Mysore and beyond

Where did we leave you last? Oh yes, Mysore. Tuesday night after our internet session, the plan was to go to our hotel, get the memory stick and the camera’s USB adapter, have dinner and then update the blog. What REALLY happened was that we found a place for our first sundowner – large, cold Kingfisher beers on a rooftop patio – with not another soul there. This is NOT a drinking culture, it seems! However, that didn’t stop us from having our one (!) beer each along with a few pappadams to snack on. It was delicious, but maybe wasn’t the best thing for our jetlag. We passed out on the bed at the hotel at 6:30, and didn’t get up until it was too late for dinner and all the internet cafes were closed. However, look at the posts again, and you’ll see there are now photos up. Yay Mark!

Since we were leaving on Wednesday evening, we figured we’d better get our butts in gear and see the Mysore Palace first thing in the morning. To prepare, we fueled up on a breakfast of pooris – puffy light bread --served with subji (curried veg.). You might think it’s an odd way to start the day, but it certainly was tasty! And we’re getting pretty good at eating with our right hand. Who needs utensils?

The Mysore Palace is a spectacular structure that must be seen to be believed. The photos really don’t do it justice. In fact, we have no photos of the inside because visitors are required to check their camera, and their shoes, outside. Have I mentioned that Mark takes a while to go through museums and the like? We emerged three hours later. To be fair, the audio tour was quite good.

On our way out, we passed a couple that we had met in the Bangalore Airport. They had bike boxes and were going to CYCLE around India for three weeks. Brave? Or crazy? You be the judge! We know that they made it as far as Mysore, which is more than I would ever even attempt! To their credit, they still seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Something we’ve noticed here. It’s not NEARLY as fragrant as I expected it to be. Sure, when you’re near a public toilet, or an open ditch, it can be pretty stinky, but overall, it’s pretty pleasant. Also, English is very widely spoken. A very pleasant surprise, indeed!

Okay, so after the palace we were off to find a bank. This is the first time we are traveling without travelers cheques, and we needed to find an ATM to test it out. What do you know? Money comes out of the machines here too! The only catch is that the limit is 10,000 rupees ($250) which makes the $5 service charge slightly unpleasant.

We left town in the late afternoon on the overnight bus to Trivandrum. Our seats were near the emergency exit so had loads of leg room– in fact, a bit too much. However, one Bollywood video and 15 hours later, we were in Trivandrum, which is where I thought we were to meet my friend Julie’s dad. Uh oh. Communication breakdown. He actually lives in Pathanamthitta – a further 3 hour bus ride away, and mostly in the direction we’d just come from…. After waiting around in Trivandrum bus station, and then figuring out how to use the pay phone, we determined our error, got on another bus without time to grab any breakfast, and nearly 24 hours of traveling later, we found Mr. Thomas. Whew!! A shower has never felt better!!