Flight home

Up early to go to Bangalore to catch a flight with traffic and torn up roads we'll barely get there in time for luch when we leave here at 8 in the morning. Lunch with Lakuma will be our last with her. She goes home to Chennai on a train and we fly to New Delhi to catch another flight to New York. Lakuma will be happy to see her husband and son and we will be happy to see all of you.

Final Tuesday

Started off with an optional tour. Only 4 of us were up for another adventure so we rented a car and went in grand style. We stopped at several small villages out of Mysore and walked around, talked to people, took pictures and smiled a lot. We stopped and watched sugar cane being cut and then again to see it loaded into the trucks and to see leaf bowls and plates for sale. These are getting more popular again now that recycling is becoming somewhat popular. We also stopped to see some painted push carts which are characteristic of Mysore- people either paint ehm themselves or have somone more skilled do it. We ended at Somanathpur Temple- probably way misspelled. It is a 10th-11th C. structure dedicated to Vishnu. Many intricate stone carvings along the walls and pillars. It is built of of stone blocks. Jewelry and decorations on the statues like decoration on a cake. We were there early so we had the temple almost all to ourselves with our beautiful guide dressed in bright red sari to contrast with the gray stone. She makes a wonderful model. Statues of Vishnu in his various avitars line the outside walls, below this row are lines of elephants, horses, warriors, makaras and floral patterns.

Next is lunch at the Lahile Palace-19th C. built for the Majaraja's non-vegetarian friends. A sumptuous lunch was accompanied by musicians and our personal servers behind or beside each of us. We each got a platter with about 10 bowls of various good sauces and meats, then comes rices, more meats, veges, fruit and 3 kinds of bread including naan and my favorite which I can never remember. A dessert plate had cheesecake, fruit and a mystery ball of coconut, carrots, raisons and sugar. The room was magnificent as were the other rooms we toured after lunch.

Then we went to the Mysore Palace which was bigger and grander than anything which came before. Rebuilt in the late 1800's after the wood structure burned to the ground this one is built of steel. The stained glass windows were from Belgium, chandeliers from Italy And the steel pillars from France. Hallways were covered with historical murals, silver thrones and 2 glass chairs were on display- for visiting dignitaries. The best part was the upper floor where the Maharaja and family still view the yearly festival and parade of elephants in the vast courtyard in front. I can hardly stand that I had to lock up my camera.....boo hoo.

From there we went to see a new temple on top of the mountain (Chamundi) overlooking Mysore.I was stopped to take a picture of 2 mama monkeys with their babies and when I bent over to take the picture a cow came up and butted me in the butt! I jumped really high but at first thought mom was playing with me - I was surprised to see the cow. We didn't go in this temple but just looked from the outside. We got blessed on our way by with a piece of orange yarn, some red stuff on our foreheads and some chanting.

Next we went to see the 4th largest Nandi statue which was 1/2 way back down the hill. I took my shoes off to get a picture but mom was tired of doing that so she got to hold the shoes. There were some people in front of the cow getting blessings from a priest and some lit incense.

Daredevil Ride

Took a plane to Bangaluru early in the morning. Uneventful. Then got on new huge sized air conditioned bus with new driver and busboy to go to Mysore. This guy drives like a maniac, several gasps from the rooting section but no crashes. Had lunch at a memorable place- McDonald's, saving our budgets for an elegant dinner. We had chicken Mc spicys and 2 ice cream cones each. It was delicious! On to the summer palace of Tipu Sultan in Srirangapatna. It was a fabulous palace on the inside but alas no photos and very nondescript from the outside. Very memorable historical wall paintings and carved walls. Also a museum of Sultans and famous people form this area. Tipu Sultan was know as the tiger of Mysore because he was so ferocious against the English, he was finally defeated in 1800. Mother met the boss man at the palace and buttered him up for a phot of the palace since no cameras were allowed. She managed to get the only brocure and also his card with name address and e-mail for any further questions.
Then we saw the remains of the fort and Tipu's Palace which was torn to the ground when the British conquered the town.



Here we are in the hotel "western" bar which has seats with saddles.

We started out with a walk at 7 AM and already I am sweaty and hot. We saw the house and church (St Francis) of Vasco deGama and where he was buried. We saw some more fishing boats. There were people lined up in crowds along the waterfront waiting for the big cruise ships to come by.They look so humongous in this setting and everybody is excited. We saw a bunch of other churches including Santa Cruz Basilica which is the church our family from last night goes to- it was packed and people were flowing out all the doors. They were playing some very nice music in there. After breakfast we went to Mattancherry Palace- 1550. There were some awesome murals of the Ramayana, some of which were partially restored. They decided to do it in sections instead of closing down for restoration so it would remain open for visitors. Unfortunately for me- no photos allowed! I already got in trouble for taking a photo of the sign on my way in. Also inside were portraits of all the Maharajas, the earliest dating to the 1500's. Then we went to "Jew town" and the Paradise Synagogue (1664).They were persecuted by the Portuguese along the coast and came to this place under the protection of the Maharaja. There are only 20Jews living here now but many shops and restaurants are open. We did a little shopping at the women's cooperative- no bargains here! Then we ate at an outdoor waterfront restaurant finishing with cool ginger ice-cream. After another dip in the pool we are now off to another dance performance.

