Mysore Myhappy

We are about to wrap up a leisurely four night stay in Mysore which is 250 km's inland from the west coast. The bus trip here from Calicut was very scenic, moving from sea level up into the mountains, and finishing on a plateau which is approx. 3,000 feet above sea level. The many tight switchbacks, requiring our bus to take up both lanes to negotiate the turns,  made for an exciting and panoramic journey. It has resulted in the air temperature being lowered to a more enjoyable 25 - 15C range rather than the humid 35 - 25C trend along the coast (and still without rain so far during our 3 weeks in India).

Our Mysore favourite was a visit to the majestic Mysore Palace, an incredibly grand and massive former royal building. When earlier palaces dating back to the 14th century proved 'inadequate' (or destroyed by fire like the previous one), the Mysore Maharajah in 1897 decided to have this three story version built. Apparently over 4 million visitors every year come here to see the interior which features lots of marble and teak, wall and ceiling murals, and spacious halls for entertaining and business. An audio guide provided us with a good overview during our 2.5 hour visit. We returned to the Palace in the evening just in time to see the Sunday night illumination where the exterior of the Palace is lit up by 100,000 light bulbs for just half an hour (presumably because it causes a near power outage in the rest of the city). When the lights suddenly went off we headed to a nearby restaurant recommended by our host and enjoyed a filling vegetarian thali dinner (rice with many side dishes), all consumed with our right hand fingers only (no silverware), served on a banana leaf (cost <$2pp), eating just like the locals who filled up this popular spot. It was so good we returned for lunch two days later.

Other highlights included a visit to the large and busy Devaraja Market (food, spices, flowers, colourful powders), and short trips another day to the Government Silk Factory (self walk amongst the working machinery) and the summer palace of Titu Sultan (who died there in a 1799 battle with the British). Today we took a bus to Chamundi Hill, 12 km's south of Mysore, which is the home of the Sri Chamundeswari Temple, one of the most sacred mountain temples in southern India. We joined the masses to get in, got blessed, and then admired the scenic views from the hilltop before descending to the bottom by walking down the 1,000 plus steps. On the way back to our hotel Rhonda also found the two perfect pashmina's she had been looking for which have now made their way into my backpack. I suppose I owe her that for finding me a hotel in Mysore that had satellite TV so that I was able to watch the Superbowl in bed (5 am start) on Monday morning. Still can't believe Seattle didn't hand-off the football to Lynch on the one yard line with time left on the clock :-(

Prior to Mysore we spent a couple of days in Kochi where we did a lot of walking around the Fort Kochi area which is where we stayed. A beach promenade walk was followed by a visit to an interesting art exhibition (contemporary, including short films).We also walked over to Mattancherry (first geocache find in India) and Jew Town where we went into the synagogue dating back to the 16th century. On our final day we took a full (but not over-crowded) ferry back to the mainland to catch our train heading up the coast. Not sure how they are making this work financially though.....the 20 minute ferry ride cost 8 cents per person, and with about 100 people on board, that works out to $8 in fees to help pay for the boat, fuel, captain, ticket sellers and assistants. Maybe that is why they couldn't afford to have 100 life jackets on board!
Tomorrow we will be heading a little further inland to Bangalore where we will meet up with our good friends, Neal and Linda, who are also spending time in India. We will travel together for some upcoming stops.

Came across this sign in Fort Kochi. We believe we have three genius kids of our own but it did take a lot of time, effort and money. Perhaps our future grandchildren can take advantage of this shortcut.

Part of the Kochi Biennale, a contemporary art exhibition. This crab was constructed out of recyclable material recovered from the Indian Ocean in an effort to increase attention about a cleaner environment.

Mysore - a street vendor with perfectly sculpted pineapple for sale.




Taken from inside the Mysore palace courtyard, looking towards the North Gate where only VIP's are allowed to enter. The public enters from the South Gate, quite a distance away since this is a large complex. When we mistakenly tried to enter from the West Gate, a security guard let us in then asked for a 40 cent tip for doing so.
 

 

A small section of the Palace. It was even more beautiful inside.



The Mysore Palace lit up by 100,000 light bulbs. We assumed it would be lit up most of the evening but fortunately arrived with less than 10 minutes to go before the lights suddenly went off.

Devaraja Market - a stall selling coloured chalk which was used for bindis (forehead dots), street art and branding your cattle, to mention a few.

RRR restaurant where we had utensil-free, veg thali meals twice. Quite delicious and when your banana leaf looked empty they came by to fill it with more rice or side servings until you begged them to stop.

Chamundi Hill vendors - on our way to the Sri Chamundeswari Temple.

When a street vendor disappeared the cattle started helping themselves to lunch until a passerby chased them away.

Just a few of the one thousand steps we descended from Chamundi Hill. Along the way other female pilgrims were placing bindi spots on each of the stairs as they ascended.