Our overnight bus journey was relatively painless and on being dumped on the side of a busy road, we forced ourselves awake and ready for the next challenge; finding an auto driver to take us to the centre of the city for a fair price. And that’s when we realised that they spoke little English or Hindi (they speak Kanada). It was the first time since being in India that we had found that we couldn’t verbally communicate with the locals which made bargaining for an auto journey at 6 am all the more fun.
We eventually agreed on a price with a driver and got in only to realise that he didn’t really know where he was going. After some help with our guidebook map and a ten minute drive he tried to insinuate that the road we wanted was one way so we would have to get down earlier and walk the rest. We refused but seeing as he had decided to stop we decided to get out and gave him less money than he asked for as it blatantly wasn’t a one way road! He got angry at us (!!) but we ignored him and set off down the road for another 10 minutes, with our packs, till we got to the guesthouse we were looking for. Seeing as we wanted to be in the city close to where we were going to meet Neha, we could only get something very basic for our budget. We were hungry, so once we checked in the room boy went and got us breakfast in the form of a tasty Masala Dosas. We were pretty tired after our journey so we crashed out for a couple of hours and then went into town. Rebranded as Bangaluru in 2006, this IT boom town is best known as a centre for software and electronics development rather than as a tourist destination so most travellers rarely stop here long.
The walk from the guesthouse to the main shopping street, MG Road, was not a long way, so we didn’t see of the city, but from first impressions the centre seemed like a civilised enough place with some big shopping malls alongside coffee shops, bookshops and cafes. We hooked up with Neha just off the MG Road and headed for her favourite haunt for some food and beer, followed by coffee and cake at her favourite coffee house just down the road. It was really good to see her catch up with her news and we also got some help with places to go for things that we wanted to buy.
After polishing off some rather tasty treats at the coffee shop we said our goodbyes and headed back to our guesthouse for the night, waking early with the traffic the next morning. After a tasty South Indian breakfast at the restaurant across the road and a few hours looking for and using the internet (we thought that this being the IT centre there would be internet cafes on every street in the city but we only managed to find one in the whole area), we headed for the bus station for our bus to Mysore.
The bus itself was the smartest bus we have been on in India and our tickets even included a small complimentary bottle of water! The journey took a relatively short three hours (which is like a 5 minute jaunt in India) and we arrived before sunset. We grabbed an auto driver who took us to a different hotel to which we were planning on staying (the owner was his friend of course) but the Chandra Palace Hotel turned out to be a very comfortable place with a fat mattress and cable TV which suited us very well!
Mysore is famous for regal heritage, its silk, sandalwood, incense and essential oil production and is endorsing itself as an international centre for Ashtanga Yoga these days. We weren’t planning on doing any yoga but were thinking about seeing the Maharaja’s Palace and possibly a little shopping. We had a restful nights sleep and after some breakfast, we walked to the Palace. It wasn’t clear to see in the crowded streets near where we were staying, but as we walked closer to the wide streets near the Palace we noticed that Mysore was a very clean and tidy little city with some nice architecture. Lining the streets were fruit-wallas selling freshly cut papaya, mango, watermelon, jackfruit, pineapple, amoungst others, with or without masala. There were also wallas selling freshly pressed sugar cane juice, bhel puri and nuts so we stuffed our faces with all sorts on the way!
We got to the Palace and took a couple of snaps outside (no cameras allowed).
And went to buy our tickets (one cheap 10 ruppee local ticket and one expensive white person ticket please). The Palace was quite something. It was designed by an English architect called Henry Irwin and the present version (the older one burnt down in 1897) was completed in 1912 at a cost of 4.5 million Rupees (£60,000). As we walked through the interior we came upon room after outrageously ornately decorated room, with a kaleidoscopes of stained glass, mirrors, mosaic floors, carved wooden doors and historic paintings a plenty. Many portraying life in Mysore during the Edwardian Raj. Some may see it as gaudy but we thought it was awesome. The colours were fantastic and the work was detailed and flashy. The Palace itself was also very well managed with visitors having to follow a one way path laid out with ropes and it was well maintained and clean with visitor having to leave their shoes at the shoe walla. We were impressed. There was another section to see which included personal items of the maharajas of Mysore but they wanted to charge us the same price again to go in, which was too steep, so we decided against it and went and got a refreshing mango ice-cream instead!
