Days 42-43
Once again I am writing this post as we waiting to leave our latest destination. We have only spent 1 night in Mysore but, to be honest, it is enough. We came here for one reason, the Maharajah's palace and also to avoid the world's outsourcing capital of Bangalore, which we hear doesn't have a lot to offer. But despite Mysore's long history and relaxed atmosphere it doesn't have a lot either. Also at this point we are sort of "bagging destinations" as quickly as possible before we reach the state of Kerala as within two weeks we will be leaving India and we want to spent as much time in tropical Kerala as possible.
Our last hours in Hampi were spent frantically trying to remove a virus on our pen drive, which didn't delete our photos but made it impossible to access them. The internet cafe owner wasn't much help either because as soon as he realised what happened he took off and left his eleven year old sister in charge. Using the IT experts favourite problem solver, google.com I eventually got access to the photos again, although I am not sure if it has actually got rid of the virus but we shall see...
Our journey to Mysore was in one of the demonsied night buses from the nearby down of Hospet. We had chosen the lean back seats instead of the much slated overhead compartments and they were quite comfortable. That is until I started getting bites. Firstly, I though it was mosquitoes but then the location of the bites around by back and stomach area didn't make sense and I realised it must be bedbugs. This was confirmed after I caught one of the little black mites as it was going for a crawl on my leg. Miraculously I slept for a few hours,, but I got absolutely crucified by the bed bugs. My arms, back, stomach and legs all got a touch and they are ferociously itchy. I have no idea how many bites as I react quite badly with huge red blister like welts making it impossible to tell when one bite starts and the next ends, but I know there are a lot! As we are moving further south into the tropics we have to suspect increased insects and bugs and inevitably more bites, but still, bed bugs on a bus! Its the last place you expect to get them! My seat seems to have been the only one infected as my wife has only a few bites and she was in the seat next to me. However she now has her own problems as her adventurous food and drink habits seem have caught up with her and she is feeling sick, nothing in comparison to our previous problems in Darjeeling though.
After a much needed morning nap at our dingy hotel we took off in search of breakfast and train tickets. For a city of almost a million Mysore is relatively easy going, the traffic is not too chaotic and the people are friendly and unobtrusive This seems to be the theme the further south we go the more relaxed and prosperous India becomes. As a demonstration of the increased order, at the train station instead of a queue that would encourage Indian style bunching, much to our surprise there was a ticketing machine. Another sign of the increased prosperity is the fact that I don't think we have seen a cycle rickshaw since we left behind the Gangetic planes in the North. After securing our train tickets to Madurai and a omlette in our stomaches, we headed for Mysore's premier tourist location, the Maharajah's Palace.
The Maharajah's Palace in Mysore was the seat of the Wodeyar Maharajah who ruled Mysore for over 500 years. They established their Kingdom after the fall of the Vijayanagara Empire at Hampi in 1565. They formed alliances with their would be rulers such as the Mughals and later British (whom they had initially fought many wars) and remained in some sort of power until the Independence of India in 1947. The Palace was completed in the 1912 after the original wooden one had been destroyed in a fire in 1897. To demonstrate the cosy relationship they had with the Raj the Maharaja comissioned English architect Henry Irwin to build it. What he designed and built was the much vaunted pinnacle of Indo-Sarcenic architecture, that blend of European and Indian styles. The palace is definitely the grandest building in Mysore, but it doesn't really blow you away in the same way that Mumbai train station does. However to be fair it does get better the more you see of it on the inside which, unfortunately I do not have any photos as they are banned in the inside of the palace. The highlight of the palace for me was the Wedding Hall, which is based around a huge iron frame which forms a sort of huge octagonal gazebo, decorated with stained glass and tiles and the wall surrounding is lined by paintings of the Dussehra festival.
Along with a few other sights to see in Mysore, which we didn't fancy much is St Philomena's cathedral, which we did. Purely for the reason that to a lot of people in Ireland St Philomena is this lady. However the lady that inspried her name and of that of the cathedral was the young Greek Saint who was tortured and killed at the hands of the Roman Emperor Diocletian after she declined his hand in marriage to keep her holy vow of virginity. The building is a Gothic Cathedral and despite the out of proportion spires is still a pretty nice church. The familiarity of it was most welcome and last we felt we were on some sort of home turf here and the local tourist were invading our space. Curiously it was white in the inside which reminded me of a Lutheran church and also it had a series of inscribed of names around it, who I presume provided donations to the founded of the church. I had a great time going over these names and found a few interesting ones, which you can see in the photos below.
Our night train to Madurai leaves this evening and it will almost certainly be our last night journey aboard an Indian train, which brings both relief and sadness. Madurai like Mysore is also being visited by us for a single night so we also intend to spend only a night there before heading for Peyiar Wildlife sanctuary. Hopefully I will be able to pick up from there and perhaps I may even have some news of sighting a certain carnivore that this country is famous for.
Just seen the draw for next year's Ulster football championship. Best draw possible for Tyrone, pretty sure that we owe Donegal 1 or 2 so it will be a great time and place to take them down!
