We arrived this morning at Bangalore bus station at around about 6.30am after our 10hour bus journey from Chinnar.We stepped off the bus to the usual gaggle of rickshaw drivers wanting to take you to some accommodation (for which you'll pay a higher room rate to cover their commission!), so we managed to barter one down and get a lift to the main area in Bangalore, M.G Road (with no intention to take his room!).From here we walked for the next 2 hours trying to find accommodation but it was all so bloody expensive! Bangalore is like the London of England so the prices for everything go through the roof. Whilst trying to find a room we came across a driver who said he would drive us around the sites all day for free as long as he could take us to a few shops - the way it works is that he gets commission from the shop owners for bringing a tourist to potentially buy something from their shop.Of course we didn't mind doing this as we had now decided to leave that night on an overnight bus to Hampi after meeting Laura's friend Vinay. So we spent the day seeing the sights and visiting shops, it worked out well really because we covered a large distance and we had somewhere safe to store the bags for the day.Laura took us to a 5* resort called Leela Palace where she used the pool during her time here 3 years ago -it's a Kempinski hotel so it's absolutely gorgeous and has a huge shopping mall (complete with cinema and bowling alleys!) attached to it. She showed me around the pool and gym/spa facilities - nobody was in the shower/changing rooms and we were feeling a bit grubby after our travels so she suggested we use them... which we did! The showers were amazing - so nice and hot with all the products you could think of supplied, together with huge white fluffy towels!!!We didn't get to enjoy them though cuz we had to be quick (yep, even Laura!) in case we got caught! The staff there were so relaxed they didn't even bat an eyelid - in fact they were really helpful! Throughout the place there were free bottles of water and apples too, which we helped ourselves to, haha! We strolled around as though we were guests there! After that we got out as quick as we could and went back to the car.We tried to find the house Laura had stayed in whilst she was here with work but she couldn't remember where it was, which was no surprise cuz she has no sense of direction!

We'd arranged to meet Vinay at the Hard Rock Café (yep, they have them in India!) at 6.30pm so we went there thinking it was going to be extortionate, but the burgers were only around 315rps (just over £4!).It was expensive for our budget (cuz we've only been paying around £1-£2 for both of our meals... with drinks!) but when you think we went to the Hard Rock Café in Barcelona and just the cocktails were about £15 each, you realise how cheap it is! Vinay was late (stuck in the manic Indian traffic) so we ordered some drinks - it was happy hour so we had a beer bucket containing 3 pint-sized bottles of Fosters for 244rps. Vinay arrived at about 7 - Laura was really happy to see him and I was glad to finally meet him - he's such a nice guy. Vinay wanted to take us to a tandoori place so we didn't eat at the Hard Rock Café - the place he took us to was really posh and the food was amazing... and he paid for everything! He wouldn't take a rupee from us! That's what a lot of people in India are like - they're so keen to show you their hospitality they'll do anything for you. He's doing really well at work though (Laura feels thanks to her training!) so he must have been able to afford it. He was really disappointed we weren't staying longer and told Laura off for not letting him know sooner that we were coming (but we didn't know we'd be visiting Bangalore as it wasn't in the original schedule!). He asked if we could come back at the weekend after visiting Hampi and wanted us to stay at his house, so we agreed! He wants to show us more of his Indian hospitality, and he was married about 2 months ago so he wants us to meet his new wife and his mother, who lives with them. We were supposed to be going straight to Goa from Hampi but it's only an 8 hour overnight bus back to Bangalore so nothing major!!!Haha!We're really looking forward to going back to see him though. Vinay dropped us at the bus station to catch our 11pm overnight bus to Hampi, so we'll tell you all about that in our next blog! Love you all millions! Xxx