Sunday, October 19, 2003
6am comes way too early! I knew my alarm wasn’t going to be enough to get me out of bed, so I called the concierge desk for a wake up call at 6am. Just to be on the safe side, I also ordered a big pot of coffee.

After breakfast, we hopped into the car and headed off to Mysore. Manish explained that while Mysore was only 150 kms outside of Bangalore, it would take 3 hours to drive there due to traffic and road conditions. The vehicle had no shocks and every pothole or speed bump jarred the teeth from your head.

Somewhere along the way, we developed a flat tire. While most of us were worried about what we’d do if another tire blew, Manish joked about catching a bus back to Bangalore. I don’t think any of us shared his sense of humour and we were all desperately praying to which ever gods we believed in that there was a second spare under the vehicle.

Once in Mysore, our first stop was the Lalitha Mahal hotel. The building had been a palace in a former life and was amazing. Apparently, tourists wander through the hotel on a regular basis and we were taken to the king’s bedroom and encouraged to take pictures. As we were leaving the hotel, two Indian men asked for Linda and I to post in a picture with them. It was odd, but we complied none the less.

After the hotel, we drove up the Chamundi Hill to visit the temple. Unlike the faithful, we didn’t make the journey up the steps in order to pray at the site. Instead, we took a winding road and were amazed when our driver smacked into the rear end of a smaller car struggling to make it up the hill. After a few words were exchanged, our driver continued on his journey. I was absolutely amazed. Back home, we would have had to wait for hours while the accident was reported, investigated, insurance information was exchanged, etc. This, being a minor event on Indian roads, was shrugged off in less than 5 minutes.

Once we arrived, it became apparent that we weren’t in Kansas anymore. The temple closed at 2pm and was packed with people. We saw our first set of monkeys, which were running rampant throughout the area. As we lined up to take pictures, Manish warned us not to get too close. Monkeys like to bite and scratch and are likely rabid. While Manish stood in line for tickets, Linda and I were chased by every vendor in sight. They wouldn’t take no for an answer, and both of us were pretty frustrated after a few minutes. As a group, we decided that we didn’t need to see another temple – especially not one where we had to take our shoes off and walk in the dirt for a great length of time while we attempted to make it into the building. The crush of people was enough to make me claustrophobic and we all agreed that we’d rather visit the Palace than stand in line waiting at the temple.

At the Palace, Manish warned us that we’d have to take off our shoes and walk around in bare feet. The Majaraha (king) still lives somewhere in the building which was built less than 200 years ago. It took 15 years to complete the palace and outbuildings – what is truly remarkable is that all construction was completed by hand. The concept seemed pretty easy when being discussed from outside of the palace, once the shoes were off it was another story entirely. Gritty red dirt covered the ground and stones jabbed into our sensitive soles. Anand hopped from foot to foot like a true westerner and wouldn’t have passed for a local if anyone was paying attention to his hopping and shuffling. At least Bill, Linda and I had the excuse of our light colouring to excuse our attempts to walk to the entrance of the Palace.

We had to check our cameras before entering the Palace, so other than the outside, we don’t have any shots of the amazing gold, silver and ivory doors, massive carved wooden pieces, intricately tiled floors, and gilded ceilings. After walking through the public sections of the Palace, we retrieved our cameras and took a few shots of the Palace and outbuildings. The Palace temple was amazing and since I was concerned that I wouldn’t manage to get a good shot of it, Linda also took a few pictures so we could share. I also managed to get a great picture of Linda, Bill and Anand on the Palace grounds.

After an eventful day in Mysore, we agreed to head home. We were tired, sweaty and completely finished with pushy people surrounding us en masse. Since it definitely looked like rain, we unanimously decided to drive back to Bangalore and head to the hotel for an early night and some much needed sleep. Manish had a Diwali party in his building to attend later in the evening, and promptly fell asleep once he re-entered the vehicle.

Unfortunately for us, Manish was the only thing keeping our driver from acting like a maniac on the roads. The excruciating trip out was made a hundred times worse on the return journey. The rain had started in earnest and the driver wove in and out of traffic – at one point sandwiched between two buses on a two lane road, all headed in the same direction – and when we got to the hotel after one too many close calls, we were happy to see the driver go.

After taking a 30 minute break to shower, we headed to the hotel restaurant. The meal dragged on forever, but not because we were slow eaters. Our waiter had to be asked repeatedly to bring water, cokes, forks, bread, and eventually disappeared in the middle of the meal. We were stuck waiting over half an hour for someone to bring the bill to the table in order for us to leave. By 8pm, we were all ready to head off to bed, but I decided to toddle off to the Barista (the Starbucks of India) in the galleria for an iced cafe mocha before heading back to my room.

For the first night since I arrived, I’ve managed to get to bed at a reasonable hour and plan to sleep forever…or at least until 11am. I don’t have to meet anyone until noon.

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