Climbing in Ramanagar

I went climbing in Ramanagar this Saturday with Romain, who I met at the climbing wall last week, and Dean, who's visiting the India office from Seattle to take care of some legal stuff. We left Bangalore at about 9am and reached Ramanagar about 10:30ish. Dean went on a hike of the area while Romain and I headed towards some 'easy' climbing near a lake. I don't know the names of the climbs we did. I say 'easy' and not easy because the climbs weren't rated too high. I know I'm capable of doing them in the gym but, for some reason, I get pretty freaked out on real rock. It's only the 3rd or 4th time that I've climbed outdoors. I definitely want to go back more often and get comfortable climbing outside.

It was hot as hell during the day and we as exhausted from the heat as the actual climbing. We stopped for a quick lunch on the way back. Dean was surprised that you could get a light meal for four people for Rs. 140 - probably because his food consumption had been restricted to the Taj Westend hotel. We got back around 6pm and Dean offered to let us use the Taj swimming pool. By the time I went home, got my swimming trunks and got back to the hotel, then sun had set and the water was excruciatingly cold. Nevertheless, we had a quick swim and then decided to 'hit the town.' Unfortunately, we were blocked by the same problem again; getting into places all-stag on a Saturday night is pretty unlikely.

There is a festival called 'Bangalore Habba' going on here. One of the events is an art sidewalk on M.G. Road. We spent a while walking there and then went back to Ebony for dinner (Romain met up with us), after which we stopped by Nineteen Twelve for a few drinks. The crowd there was pretty old and docile.

I think I need to set a goal for myself to explore some of the city's much talked about nightlife in the next few weeks.