And that was the last we heard of Mike and Eric (or Bangalore and Mysore)
We first arrived in Bangalore, India to visit two of the three studios we are using for the Barnyard project. I had never been so far out of the country without seeing a beautiful beach. What a culture shock. First, there were people everywhere. I mean everywhere. We arrived about 2am after an 18 hour flight. We stopped over in Germany and had a beer at the airport. Sure, it was 10 am but we couldn't not have a beer in Germany.
The next morning, we awoke to a bustling Indian city. It was saturday but there was still tons of traffic. The traffic is interesting there because they really don't follow too many rules. Lanes are a mere suggestion. The traffic lights have visible timers that tell you when the light will turn green. What that allows the drivers to do is start heading into the intersection when there are about 5 seconds before it turns green. There really isn't too much signalling either. A honk of the horn is all that is needed. And do the Indians honk. My goodness, it was a cacophony of horns everywhere. Surprisingly, not too many accidnets. I was sure we were going to be in a few but didn't.
We got to hang out with Paprikas for a few days. They are about ready to move into a huge new space but are still tightly packed into a smallish studio. We then went to AniRights who are located on a Hare Krishna temple compound. The temple itself was stunning. The studio was located in the dorms next to it. We got lost a few times walking from the modeling dept to animation. Every floor looked the same :)
The coolest part of the Bangalore trip was going to Mysore, a small city about 1.5 hours south. It was on this trip that Eric and I coined the phrase, "And that was the last we heard of Mike and Eirc". The ride was pretty amazing. We saw a ton of very small towns on two lane roads. There were people everywhere. From small shantys to bigger high rises, folks were walking, riding, standing, selling everything everywhere. The trip back from Mysore (hold on, I'll get to the city in a second), was the most harrowing experience we had. I've said it before that driving was an adventure. Now imagine doing that at night when not everyone turns on their headlights...Marge "suggested" I sit up front...and that was the last we heard from...man, I thought for sure we were dead. There were so many near misses, it was amazing. Our driver did things I wouldn't even THINK of doing in the states...Keith, you wouldn't have made it my friend - you thought New York cab drivers were insane...
Mysore - small town with a huge palace. Wow, this place was cool. First, we had to take off our shoes and walk in the place naked...well, at least our feet were naked. We saw one of the largest paintings I had ever seen. It just kept going and going and going. The best part about the palace was at night. Well, not just any night but only on Sundays from 7pm to 8pm. What luck that we happened to be there on a sunday. Tons of people were let into the compound shortly before 7. It was a fun atmosphere when suddenly the lights came on. 9600 lightbulbs to be exact. I let out a gasp - something our guide earlier in the day predicted. Amazing.
Check out the pix!Bangalore
More to come later.
The next morning, we awoke to a bustling Indian city. It was saturday but there was still tons of traffic. The traffic is interesting there because they really don't follow too many rules. Lanes are a mere suggestion. The traffic lights have visible timers that tell you when the light will turn green. What that allows the drivers to do is start heading into the intersection when there are about 5 seconds before it turns green. There really isn't too much signalling either. A honk of the horn is all that is needed. And do the Indians honk. My goodness, it was a cacophony of horns everywhere. Surprisingly, not too many accidnets. I was sure we were going to be in a few but didn't.
We got to hang out with Paprikas for a few days. They are about ready to move into a huge new space but are still tightly packed into a smallish studio. We then went to AniRights who are located on a Hare Krishna temple compound. The temple itself was stunning. The studio was located in the dorms next to it. We got lost a few times walking from the modeling dept to animation. Every floor looked the same :)
The coolest part of the Bangalore trip was going to Mysore, a small city about 1.5 hours south. It was on this trip that Eric and I coined the phrase, "And that was the last we heard of Mike and Eirc". The ride was pretty amazing. We saw a ton of very small towns on two lane roads. There were people everywhere. From small shantys to bigger high rises, folks were walking, riding, standing, selling everything everywhere. The trip back from Mysore (hold on, I'll get to the city in a second), was the most harrowing experience we had. I've said it before that driving was an adventure. Now imagine doing that at night when not everyone turns on their headlights...Marge "suggested" I sit up front...and that was the last we heard from...man, I thought for sure we were dead. There were so many near misses, it was amazing. Our driver did things I wouldn't even THINK of doing in the states...Keith, you wouldn't have made it my friend - you thought New York cab drivers were insane...
Mysore - small town with a huge palace. Wow, this place was cool. First, we had to take off our shoes and walk in the place naked...well, at least our feet were naked. We saw one of the largest paintings I had ever seen. It just kept going and going and going. The best part about the palace was at night. Well, not just any night but only on Sundays from 7pm to 8pm. What luck that we happened to be there on a sunday. Tons of people were let into the compound shortly before 7. It was a fun atmosphere when suddenly the lights came on. 9600 lightbulbs to be exact. I let out a gasp - something our guide earlier in the day predicted. Amazing.
Check out the pix!Bangalore
More to come later.
posted by gasman at 9:48 PM
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