The second week we discovered it is hard to find taxis or cars with seat belts, though. That took a little adjusting. The advantage to arranging the car locally was that we always had local drivers who could tell us something about the place where we were.
Indian Panorama also booked some of the hotels for us - they were great. Our car from them was great (with seat belts!), our driver a sweetheart. But I am sure you will be able to arrange a car and driver from Bangalore, and it is such a modern place, with lots of westerners visiting, that you can probably even get a nice car with seat belts!
You could consider going from Bangalore to Mysore by train, and then getting a car from Mysore on.
In Mysore we stayed at the President Hotel which was fine. (not amazing, just fine). Ate at a great restaurant - Ramanashree Comfort (in hotel) on Sri Harsha Road. Of course you will see the palace (skip the residence!) and the market. If you want a guide for the palace you can find an official one right at the palace.
Before we went we made a donation to CRY America. We were glad we had done something to help. Some of the poverty, especially in the cities, can be hard to take. With beggars you are not sure you want to give some money or buy fruit for them (and to have as a result more and more beggars following you...) it is good to know you have given to a charity. Of course you will also give to some beggars or maybe buy them fruit, but best to do that just before you are hoping in the car!
Good to talk to your kids about the money difference - it is not just a question of exchange rate - people earn less and things cost less.
We also took 3 duffles full of hand me down clothes, toys and books which we delivered to an orphanage. Both kids considered that a highlight of their trip. If your kids are interested, there is a good charity - SOS Children's Villages of India which has an orphanage in Bangalore. (Sure you can find other orphanages in Bangalore also)
Also there is the school pen thing - your kids will probably want to have some pens to give to kids. (Not so much for in Bangalore, but for other places.)
I used Rough Guide to South India and Footprint South India for maps, restaurant advice etc. Make copies of the pages on Bangalore for your kids so they don't have to carry the whole book with them.
They will probably love the rickshaws for getting around.
If they are into world music at all, there are big music stores on Brigade Road where they can listen to the cd before buying it.
Have fun! Hope you and your kids love India as much as my family did!
-Jennifer

blue_lotus

I was in Bangalore and Mysore last December. I hired a taxi traveling from Mysore to Bangalore, which costs 2000 RP, took about 3 hours. It's very reasonable and more comfortable than taking the train for 3 of you. I stayed at Mysore Residency Hotel, it's a pleasant new hotel in central area. Every hotel has travel desk that can arrange taxi for you.

Commercial Road in Bangalore has interesting clothes that your daughter might like, the old city market is facinating. But the sidewalk in Bangalore is just terrible, with broken stones everywhere, so it's good to bring shoes that protect your feet. One more thing, if you need any sleeping aid during travel, you should bring it because in India you need doctor prescription for sleeping pills. I was scared to see stay dogs at first, but I found they didn't bother people.

In general I think you will find things are easier than you imagined, and people are so nice and helpful, although the shopkeepers are more much more aggresive than in the west.

I hope this information helps you planning your trip. I am sure you and your children will have a great time!

ddevadatta

I just did the Bangalore-Mysore leg last month with an appetite for wildlife. Ranganitu Bird Santury was teeming with birds, the authorities have really done a nice job in beautifying the place; it was pleasant. I saw some 40 species.

Also went to Nagerhole. The best place to stay is Jungle Inn. Really nice accomadations, the food is excellent and wildlife was good both mornings and evenings. I met the owner Mr Sr Aruna and his son Mr. Deepu. They treat guests well. They will remember me: Daniel Devadatta. You can mention my name. They also took me to a Tibetan Colony which was different. So clean; the rugs we purchased were of great quality and reasonably priced.

Here is contact for Jungle Inn:

Phone Number: 91-08222-246022/ 91-0821-2470161/ 91-09448271975
Email Address: info@jungleinnnagarhole.com

Great you are taking you kids along. Mine never forgot the wildlife experience...

__________________
Ayurvedic cure for an Indian headache

dmontgom22

Thank you all for your suggestions and comments. I am incredibly excited about this trip and incredibly scared at the same time! Less than two weeks and we will be in India! woo hoo!

thank you all again,
dana

phreako1

if you want to have your trip planned out for you, check
http://www.striderexpeditions.com they specialize in wildlife stuff.
I used to go to Mudumalai quite often and go for treks in the morning. Always got to see some wildlife (elephants, bear, lot's of deer, wildboar, wild dogs, bison...)
Most of the places to stay will organize these walks for you. Better chances of spotting things than in the regular forest dept park rides.
have fun