After much deliberation about whether we could be arsed or not, we decided to go and visit the temple on the summit of Chamundi Hill (1062m) which overlooks Mysore. We flagged an auto to take us there. Our options included being driven to the bottom of the hill and walking up the 1000+ steps, or being driven up half way or all the way up. We decided on the healthy, bottom of the hill option which saved usa few rupees. On the way to the hill we stopped off to have a peek at the Queens Palace (given to her by her King we think) which has now been turned into the upmarket Lalita Mahal Palace Hotel.
On being dropped off at the bottom of Chamundi Hill we agreed on a time for our auto to be back, and started walking up as the pilgrims are supposed to. Matt was thrilled to be doing it.
We didn’t see many pilgrims and the walk wasn’t as hard as it is made out to be in the book, but it was pretty damn hot. Almost two thirds up the hill we stopped off at a sugar cane juice walla and for a hit of sugar (it is so sweet and Matt reckons the taset is identical plain boiled sweets. A bit chuppa chup like and of course incredibly sweet).
It looks like it takes a lot of power to press the sugar cane and they press the same bit over and over again till it’s dry, the silver pot on the side collects the juice (you see these all over India).
Before we reached the top there is 5m high Nandi (Shiva’s bull vehicle), carved out of solid rock in 1659, which pilgrims also visit. Matt was given his blessing first (tikka and string around his wrist) first, and then me. We gave our donation and started walking out but he scorned at us and demanded a whole lot more! So we left. Cheeky bloody sadhu.
It wasn’t long before we were at the top and to be honest, we were a bit disappointed as the view at the top wasn’t pretty, we couldn’t get a view because of the building work and there were tarmac roads surrounding the so-so temple. Not very special we thought but we sat for a while and people watched, which was funny.....
And they watched (stared) us (love the hats cool dudes)
The cows were terrorising the worshippers who were armed with coconut and sweets for the gods! The cows here do eat anything, including cardboard.
After walking down we got back into our auto and headed for the essential oil ‘doctor’ (someone the autodriver had mentioned previously) who was open to sell essential oils only on one day of the month and we were so lucky because that day just happened to be today. Sure we believe you. We did end up testing some smells and buying some oil and came out smelling like a perfume factory.
We saw on the way a cow that had been painted yellow....
..which briefly distracted us from the thought that we probably spent more than we should have, but what to do.
We headed back to the hotel, stopping for some grub on the way, for a cosy night in. We were planning on leaving the next afternoon after visiting the local market. We got up the next morning and packed our bags ready for the journey later in the day and walked to the market.
Within minutes of entering a young boy started talking to us and I bought a small garland of fragrant jasmine flowers from him. He said he sold oils too so as we were interested to see what he had to offer (obviously the yarn we were spun the previous day about oils only being sold on one day a month was complete rubbish, surprise surprise). As we walked we saw lots and lots more garlands and boxes and buckets of colourful little flowers that smelt gorgeous.
Betel nut for chewing with conical piles of red and yellow tikka powder at the back.
It turned out that we HAD paid over the odds for the oil that we had bought (grrr) and this guys price seemed to be much more reasonable. Shopkeepers and autos drivers like to show you books with paragraphs written by foreigners who have also bought from their shop or used the auto driver for sightseeing and this little shop wasn’t different. He had piles and piles of books, each book representing a different country, with photos and paragraphs and signatures of people who had spent their money at his shop but this time we met two foreigners who were returning for some more business and it made us feel better about trusting this boy so we spent some money.
We had a chai, autographed the English book and then left (stinking again this time of rose, jasmine, lotus and vanilla) to see what the rest of the market had to offer.
Palm Sugar for cooking
More beautiful flowers
Every kind of Indian vegetable you can think of
Metres and metres and metres
Some pretty tikka powder for you madam?
And lots of fruit
It was a nice little place but it was time to go so we headed back to the hotel with bags of yummy fresh fruit and our oils. We found out (from making lots of telephone calls to the bus station, asking the old dude sitting in reception, looking at our guide book and then finally a quick visit to the bus station) that there was a bus in the afternoon but we couldn’t find out how long it would take so we decided to risk it and go. We collected our bags and headed down to the station for a tasty masala dosa in preparation for our journey. Before I finished my lunch Matt went to check the bus time only to find out that it had been cancelled. So we ate up and headed back to the hotel for another night and decided to take the morning bus for Kannur instead.....
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