15 October 2007
Today I went to Mysore. Mysore is one of the largest cities in Karnataka. It was the Kingdom of Southern India dating back to 1399.
I got up at about 6 am - got ready and went up for breakfast. Again I was the only person there, and again my friendly butler was waiting for me... The chef's (like yesterday) asked what I would like for breakfast...
Chef: You want fruit?
Me: Yes please
Chef: You want toast?
Me: Yes please
Chef: You want omelete?
Me: Hmm. I might try something else today
Chef: Yes you liked omelete?
Me: Yeh but I..
Chef walks off and prepares omelete
Which is OK because today is the last day I'd be having their delicious omelete. Unfortunately I'm working between 3.30am - 12pm and breakfast is served between 7am-10am.
After breakfast I enquired about having their driver take me to Mysore and back (which is approximately 140km south-west of Bangalore) They quoted me 15 rupees (50 cents) per 2 km's, and strangely they said it was over 300Kms away... So I couldn't really afford that. I'm not sure if the 300KM thing was trying to rip me off, or I just miss-understood them....
So I moved to Plan B
Got a auto-rickshaw to the bus stop and organised a luxury coach to drive me to Mysore.
The auto was 25 rupees to get to the bus stop (less than a buck) and the bus was 198 rupees (about 6 bucks)
The bus was really nice, it was very comfortable with air conditioning and reclining seats. So the trip was very pleasant....
Arrived in Mysore about 2 or 3 hours later, got off the bus and wondered how I'm going to get around. I went looking for a stand with organised conducted tours... I'd missed all of them now it was about 11am they all start pretty early. After fighting through the crowd of auto rickshaw drivers and beggers and found the taxi stand (I'd always read that the taxi's are the safest and most reliable way to travel) What I read was absoutely right...
There were about 3 taxi drivers competing for me, one quote was 800 rupees, the next 700, then the 3rd person I asked, of course, said 600 rupees. So I went with him.
600 rupees (about 18 bucks) & I had my own personal driver for about 5 hours. He took me to:
Chamundi Hills, home of the:
Giant Mahisha Statue
& Ranganathaswamy Temple
Resting form of Lord Vishnu. Very sacred.. Inside there were people mediating, praying and even some were dancing.
Also this happens to be the place of my very first pick pocketing experience! To enter the temple guests need to take off their shoes, and no bags are allowed inside. So I left my backage (with shoes inside) with the storage area and got a ticket. While I was in queue there was a little girl behind me (no older than say 8 years old) and I could feel something in my back pocket. I turned around and her father started talking to me, to distract me. I wasn't too worried because I keep everything in my front pockets, so I made sure I just kept my hands in the front pocket which had all my valuables. Anyway went through the temple and back out and couldn't find the token to collect my bag. The bag was still there - I'd beaten them to it... Not that there was anything valuable inside (apart from my shoes).... Anyway I convinced the people in the storage area that it was my bag and they handed it over. Of course this costed me 10 rupees.
On the way up to Chamundi Hills, the taxi driver stopped so I could have a look at Mysore City from the top of the hill. I bumped into this little monkey man:
Next stop was the Nandi Bull
Nandi is the bull is the gate keeper of Shiva in Hindu mythology
Next stop was Karanji Lake Nature Park
This was definately my favourite site of Mysore. Entry was 10 rupees (+ another 10 rupees if you want to take photos). It was just so nice to get away from all the street vendors. There were mainly young couples having picnics etc. There are lots of animals and birds roaming freely through the gardens (and heaps of rare birds in the giant avary) (Not that I'm in to that kind of thing) The gardens spread across quite a large area so I was in here for about an hour (while the taxi driver waited!)
Next up: Sri Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens
The zoo was absolutely huge! I spent nearly 2 hours in there. A decent price as well. 25 rupees plus 10 rupees if you want to take a camera. So the total price was 35 rupees (about a buck)
Had just about everything, tigers, bears, elephants, lions, hippos, deer, etc etc etc etc. Click Here to see the Gorilla in action
Construction completed in 1912 (to replace the old palace of which burnt down)
They were charging tourists 100 rupees to ender (about 3 $AUD) and locals just pay 20 rupees. They were preparing for a show it seems, as it is festive season in India at the moment. I had a quick look, took a few photos and went back to the taxi
Last Stop: St Philomena's Church
Constructed in 1956, inspired by the Cologne Cathedral in Germany....
Not much more to say on this one....
So after my long day trip I was worried that the taxi driver would start increasing the price, or would try to scam something out of me. Nope - he took me straight back to the bus station and charged me the agreed price of 600 rupees. What a champion! I gave him a 100 rupee tip ($2 AUD), because he was so patient when I was spending hours at a time at some places.......
The Best taxi driver in the world!
I could have seen more in Mysore, but now I was pretty tired and, if I wanted to get home at a decent time should probably think about getting a bus. I went for a walk through all of the markets - nothing too flash, found an ATM and found the bus stop.
There were no luxury busses available to go back, but while I was waiting a non-luxury bus was boarding. I thought to hell with it! I'll travel like a true Indian. So I borded the non-luxurious bus. It wasn't that bad, the only difference was it had no air conditioning or TV, and no reclining chairs. (It was just like the old school busses). I actually preferred this bus because I could have the window open, so I got to see a bit of the scenery while the sun was up. and it was only 75 rupees (less than it costs for me to get a bus from home to the city)
I befriended this indian kid who's 16 and studies. He's on holidays so he's traveling alone for 3 days going to Bangalore and then beyond (he did say where but I hadn't heard of the place). He lives in Mysore and goes on vacations every time his college/university has a break by himself..... I found it hard to trust him seeing as though what happened at Ranganathaswamy Temple, but turns out he was alright.
So after the long journey home, I was suffering from some serious arse sleepidge
Got back to Bangalore at about 10pm. Hopped on an auto-rickshaw (amazing what costed 25 rupees to get the bus station, I was charged 100 rupees to go back the same distance). I didn't care about the cost though as its only $3AUD and I was too tired to argue (It was better than the 200 rupees another auto driver quoted!!)
Now you remember the man at the apartments that is always there? He was there when I got back to the apartment late last night... I swear this man never sleeps! (Actually he does sleep, on the floor in the kitchen outside my room, which is a bit strange considering they have all these rooms and I'm pretty sure I'm the only guest) Oh well, I guess he's happy there
Well that's about it for now. At time of writing this it's actually Tuesday 16th at 12.20pm so I've finished work and believe we (Robin, Parveen & Michelle) are going to go to this steak restaurant in town for lunch.
Don't forget to check out my photos - http://picasaweb.google.com/doggins25
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