CIty of the Maharaja

The Wodeyar Maharajas built their incredible palace in the city of Mysore. And that's where I am now. The picture is a bit crooked, I know, but all of these photos are unedited.

But first, more monkeys...

As promised, I updated my blog and then rented a bicycle and rode to the monkey temple. Here I am the day before after being dotted at a Krishna Temple. The monkey temple is above....




I climbed the 600+ steps over the rice paddies to the top...

There was singing and drums and a guy wearing paint on his face and a sheet around his waist reclining on a bed inside (photography forbidden inside). Here is outside...



And no, they are not Nazis. the Swastika is an ancient holy Hindu symbol and is seen all over India today.


Of course there were monkeys...










It was soon time to leave Hampi, I had one last good meal at the Mango Tree and enjoyed the company of a couple from Toronto and then another woman from Canada (who had just done a photography tour with a National Geographic photographer) while watching the water buffalo graze along the river and enjoying my thali.

Goodbye Hampi!




I took a rickshaw to Hospet where I waited an hour for my train talking to a couple of travelers from Ireland. I then took a four-hour crowded-as-all-get-out train (though I did have a seat) to the town of Hubli where I boarded my sleeper train to Mysore. I've had better night's sleep, but it wasn't bad.

I arrived in Mysore to a surprisingly pleasant little train station...



I checked into a dingy but adequate hotel and cleaned up and then spent most of the morning figuring out some future travel plans and buying tickets at the train station.

Finally I got around to exploring the city a bit. I get people greeting me constantly while walking down the street and I always get stares (and I always give a friendly greeting). One gentleman approached me and started talking to me as happens several times a day and then he offered to take me to see the markets which are near his house. I figure he probably wanted to sell me something eventually, but I was game and so I followed him through the chaotic streets to the markets.

Spices...




Different kinds of rice and a tuckered-out clerk...




Vegetables and ginger...




Mysore is famous for their incense (this is where my "friend" tried to get me to buy something. I politely refused.) Here is a woman making an incense stick...




Mysore is also famous for its production of sandalwood products. Here is a woodcutter at work...




For some reason the cows here are yellow. Sometimes you're just walking down the street in these Indian towns and you have to just chuckle and the absurdity of it all...




Busy town...







A clock with numbers in the local language Kannada...



(I was a bit confused when I first asked what language a local was speaking when he told me, "I speak Canada).


On the street...




I went to the Maharaja's palace around sunset...




Random elephants running around...




The grand gate...




The side-view...




I took some night photos at the grand entrance...







And then while walking around I ran into Adam from Ireland, whom I had met the day before in the train station in Hospet. I invited him to come with me to dinner and he knew of a cool place near his hotel. "It's a bear restaurant," he said. I was confused. "Bear restaurant?" He said, "yeah like with beer." Apparently "bear" is Cork for "bar."

Adam got his beer and I got some food. It was OK but the ambiance was cool with live musicians...



So now I'm tired and it's time for bed.

Tomorrow I'm off to somewhere new...

....