Made it to Mysore on the weekend. It was really nice to get out of the city and see some of the countryside. Even though it is only 140 kms to Mysore from Bangalore, there are no real highways, so this drive took us nearly 4 hours. I really enjoyed seeing the rice fields and the little towns along the way. We stopped on the side of the road and had our first experience with coconut water. The guy cuts off the top of the coconut and you drink the water from inside. I am not a big fan. The couple who took us seemed to really love it and actually had the coconut cut open and ate this white filmy looking thing from inside. As I couldn't even finish my 'water' I declined from eating the insides as did Ryan, so I don't think it looked very appealing to him either.
At Mysore, there is the Mysore Palace. It was built to resemble the Windsor Palace in England.
To get into the palace, there were two different prices, one for locals at 20 Rupees or one for foreigners at 250 Rupees. Since we are now 'locals' we get the local price, sweet deal! All we needed to show was our registration papers and that was easy enough.
As we were entering the palace, a security guard saw my camera and said that I was not allowed to bring it into the palace. He was going to make us walk all the way back to the entrance to the grounds to check our camera. Thankfully we were with an Indian couple and Ashwini knew to just bribe the guy 10 Rupees and he let us keep it as long as we promised not to use it inside.
I snuck a couple of pics with Ryan's blackberry:
Ryan had his first experience with almost being pick pocketed. To go into any temple or palace, you need to take off your shoes, so at the station where you can pick up your shoes again, it is really busy, with lots of people bumping into each other. Ryan was bumped into fairly hard on the one side by a kid and as he turned to look at the kid, he felt a hand go into his opposite pocket. As he quickly turned back, a older women was scurrying away. Thankfully, he had all of his money and cards in the other pocket so she had nothing to take!
Me and Additiya: The 2 year old really took to me. They do not use car seats so Vandata, Additiya and me sat in the backseat, while Ryan sat upfront with Ashwini. Additiya had pretty much the full reign of the backseat, moving between me and his mother. Additiya's native language is Malayalam, so we could not communicate but it does seem that the word 'no' is used pretty universal.
Mysore Palace at night:
As much as Ryan and I like Indian food, eating 3 meals on a single day was a little much. All the bread and rice, it is so much food every time. We could not believe the quantity of food that was ingested by Ashwini and Vandata and they are half the size of Ryan and I. I don't think that we will be eating it for awhile.
At Mysore, there is the Mysore Palace. It was built to resemble the Windsor Palace in England.
To get into the palace, there were two different prices, one for locals at 20 Rupees or one for foreigners at 250 Rupees. Since we are now 'locals' we get the local price, sweet deal! All we needed to show was our registration papers and that was easy enough.
As we were entering the palace, a security guard saw my camera and said that I was not allowed to bring it into the palace. He was going to make us walk all the way back to the entrance to the grounds to check our camera. Thankfully we were with an Indian couple and Ashwini knew to just bribe the guy 10 Rupees and he let us keep it as long as we promised not to use it inside.
I snuck a couple of pics with Ryan's blackberry:
Ryan had his first experience with almost being pick pocketed. To go into any temple or palace, you need to take off your shoes, so at the station where you can pick up your shoes again, it is really busy, with lots of people bumping into each other. Ryan was bumped into fairly hard on the one side by a kid and as he turned to look at the kid, he felt a hand go into his opposite pocket. As he quickly turned back, a older women was scurrying away. Thankfully, he had all of his money and cards in the other pocket so she had nothing to take!
Me and Additiya: The 2 year old really took to me. They do not use car seats so Vandata, Additiya and me sat in the backseat, while Ryan sat upfront with Ashwini. Additiya had pretty much the full reign of the backseat, moving between me and his mother. Additiya's native language is Malayalam, so we could not communicate but it does seem that the word 'no' is used pretty universal.
As much as Ryan and I like Indian food, eating 3 meals on a single day was a little much. All the bread and rice, it is so much food every time. We could not believe the quantity of food that was ingested by Ashwini and Vandata and they are half the size of Ryan and I. I don't think that we will be eating it for awhile.
No comments:
Post a Comment