Back from the dance. Men only, dressed as men and women.The best part was getting to sit on the side of the stage and watching them put on the make-up. The expressions, eye movement and hand and finger movements were carefully choreographed. The make up boy was also the drummer. He was only 11 but well skilled at both. He is studying to be an actor. He is learning all aspects of theatre and can start acting when he is 16. His drumsticks are curved!

Backwater Canals

The hit of the day was the backwater boat ride on the waterways leading from the mountains to the Arabian Sea on the Western Malabar coast. The boat was covered with bamboo matting with 2 bedrooms and a kitchen on the lower floor and a lounge with good viewing on the upper story.You can rent these to cruise and live on for a longer period but we just went for the afternoon. We saw local families on these as well. We saw people walking by as well as washing their dishes, hair, babies and clothing. Kids were playing and riding boats around us. Kids mostly waved and shouted "hello", adults went both ways, ignoring us or waving. Nobody tried to sell us anything which was a nice change. The weather was again quite warm-hot but we at least had shade and I took a few baths in the bathroom sinks to cool off. We had a really nice Indian lunch served to us on the upper deck which included spicy fish, curries, fruit ad much more. When we got back to the hotel, after a quick dip in the pool to get drenched for the heat, mom and I went on a walk on our own along the waterline. There are Chinese fishing nets lined up on poles with a counterweight of large stones that allow them to raise and lower the huge nets into the water with about 4 me also pulling the lines. We climbed up onto one boat and they let us pull up the net but we couldn't do it too many times as they all want a tip and we are nearly out of money. If I could remember my ATM password I could get some more but alas I just changed it and it is a mystery to me now. We ended the day with a visit by 6 of us to a local home where we were warmly greeted. We sat and talked about their family and ways of life and they asked about us.They served us the most wonderful meal we have had yet which included fish, spicy shrimp,several curries, papadan- probably way off but it was crunch read like a tortilla, chicken, really spicy beats, mango salad, ad a few more items. The grandfather took a liking to our friend John who he said looked just like his brother who moved to the US and had not been in contact for years. With tears in his eyes he asked for a photo with John and himself.

Kochin

Reluctantly checked out of our cool mountain home and off down the mountains to see tea plantations and rubber .It's a long windy road and a litle hazardous- both the road and on the stomach. We had lunch at the rubber plantation, got to see how rubber is harvested and made into sheets. The family was very nice and the wife an excellant cook. Their daughter and first grandson were visiting so we got to meet them as well. It took 8 hours to get to Kochin at our waterfront hotel. We drop our suitcases and hop right back on the bus for some shopping to our guide's favorite shop. The bus can't make it all the way and we hire some autos for the rest of the ride. They had some beautiful things. We got back to the hotel about 9 PM for dinner and cocktails.

Elephant shower

We get up early for a nature walk in the Tiger preserve which also has elephants and other wild beasts. We don't see to many ferocious animals, however. We start by crossing the lake on a raft of bamboo sticks thrashed together into a mostly floating "boat". The most easily sighted were the tadpoles who were so prevalent that they formed a visible dark line all along the edge of the lake. 2 hours later we had seen various birds, a wild boar, black monkeys and butterflies. Somone saw a mongoose and some others saw an elephant with her baby back in the bushes.We went ovely excited by this adventure and asked at the desk if they could get the 2 of us transportation to the elephant village so we could go for a ride. We were sent a tuk-tuk, which we learned is not a tuk-tuk but an "auto", and a personal escort and off we went on a real adventure. Wewere taken on a bumpy ride down dirt cratered roads to find just one elephant as the rest were gone for a festival, but that's all we needed. So to add to our growing goup we get the mahout with his elephant, the tour guid and the assistant.They put us up on the elephant who is clad in a heavy blanket and a wire frame which holds a footrest on either side for us to put our feet on and which has small metal handles and I am istructed to hang on right behind mom. This doesn't work though as I want to lean around to see and take some photos. Nobody falls off and we have a woderful ride for about 40 minutes. We don't really know what's next as we did pay our $20.00 for an hour. So we are then excorted to the hose where we are instructed on bathing the elephant and we give him a hard brushing down. Then the mahout gets the elephant to lay down and tells me to jump up when I am then soaked with water! Fun times. We also met a new friend on this trip- our escort Manu took all the bathing with the elephant shots- not available onthis posting- and gave us his e-mail. He and all the others here are so friendly and helpful.

Then we go on a spice tour to a spice plantation and a guided tour by the"spiceologist". We saw growing cardemon, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg,vanilla, pepper, tumeric and others. Then we go to the organic spice market- on the bus.

Then we get to see another dance performance,different dancer but just as good. She is the daughter of the dance master and is an aspiring "dancing cardiologist". We went out as a group for a nice dinner.