We slept through most of the 10 hour train journey from Bangalore to Mysore, on the sleeper class (Carriages that have 8 beds on them, quite comfortable actually). Mysore is quite a small city, with everything in walking distance, so the use of autorickshaws wasn't needed here (Even still the drivers tried enticing us into every car we passed, very annoying). We only planned to stay here for the one night but because of the Diwali festival (festival of lights, that runs for 3 days beginning on Saturday 17th) the train back to Bangalore was fully booked, so we were stuck here for 2 nights. It was no big deal, the city had a fair bit to see, and was famous for its traditional paintings and its silk, sandalwood and incense production. We ate at a very fancy restaurant on the first evening called Tiger Trail. We were definately under-dressed for the occasion, but we had no shame, flip-flopped and shorted out, we ate with all the formally dressed tourists.
On the Friday we jumped on the bus to Chamundi Hill, which, to the top, is 8km away from the city. Like most high places in India we had some amazing views from the summit. We were also told by Indian fellow (who took a rather long time to translate and we are still a little unsure of what he was rambling on about) that Mysore was designed by the English, and set out in a gridded structure (which we copied from America). We then descended the 1000 steps to the bottom of the hill, passing a large statue of Nandi (the God Shiva's, bull vehicle). It may seem like 1000 steps is a long haul, but it didn't turn out so bad.
Our final day in Mysore was spent visiting the Maharaja's Palace. Costing 200rps for whitey, and only 20rps for Paki. Lol. The design of the Palace was to some immense detail, with carvings and paintings surrounding every wall and ceiling and pillar within the Palace. I think the Maharaja's favourite colour may have been gold, over did it just a little.
Our next train takes us back to Bangalore to catch our connection train down to Ernakulum in the state of Kerala. Back to the beach we gooooooo!
Mysore Photo Link:
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