Day 43: Mysore

To start the morning, we woke up for sunrise safari walk. We didn't really see much, just a lot of birds. We did get to see some monkeys, which is a pretty typical sight in India, I was hoping to see some elephants or a bobcat that the pictures in the hotel showed off. I will say that I am surprised at the activity level of this trip. Up north we just walked around flat surfaces and easy traveling. Here we are hiking, driving through steep mountains, and somewhat strenuous activities. Some of the people on this trip are rather old and are on the borderline of being physically capable to do these activities. One of the ladies slipped on a rock and fell back down about 5-7 feet and landed right on here back onto a rock. When I saw this, I seriously thought I just watched someone become paralyzed, the way her back whipped when she hit the rock. Somehow, she was able to walk away from it, but her pain is starting to creep up on her. As of now, it's just a minor sprain in her ankle; amazing.

After our hike, I waved goodbye to my treehouse as we made our way to Mysore.

On the way, we made three stops. First we "toured" a silk factory. Unlike my previous tours, we didn't have a guide. The factory was rather large and I had no clue what was going on at each stage of the production process; I definitely wasn't able to ask the guys that were manning the machines. Most spoke little to no English, understandable. When we were in Alipura, I watch a women make silk cloth by hand, it was pretty amazing. What is even more amazing is how many of those women are replaced by one of the factory's machines. Where will employment come from as more and more of any production process is completed by a machine? Aside from seeing all the machines at work, nothing was really impressive. I wasn't able to learn anything because there was no guide for us, not any script to read. At the end of the factory, they had big posters displaying the factory's water and coal consumption per meter of material produced. I was impressed to see that the amount used has gone down over the years. Then I saw one for just one year, displaying monthly averages. The month of September consumed absolutely nothing. I thought it might be some sort of holiday, so I asked the one guy that spoke English about it. He said, those numbers wrong, correct numbers in my book. That leads me to believe not much of the posters displayed correct information. What to believe? Surprisingly, this factory is run by the government.

Afterwards we went to the Keshava Temple in Somnathapur, another World Heritage Site. The temple was rather small and the engravings were similar to the ones at the Western Group of Temples. Very interact engravings depicting various Hindu deities. Since it used to be a temple, we had to remove our shoes and the stone was extremely hot from its constant exposure to the sun. Most people, including me, didn't listen to our tour guide because we had to rush to the limited spots with shade. So I can't really give you too much history on the temple. The only thing interesting that I can give you is that the large single pillar (picture below) used to be lit at the top to serve as a sort of lighthouse for those traveling from afar and in need of a place to worship.

We then went to an active Hindu temple in Mysore. This, to me, was more interesting because the place was slammed with locals and you got to see people actively praying and what it is that they do. The temple was a tall bright yellow structure that was covered with monkeys. Like I have said, I see monkeys regularly, but here there were a ton of monkeys, eating and drinking. They would go up to the public filtered water and push the tap and drink straight from the spigot. Others were eating bananas or drinking bottled water. Easy to see how we evolved from their species. Some of the people were casually interacting with them by giving them flowers or food, that was cool to see.

The lady that fell from the rock had to be taken to a hospital because she started feeling sick, so we were without our guide. Therefore, we didn't learn anything about the temple, but the experience was good enough. Afterwards, we went to this large cow statue. The only thing I know is that cows are holy in the Hindu religion, other than that, I can't tell you why the statue was there.

Later that night, me and some of the group split off and walked the city by night, hopping to a couple bars and ended up at a great spot for dinner. Tomorrow we will be exploring Mysore and then take an over night train to Mamallapuram. This is going to be very interesting. Last over night was rather easy because everyone was used to the hustle and bustle of India and everyone could manage themselves on their own. I am imagining that this round is not going to be as easy. More people are going to want a bottom cot, which are tickets are all random. I'm glad I have my earplugs and a good book. Often on this trip, I just keep my headphones in and listen to music. So many people ask the same questions, complain, etc. I am so ready to be on my own and out of this coddling atmosphere. Luckily some people in the group agree with me, so we are able to break away and look back at it with a good attitude and laugh. Traveling is not always about the adventure but the people you meet along the way.


If you want to go quickly, go alone; if you want to go far, go together