Two Cities in One Day

Shannyn at the market
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We caught an afternoon bus from Ooty to Mysore which took us 6 hours. Our bus ride was very bumpy indeed as it took us through a national park where there are tigers. We managed to see wild deers there but no tigers - they are a little more elusive.

We only had one day in Mysore so we started off by seeing the famous Maharaja's Palace. The interior of this palace is truly stunning complete with beautiful stained glass, mosaic tiles and crystal chandeliers.

The interior of this palace is truly stunning with beautiful stained glass, mosaic tiles & crystal chandeliers

Maharaja's Palace
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Next up we went to the Devaraja market which is one of the most colourful and lively bazaars in India. This market sells all sorts of spices, coloured powders (used for putting dots on the heads of Indian women), fruits, vegetables, flowers and perfumed oils. Its very photographic here and most of the vendors are more than happy to be photographed. You need to be careful of scams here though.

Finally we had a look at some of the beautiful silk that Mysore is famous for. There are many large silk stores lining the streets that sell very good quality items. Of course I couldn't help myself and had to buy a silk scarf and yes a lovely purple sari.

Gary at the market
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Mysore is surprisingly clean and quite hassle free compared with other Indian cities and is definitely a good place to stop and spend a day or two. We would have liked to have stayed longer if time had permitted.

Late in the afternoon we caught a bus to Bangalore, the IT and call centre capital of the world. We only had a few hours here as this is where we caught our overnight train to Hampi from. Rather than sit and wait at the train station we decided to get a rickshaw to the famous MG road area where all of the fancy westernised shops and cafes are located. We didn't have much time so decided to look inside a couple of huge malls, which had a great choice of shops and also a food court. Believe it or not they actually had a Marks and Spencers inside!! Getting inside the malls was more hassle than you would think, especially if you have a large backpack with you, they had to thoroughly search the backpacks everytime.

The market
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After this we headed to the train station for our late night train to Hampi. We had to wait for about an hour on the filthy platforms which was delightful as we sat there being stared at by a local man - he was really close to us and had no idea how ridiculous he looked oggling at us. The train arrived and we had to find our carriage amongst hundreds of other people. Obviously we were nowhere near our carriage so had a rush on, barging past people avoiding the freshly laid human shits as we went. What a lovely experience... Shannyn