Blogs from Hassan, Karnataka, India, Asia
February 20th 2012
Another short drive as we arrived in the ancient city of Mysore around midday and dumped our bags at the hotel I had booked the previous evening, it is clean and comfortable and within just a few minutes’ walk of the palace. We decided that we would go visit the further afield sights immediately then dismiss the driver as we will be staying for a few days. The first of these sights was the star shaped Kesava Temple built 1268 in Somnathpur some thirty three kilometres east of Mysore, which was totally covered in carved soapstone figures from the Ramayana, Mahabharata and the Bhagavad Gita some quite pornographic. I found the temple fascinating, it's a shame the Indians don’t build anything so pretty anymore. On the way back we visited the temple on Chamundi Hill not ... read more
May 15th 2011
After having arrived in Belur from Bangalore, with no sleep and a bad back in the bank, I quickly skulled back 5 chais and watched the sunrise outside the temple. The town was dead when we arrived at 5 in the morning and watching the temple come to life outside the Chennakesava Temple was a great experience. When we arrived, we were the only people there aside from the cleaners. The temple wasn't due to open until 8am and the thought of sleep had crossed my mind. That thought was quickly dashed however by the pre-opening sunrise temple music. I have to say that it was the first time I found myself really enjoying Hindu music. It is designed to make one feel outer worldly and after the night beforehand's bus ride it certainly had the ... read more
May 15th 2011
As I think I made clear in the two previous entries, there are some pretty incredible temple towns and religious monuments in India. I don't think I have been in a country before where religion has played such a bit part in people's daily lives, at least with the diversity of beliefs and practices one finds in India. I think from memory India has given the world 4 of its major religions, those being the Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh and Jain faiths - there are also more Muslims in India than all but one of two of the majority Muslim countries dotted around the globe - I think only Indonesia has more Muslims. There are an amazing amout of sub-sects of these religions and with Hinduism literally consisting of thousands of gods, deities and avatars, that one ... read more
Hassan Hissy Fit or Why does India have no volume control button ?
Published: January 17th 2009Asia » India » Karnataka » Hassan
January 17th 2009
We left lovely Mysore and the cosy and safe confines of The Green Hotel and headed onwards towards Hassan. Having said goodbye to our lovely new friends Mark and Sarah from Dublin. They're traveling by motorbike for four weeks and sharing 12 Kgs luggage as opposed to our 45kgs for six. We actually said goodbye five more times as the motor bike they were on was acting up., We picked up our driver and off we went. Our first stop was to be the awesome , stunning, enormous Jain human Sculpture at Saravanabelagola (sp). It is 18M tall and stands atop a hill reached, barefoot, on hundreds of scorching, rock hewn steps. Thankfully there was, what my mother refers any sudden zephir to, "a thin wind". This thin wind was most welcome when we got to ... read more
January 11th 2009
On Sunday morning, Rosy and I went for a hike from Halebid, through the nearby pastoral areas and villages. The area appears extremely fertile, with coconut trees, cabbage patches, tomatoes, potatoes, green bean, some sort of lentil/bean, sugarcane, rice paddies, and other produce we couldn’t identify. We climbed up several hills, each of which is topped with a temple, so there is a system of trails of sorts, and we didn't feel we were trespassing on private property. The Sunday afternoon bus rides back to Mysore were peaceful idyllic uneventful, my favorite way to travel. ... read more
January 10th 2009
Three towns -- Sravana, Halebid & Belur -- make up a sort of “Heritage Sight Trilogy”: some tour groups from Mysore, Bangalore, and Mangalore (relatively nearby bigger cities) will do all three, plus 4-6 hours to/from the departure point, in a single day. Our plan was to spend a few hours in Halebid (lunch, see the temples), and then moving on to Belur for the night. But by the time we reached Halebid around 2pm on Saturday, after 3 bus rides, we’d had enough travel. Sleep in Sravana was limited on the hard sheetless beds, there was no real running water there, Rosy got attacked by bedbugs, the delicious lunch perhaps didn’t work well for some sensitive stomachs in the group, and we’d had a long week of early hard yoga. So we decided to abandon ... read more
January 9th 2009
After a tiring week, we were rewarded with a long weekend: Saturday is always a day of rest, and Sunday was a moon day. So roommate Jessica, Rosy from Thailand, and I headed off for a 3-day excursion to see some nearby heritage sights. First was Sravana Belagola, a small rural town that is the site of a couple of Jainist temples set high up on rock outcroppings arising from an otherwise flat arid landscape. We reached this town in three stages: a city bus to the Mysore bus station (15 minutes); a bus to Chanarayaputna (2-3 hours), then the bus to the village (20 minutes). We had a seat on each bus, though they were all crowded, hot, dry, and dusty. The main accommodation in Sravana is a complex of guesthouses operated by the temple ... read more
April 16th 2006
So headed over to Hassan and arrived at 2am. Found a hotel...a bit expensive but at that time in the morning I couldn't be bothered trekking around the town. The next day I was on a bit of a mission to see masses of stuff. Despite this I didn't head off until 10am! First stop Sravanabelagola....The place with the big naked statue, which apparently means Monk on the White Pond. It's a really important Jain Pilgramege site. The statute is of Gomateshvara, a Jain deity. Apparently it's said to be the world's tallet monolithic statue. It's a very impressive and religious place. Every 12 years there is a massive pilgramage there. 2006 was one of those years...but it happens in January. However for the next few months Sundays are dedicated to the pilgramage and loads of ... read more
April 24th 2005
Mist veils the woods and the road. At Sakleshpur, we are suddenly jerked out of alcohol-induced slumber; the Ghats start here. Unable to resume the party, we gaze at the whiteness outside the van. After abrupt turns and altitude change, we are no longer sleepy, but sick. Slowly, a reassuring green emerges out of the waning white. People have already started their chores. Women and girls return home with pots of water. Men have taken place at roadside bunds and tea shops. Marketplaces are coming alive. I search for the river Harish has promised. Kashi, our driver, pulled over the van ahead of a checkpoint. Bisle: the board put up by the forest department reads. A guard allows us in. Another one offers to be our guide. On either side of the road are two houses. ... read more
13) Hassan and the Hoysala temples of Belur and Halebid
Published: March 6th 2005Asia » India » Karnataka » Hassan
March 6th 2005
We were a bit fed up with bus-rides, so we tried to catch a train from Mysore to Hassan. Although it was not mentioned in our guidebook, we found a train immediately. Unlike the buses, the train was almost empty. We enjoyed the trip very much, preferring trains to buses anyway, since you have more space and can move around rather freely. You also see a lot from the landscape from the train, you just don't experience village scenes in a bus. To our surprise we arrived one hour earlier than they had told us, and could finally book our second overnight train, which we had not managed in Mysore. There we had queued for about two hours twice, without any outcome. Although Mysore is a relatively big city, the train station is rather miserable. But ... read more
