Gokharna to Mysore to Wayanad National Park

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Hi there! Been a while since our last blog AGAIN...
Its been go go go since Paradise Beach in Gorkarna. We left the beach on a motorized boat and the dolphins came out to say their goodbyes, as the eagles flew overhead in the thermals. We were headed for Mysore via Bangalore. We got our sleeper bus at about 7 in the evening and about 11 hours later after a very comfortable sleep on the best overnight bus yet we arrived in Bangalore. For those of you who don't know (not in a condescending way) what a sleeper bus is let me explain. On one side of the bus there are single beds and on the other is double beds. You can choose from an upper or a lower, we always from now on will go upper bed much more comfortable and we fell straight asleep and didn't wake up till the morning. We had to get another bus then from Bangalore to Mysore about three hours away. We stayed in a really nice place near the palace in Mysore. We roamed around Mysore for a few days saw some great sights like the palace of Mysore. We went on an audio tour in the palace we looked like real nerds but what the hell.

Then we made our way on foot to an art gallery which wasn't an art gallery that day!! but a talent competition for the local schools. It was like Xfactor Bollywood style. We took a rickshaw for a day and a really nice Indian guy took us around some of the sights like Chamundi Hill and Shivas transport a bull made from one large piece of rock.We visited shops where they make large encrusted elephants, beedies (Indian cigarettes), and incense sticks. On my way back Stu was talking with some Indian guys, so I walked ahead to the Rickshaw driver to which he asked me "where is the master"?????(very seriously) to which I replied "he is coming"! That's just the way it is here they pull out Stu's chair in restaurants give him the menu first and really only take notice when he speaks! I thought it was really weird at first I found it frustrating but now I'm used to it, that's just the way it is here.

There was a festival on in Mysore when we were there where for a good harvest they paint the cows and at night make them run through fires. We tried to find these cows one night but the closest we got to them were photos the following day in the newspaper. Stu did manage to capture some of them by day!

We left Mysore on the 16/01/09 for Kalpetta on a local bus as it was only four hours away. Kalpetta was to be our base as we explored Wayanard National Park. While we were on the local bus which goes through part of the park we saw about 7 wild elephants right beside the rd. They were the last elephants we saw. We organized a trip to the park the following day and got a jeep through the park with two British guys. It was very disappointing we saw deer (sure we see then all the time in the Phoenix park), Peacocks, Bison, so the closest we got to the wild elephants was in the distance and a much better view while driving on the main rd in a bus. It didn't cost us that much so that was good, but a huge let down as I kind of thought that I was going to see a tiger!!! That day after the park we decided to get the hell out of Kalpetta and on to Ooty.

Pam and Stu

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