Once again I am writing this post as we waiting to leave our latest destination. We have only spent 1 night in Mysore but, to be honest, it is enough. We came here for one reason, the Maharajah's palace and also to avoid the world's outsourcing capital of Bangalore, which we hear doesn't have a lot to offer. But despite Mysore's long history and relaxed atmosphere it doesn't have a lot either. Also at this point we are sort of "bagging destinations" as quickly as possible before we reach the state of Kerala as within two weeks we will be leaving India and we want to spent as much time in tropical Kerala as possible.
Our last hours in Hampi were spent frantically trying to remove a virus on our pen drive, which didn't delete our photos but made it impossible to access them. The internet cafe owner wasn't much help either because as soon as he realised what happened he took off and left his eleven year old sister in charge. Using the IT experts favourite problem solver, google.com I eventually got access to the photos again, although I am not sure if it has actually got rid of the virus but we shall see...
Our journey to Mysore was in one of the demonsied night buses from the nearby down of Hospet. We had chosen the lean back seats instead of the much slated overhead compartments and they were quite comfortable. That is until I started getting bites. Firstly, I though it was mosquitoes but then the location of the bites around by back and stomach area didn't make sense and I realised it must be bedbugs. This was confirmed after I caught one of the little black mites as it was going for a crawl on my leg. Miraculously I slept for a few hours,, but I got absolutely crucified by the bed bugs. My arms, back, stomach and legs all got a touch and they are ferociously itchy. I have no idea how many bites as I react quite badly with huge red blister like welts making it impossible to tell when one bite starts and the next ends, but I know there are a lot! As we are moving further south into the tropics we have to suspect increased insects and bugs and inevitably more bites, but still, bed bugs on a bus! Its the last place you expect to get them! My seat seems to have been the only one infected as my wife has only a few bites and she was in the seat next to me. However she now has her own problems as her adventurous food and drink habits seem have caught up with her and she is feeling sick, nothing in comparison to our previous problems in Darjeeling though.
After a much needed morning nap at our dingy hotel we took off in search of breakfast and train tickets. For a city of almost a million Mysore is relatively easy going, the traffic is not too chaotic and the people are friendly and unobtrusive This seems to be the theme the further south we go the more relaxed and prosperous India becomes. As a demonstration of the increased order, at the train station instead of a queue that would encourage Indian style bunching, much to our surprise there was a ticketing machine. Another sign of the increased prosperity is the fact that I don't think we have seen a cycle rickshaw since we left behind the Gangetic planes in the North. After securing our train tickets to Madurai and a omlette in our stomaches, we headed for Mysore's premier tourist location, the Maharajah's Palace.
The Maharajah's Palace in Mysore was the seat of the Wodeyar Maharajah who ruled Mysore for over 500 years. They established their Kingdom after the fall of the Vijayanagara Empire at Hampi in 1565. They formed alliances with their would be rulers such as the Mughals and later British (whom they had initially fought many wars) and remained in some sort of power until the Independence of India in 1947. The Palace was completed in the 1912 after the original wooden one had been destroyed in a fire in 1897. To demonstrate the cosy relationship they had with the Raj the Maharaja comissioned English architect Henry Irwin to build it. What he designed and built was the much vaunted pinnacle of Indo-Sarcenic architecture, that blend of European and Indian styles. The palace is definitely the grandest building in Mysore, but it doesn't really blow you away in the same way that Mumbai train station does. However to be fair it does get better the more you see of it on the inside which, unfortunately I do not have any photos as they are banned in the inside of the palace. The highlight of the palace for me was the Wedding Hall, which is based around a huge iron frame which forms a sort of huge octagonal gazebo, decorated with stained glass and tiles and the wall surrounding is lined by paintings of the Dussehra festival.
Along with a few other sights to see in Mysore, which we didn't fancy much is St Philomena's cathedral, which we did. Purely for the reason that to a lot of people in Ireland St Philomena is this lady. However the lady that inspried her name and of that of the cathedral was the young Greek Saint who was tortured and killed at the hands of the Roman Emperor Diocletian after she declined his hand in marriage to keep her holy vow of virginity. The building is a Gothic Cathedral and despite the out of proportion spires is still a pretty nice church. The familiarity of it was most welcome and last we felt we were on some sort of home turf here and the local tourist were invading our space. Curiously it was white in the inside which reminded me of a Lutheran church and also it had a series of inscribed of names around it, who I presume provided donations to the founded of the church. I had a great time going over these names and found a few interesting ones, which you can see in the photos below.
Our night train to Madurai leaves this evening and it will almost certainly be our last night journey aboard an Indian train, which brings both relief and sadness. Madurai like Mysore is also being visited by us for a single night so we also intend to spend only a night there before heading for Peyiar Wildlife sanctuary. Hopefully I will be able to pick up from there and perhaps I may even have some news of sighting a certain carnivore that this country is famous for.
Just seen the draw for next year's Ulster football championship. Best draw possible for Tyrone, pretty sure that we owe Donegal 1 or 2 so it will be a great time and place to take them down!
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