bye, bye bangalore

our last day in bangalore we spent a good deal of time resting up and relaxing in anticipation of getting back on the bikes. read alot, repacked, boxed some things up for shipping. with newly lightening bags, our spirits were up. we headed out about 7pm. immediately i had a flat tire. on closer inspection a TWO INCH NAIL was embedded in my tire. if you're going to have a puncture, that's the way to do it - no questions, and nothing i could have done.

after a quick tube-swap with the usual lookers-on, we headed down to the main shopping district and parked the bikes in an alley near a bar called amoeba.  since their was Wi-Fi there, we set our phones to download new music, push mail, etc. Eliot went around the corner and picked up some more McVeggie sandwiches which turned out to be a not-so-good idea. tummy grumbles.

with some trepedation, we found the central train station.  we ended up asking a rickshaw driver who was headed there himself and bid us follow. for a few minutes we were leaning hard into the pedals, keeping up with the motorized rickshaw while dodging traffic and the usual road hazards of urban india. somehow, we made it to the train station alive and with all our bags intact.

a quick form to fill out and 70Rs. and the bike were carted off to be loaded. with any luck, they'd make it to hospet with us. even though we requested upper berths, we were given middle ones, but were asked to swap to uppers by a family with a young baby. with the wi-fi, the iPhone was full of new music, and early in the day i had replaced the bike light i left on the train to bangalore with a new mag light. with Herodtus' the Histories, i climbed up into my bunk, satisfied with all these auspicious signs.

it was sad to see bangalore go. we had a great experience there and Sayo and Danny were the very finest of hosts. really, every comfort was available there and it was a peaceful, safe place to rest up between outbound expeditions. bye bye, bangalore.