Bhagwan Mahaveer Road and a church in Bangalore, India

Time to head back to the airport ... told you it was a short visit to Bangalore, in secular India!

You better believe it ... Do Not Drink and Drive!

Otto's are everywhere! Sort of like an Indian version of the Thai Tuk-Tuk or Filipino Jeepney!

Briyani and Aloo Gobi, Bangalore - India

We had a little lamb briyani with some kurd, delicious :-)

No meal in India is complete for me without ... Aloo Gobi, potatoes and cauliflower.

37th Crescent Hotel, Bangalore - India

Add: 37 Crescent Road, High Grounds, Crescent Road, Seshadripuram, Bangalore, Karnataka 560001, India
Tel: +91 80 4037 3737

Welcome to 37th Crescent ...


"Refreshingly different" is an interesting tagline for any hotel :-) The hotel reminded me of a little home, which was nice!


We checked in at 7:30am ... had breakies immediately, showered, rested for a few minutes ... and checked out at 8:30am, thanks to our delayed Air India flight :-(


View from the balconey ... pity we didn't have enough time to enjoy the hotel (or Bangalore)!

My first visit to Bengaluru ... Oops, Bengalore, India!

Bangalore or Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka, and better known as the Silicone Valley of India. Seems it is the third most populated city in India. These are a few photos from my first visit here, and it turned out to be a very busy 11 hour whistle-stop business visit!

We were impressed by the cleanliness, the cool climate as well as the great local airport :-)


Welcome to India!


A mad blue bus who was carving and cutting everyone up!


Passed by a nice parkland golf course on the way to our hotel...

Its been a while since I last flew to India! KLIA - Bombay - Bangalore, MH194

Always keeping myself hydrated on flights ... pink guava, orange and ... hic ... Tiger too!


I rather enjoyed the meal served on ...
Flight: MH 194
Route: KUL - BOM (Kuala Lumpur KLIA - Mumbai)
Time: 8:15pm - 10:40pm

Note the lime pickle and traditional roti served :-) MAS has certainly picked up the pieces, and improved. Another bearable flight!


Pity... the connecting flight to Bengaluru (Bangalore) was much delayed, grrrr!
Flight: Air India, AI 620
Route: Mumbai (BOM) to Bangalore (BLR)
Time: Supposed to be ... 1:30am - 3:20am , but various technical glitches meant the flight left at about 4am ... we got to BLR at 6am!

Whats even worse ... When we arrived from KL at Mumbai airport, we had to go through multiple security checkpoints, wait in very long queues for really severe baggage scanning and checking, blah blah ... We couldn't believe there were so many people at the airport past midnight!

Flight MH705 back to Malaysia ... Yay!

Flight: MH 705
Route: Manila - KLIA

Thanks to a 2 hour delay, we managed to catch a last minute flight back to KL :-)


Very ordinary-tasting chicken with noodles ... Couldn't wait to arrive in KL for some proper food!


Lucky me ... had ALL these seats to myself!

Manila Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Philippines

A rainy afternoon in Manila bid us farewell...


Arrival at the Ninoy Aquino Manila International Airport


View from the airport...


Be prepared to see LOTS of people at this rather basic airport...


ps. This was a photo I should have posted earlier, of the Immigration checkpoint at Arrivals, note the hand-sanitizer in-light of the H1N1 outbreak.

Another rainy day in Manila ... Time to say goodbye

It was really rainy weather in the Philippines in mid-July ...

Time to say goodbye to the Philippines ...

Price of gas or petrol in Manila, Philippines

Price of gas or petrol in the Philippines is ... RM$2.74 per litre. That's pricey by Malaysian standards! I believe its still RM$1.80 per litre in "tanahair" of Malaysia ... :-)

Pork Sisig, Makati - Phillipines

Hmm ... perhaps an acquired taste! This is Pork Sisig.


Funny that Anthony Bourdain describes it as a "mosaic of pig parts"!!

An interesting sour soup, with long beans and slices of aubergine. Interesting!

Breakies again at the Mandarin Oriental, Makati

A really good selection of different breakfast meals at Mandarin Oriental ... I tried them all!

English ....


Oriental ...


Japanese and Indian too!

Night in Manila, Philippines

It was a really short visit to Manila, these were about the only non-hotel and non-office photos I took! A rainy night in Manila...


What's MFHRI? Manila Floating Hotel and Restaurant :-)
This ship is docked at Pier 15, in the port area of Manila near the hotel relic that is known as the Manila Hotel.

Statue of Jose Rizal (1861 - 1896) ...

Shangri-La Makati, Manila - Shang Palace Chinese dinner

Add: Ayala Avenue, corner of Makati Avenue, Manila 1200, Philippines
Tel: +63 2 813 8888

Possibly the most elegant hotel in Manila ... this is the Shangri-La :-)


We were taken to dinner at the ubiquitous Shang Palace.


The food turned out to be reasonably good, I especially enjoyed the sweet and sour pork with almonds :-) SLURRRRP!