Mysore-(body after yet another night train)
Mysore is actually one of the coolest cities we have visited in India so far, literally, well after Kerala anyway. It was blissfully a bit higher in elevation than Kerala, so a few degrees cooler. Good for me, but not so popular with Gaia.
Firstly the Guest house we stayed at was, wait for it, CLEAN. The sheets were white and the bed wasn’t rock hard, and to top it all it had hot water. We were off to a good start. We then went out and ate well and also, as if it wasn’t already my favourite place, it was also easy to get a nice cold beer.
The next day we set out to do some sight seeing, with the hotel managers words ringing loud and clear in our ears “trust nobody, it will be a scam to get you to buy something”
With the confidence of a few months of India under our belts we headed off to the internet cafe first. This has become one of Gaia’s mantras by the way. The nearby place was closed and a young man offered to show us to one that is open, Gaia said he seemed nice and hadn’t asked for money, so off we went. He did indeed show us to a good place with fast internet, and then was mysteriously still there 2 hours later.
At this point i began to get suspicious of his motives and tried to pay him for his trouble and to get rid of him. Gaia and Jo said that i had probably really insulted him, as he hadn’t asked for money.
Anyway to cut it short he showed us around a few interesting factories, where we got some nice photos and we eventually ended up in an incense and perfume outlet.
After a short while waiting for the ladies who made the incense sticks to finish lunch so we could see them at work, i told the chap that we were definitely not in the market for anything. Pretty soon after we were taken back to the main road and left to our own devices again.I have to say he was very good and it was the most subtle softening up for a sale that i’ve seen to date.
Nedless to say the hotel manager knew the places we were taken too and just shook his head in disbelief.
The market was amazing, see the pictures in the Mysore folder. It was sensory overload of many kinds with smells, colours and noise and a constant stream of people buying and others restocking stalls. The pictures tell it best, so that’s how i’ll leave it.
We also took in a temple and a giant bull statue, but generally just enjoyed good food and a clean room, and friendly folk. Thanks Mysore, you were a welcome break from the madness of India.
Amazingly there is so much jewelery made and worn in India, that the sewers are full of gold dust and lost earrings etc, so as you can see in one of my pics, people actually pan the sewer water for gold. Only in India!
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