We arrived at our hotel the Halcyon Condos after a very frightening experience in Indian traffic. We were glad to be there, and alive.
We arrived there at approximately 06:00 since international flights to Bengaluru usually arrive in the early morning hours. As a side note, I later began to use military time – 24 hour clock – to indicate when I would do something. I would add EST, for Eastern Standard Time, or IST, for Indian Standard Time. This method proved itself time after time (that’s not a pun) when it brought clarity to calling the USA or meeting people in India. You will see it used many times in these pages.
I was really excited to be in India and, although I was very tired, I really didn’t want to have even a small nap. We went to the Halcyon restaurant, Cilantro, and had morning breakfast. I met for the first time people with whom I have formed lasting relationships through the years.
By the way, locals pronounce the hotel name as “hal-key-on”. If you decide to say at this hotel, which I highly recommend, it will help if you know the local pronunciation so you can tell your taxi driver where you want to go when you are done exploring. Also, I suggest that you carry a few of the Hotel’s business cards to show the driver. Finally, a business card is known as a “visiting card” in India.
Halcyon has a number of different room configurations. We stayed in a suite that had 3 bedrooms, living room, kitchen. For us, this was overkill since there is a delicious restaurant that serves great food and is open extra long hours. The bar has a full license so you can order just about anything you miss from home. There is also a pool, weight room and massage available. If you want to go exploring, they have their own cars and drivers to take you anywhere you want to go.
Over the years, I have returned to Halcyon a number of times.
At the top of this page, there is a photo of the Forum Mall.
The Forum is within walking distance of the Halcyon and it’s an interesting 25 minute excursion.
The Forum features a number of shops but the most interesting is the Pizza Hut which – the last time I was there – offered REAL pepperoni for the pizzas.
Normally, pepperoni is “chicken pepperoni” and doesn’t taste anything like what a westerner would think of when thinking pepperoni.
The next post in this story is 3 Red Fish in Bengaluru.