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Other entries in Mysore

a palace to rival the taj

our plans to go to hampi were thwarted in so many ways - all by the online ticket booking engine for indian railways.

hampi is this great complex of old cities & temples - on the scale of angkor wat by the sounds of it - so we were really excited to go. the plan was to book online for train tix - every local has said this is the way to go. way easier than waiting at the station' - just register, pay, print.. ....but easier said than done.

we'd tried before but ran into a password bug. 1 month later, hurrah! we can actually register. on my way to online booking right? wrong! I get through the entire process (won't go into usability issues...) only to find out my credit cards aren't accepted. no prob - alicia & sage have a local card, will use theirs. but by the time we get back online with their card, get this....the website is shut down - from 11:30-5am. (!) have you ever heard of a site that 'closes'? so much for the power of virtual storefronts. grrrrr...no tix bought tonight.

next day...next attempt. same user-unfriendly process, but now a&s learn their indian bank account wasn't set up for online banking AND they have to download a form AND deliver it to the bank to get this set up (I'm not even joking). AND, it doesn't really matter cause now the tix we wanted are sold out and we couldn't buy online anyhow. grrrrrrr.argh.indiaaaaaaaah! (for entertainment, check it out yourself: www.indianrail.gov.in)

screw hampi, mysore here we come. say 'bye' to a&s and all their excellent hospitality. off we go.

and funny - as painful as the puke-busses are to travel ON, they are the easiest, most convenient, most frequent mode of transport in the country.

in mysore, we visited a wicked palace - rivaled the taj for beauty in architecture. original palace burned down in 1800s. the brits reguilt it (why? we kept wondering...did they burn it down in the first place? did they want to 'get in good' with the locals after doing so much bad?) whateer the reason, they did a great job. combined the best of hindu, muslim and european styles and instead of the arab-liberaci-themed horror show you might expect, it was actually stunning.

ivory inlaid doors, peacock stained glass windows, filigree arches, unexpected color combos (gold, blue, yellow, orange), HUGE halls...what a treat and cost only 50 cnets. only bummer was no photos allowed inside but we were thrilled to see it. (a few interior shots here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mysore_Palace)

a few other scenes around mysore:

- our hotel was on same street as a huge movie theater. if you timed a walk down it with a show starting or ending, it was PACKED with teenage indian boys (very few girls/women). as far as we could tell, movie was about cricket with one of bollywoods new young stars. maybe cool to see it, but I sure wouldn't want to be surrounded by the sausage fest...ugh!

- this is first town with a load of horse-drawn carriages. sounds cool, but was really sad to see such small skinny horses having to run down paved streets with a cart full of overweight sari-clad indian women. I DID see 3 horses roaming the streets like cows - they actually looked chubby and almost healthy...(is their a horse god I haven't ehard about?)

- we met up with catherine again! last saw her at fort cochin. shes staying with an indian woman - had a great night talking indian politics, womens rights issues, religion, etc. also finalized plans to meet catherine on the kolkata train platform 10 jan on our way to the north to volunteer. a needle in a hay stack, but we both know india well enough that this will probably actually workatthelastminuteaftersomuchstressandthingsgoingwrong.

- I mailed packages home - first attempt here. no less the adventure than anything. on the way to get an envelope, I met a dusty shop owner running a  dusty stationery shop selling dusty pens, paper, etc. turns out the guys son is going to college 'outside chicago'. who woulda thunk it? changed my perception on who's middle class around here. also got hounded outside the post office by a package wallah offering to sew up my package for a special price of 100r. walked a little farther and got same work for 50r. never believe those who approach YOU....felt good about that move :)

while waiting for my box to get sewn up, I sketched the dude's foot-pedal-powered sewing machine - he seemed proud that I'd bother to sketch his work -that was cool too. [side note on the stuff I mailed - have shaved 2-3 pounds out of my backpack - lightening up in prep for nepal. I"ll go without porters if I can help it!]

- woke up at 5:30am to 2 guys blaring TV and talking SO loud. must've lost their hearing from all the horn honking so had no clue how ANNOYING they really were....

- oh yeah, and best of all - celebrated petros' birthday!! had great dinner at garden-filled restaurant compelte with indian-themed music.

great time in mysore, cool sights, cheap internet. now back to bangalore to pamper ourselves for our last few days together. booked into a posh hotel (by looks of website...) and vow to eat as much non-indian food as possible (I'll get my over-fill while volunteering so trying to avoid it for a while).

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