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Published: March 14th 2009
Mysore Palace
Just a hovel. Everyone in India lives like this.The traffic authorities in India use a variety of techniques to try to keep some level of control of the roads. One of the most common is the use of what Australians call speed humps. Here in India they get called a variety of things, often depending on whether the driver has spotted them early enough to slow down. They are often not what might be called 'normal' speed humps'. They can be quite large. Indeed, if you hit them at anything over walking speed they could tear the bottom out of the car. These somethimes vicious speed humps can come singly or in groups of 2, 3 or even 6 on the trot. They are more frequent in towns but you can get them anywhere - middle of an expressway, entrances to car parks, entrance to an expressway or before a toll booth. They do slow people down but only for the time it takes to get across, then it is foot to the floor again.
We have a car and driver who will takes us on a sort of loop around South India taking in Mysore, Ooti, Kochin, Pondicherry, Madurai, a boat on the Kerala backwaters and on
Negotiations
The perfume seller had an interesting line - and he made a sale to Chennai (Madras to the uninitiated). Shankar is our driver. He has proven to be a very attentive, careful and skillful driver and the car is very comfortable.
We rolled into Mysore late-ish in the day. We were booked into the Ritz so might have had a reasonable expectation of a somewhat luxurious stay. There is a chance, however, that this particular Ritz is not part of the world wide chain. It had 4 rooms and had been built in the early part of the last century. Obviously there has been some maintenance done since then - you can tell by the paint splatters - but maintenance is not the priority here. It did have large rooms, working bathrooms for each room, a common room along with a restaurant and bars. More like a pub than an hotel. It was fine, smack in the middle of town and, for the price, even good.
Mysore's main claim to fame is the palace of the Maharajah. It used to be the capital of his territory and the family clearly believed in looking after themselves. We were lucky to get there on Sunday night. Only on this night do the lights
Market at Mysore
One of the cleaner and easier to get around get switched on. Times are tough for the Maharajah when he has to conserve power.
The following day was dedicated to looking around Mysore. We did a bit of this on foot taking in the Central Market - one of the cleaner ones I have been to - the sandalwood craft outlet - unspectacular and expensive - and a range of other places selling things. In the afternoon we slipped back into the nicely air-conditioned car and headed off to a couple of temples.
As those who have read this blog before will know, it is possible for me to become a little less than enthusiastic about visiting temples, palaces, churches and the like. I am now able to inform you that there are others in the group who are of or are developing a like mind but we did decide that we should see these two.
The first one we came to, on a hill overlooking Mysore, was closed. Dear or dear. The second was a relatively long drive over a rough road and it was worth the drive.
A large part of the attraction was that a festival was underway as we arrived. No
Black Bull
He had another name - Anandi I think. one was too sure what was being celebrated but it has been the 'holi' days festival in some parts for the last couple of days. This involves covering bits of one's body in coloured paste or paint. Not everyone participates and I am not sure if it had anything to do with what we experienced but there you go.
As happens with festivals, or any occasion really, the women and girls were dressed beautifully - didn't notice the blokes. People lined both sides of a road leading to the temple about 400 meters long. As we were walking towards this crowd wondering what was going on an ox cart pulled by two bullocks all festooned with flowers, paint and banana leaves and 'controlled' by runners holding the heads of the bullocks came bursting out of a gully with a group of young blokes beating the daylights out of them. They took off up the road, not in a completely straight line. Those of the crowd who were not behind fences quickly tried to remedy the situation. As we were heading for a fence another team came around the corner and took off up the road. So it continued. Teams
Proof
that I do go into temples. of bullocks belting, and being belted, up and down the road to the great cheering and encouragement of the crowd. All very exciting although, in my heart, I am not completely convinced that the RSPSCA would approve or that a person who was an animal welfare person in a previous life should have had anything to do with it. But it looked like everyone was having a lot of fun - except perhaps the bullocks.
The temple itself was also much more interesting than most. Built almost 1,000 years ago it had amazingly intricate carving in every conceivable place. I couldn't do the carving justice and every possible local guide was busy beating bullocks but I have never seen it this precise, intricate or so much of it. The only thing I will say is that it is clear that current rules about modesty had no place in the old days and also that people were either relatively well fed, or liked to think of themselves with a bit of meat on. This is reputed to be the oldest known temple of this particular type in the world and is the best preserved of any. Perhaps in future that
Running the Bulls
They were getting a little tired by this time but still going. will be the criterion for viewing - the best and the oldest. Should sort them out a bit.
Back to Mysore and the Ritz. We had tried to get onto the net earlier and had succeeded in dealing with some emails and downloading some viruses onto a memory key that had the next post on it without being able to upload anything. In the evening we approached a large and flash hotel and asked if we could sit in their lobby and use their wifi for a price. They agreed and we were able to get the post on Melaka onto the blog.
After the excesses of Bangalore in the food department, we were all keen to get back into more sustainable habits. Mysore food was, not unexpectedly, not a lot different to Bangalore. We did hit one place that turned out to be better than average. Shankar, who is a bloke who knows people, found us the place in Mysore to eat dhosai - I have seen that spelt as 'dhosa' as well. This was good food and will be ordered again if I spot it on a menu.
I have been considering the value of
Ravi? Dhosa
This looked the most impressive but i reckon my massala dhosa was better. becoming a vegetarian, perhaps for a just a little while. I do know a few vegetarians and they tend to be people with good taste but I do like to take my protein in the form of meat rather than beans and lentils. I have had one feed that included mutton and I have a real suspicion that it inspired a bout of TD (refer to earlier post for details if you need them). The chicken is normally prepared as chopped up bone and a bit of meat. There is no beef and heaven forfend that anyone should eat pork. Seafood? Just have a look at where it comes from. Trouble is that we were in a vegetarian restaurant in Mysore and I gently inquired whether it was possible to order a beer. He reeled back in horror telling me that this is a 'pure' vegetarian restaurant. No beer here. Thus, I will not be becoming a vegetarian even for our time in India. I might give away the mutton, chicken and seafood though. So, what now Marika? Off the beer?
Morning and we set off with a recommendation from Ramakrishna to check out the breakfast at the oldest
The Ritz
loading up for a day on the road hotel of its type in Mysore, the DasPrakash just near the statue. It was a very good breakfast in an olde worlde atmosphere. Vegetarian of course but too early anyway for any desire for a beer.
Ooty was the next port of call. Ooty is about 150 kms from Mysore and is up in the mountains. We crossed from Karnataka into Tamil Nadu. To get here we travelled through one of the largest national parks in India. It is apparently one of the only places in India that one is still able to spot tigers and elephants in the wild. We missed those but did see plenty of tiger food around. It is clearly not the best time to see the National Park this late in the dry season. Fires had been through in places and the vegetation was not that impressive.
The track up to Ooty is a special. There are 36 hairpin bends on the road. There would be no more than 50 meters between any of them. There are buses, trucks, autos and other cars all on the road at the same time and it is a decent climb. Those with any weakness in the
Tiger food
We thought of pegging it out and waiting but instead just gave it a banana gut region are going to be tested. Nice trip for some of us but we made it.
Ooty, in a word, is grotty. It is an old hill station established by the British during the time of the Raj. It seems to have more rubbish about and to take less care than other places. We have been staying at the YWCA which is a reasonably large establishment spread over a number of acres with groups of rooms located around a central admin area with a restaurant and other common facilities. It is good value for money although I did have to dismantle the plumbing in order to get some running - and hot - water in the morning. Breakfast and dinner were pretty reasonable but very old style colonial.
We lunched at a place recommended in one of the guide books - the Irani. After walking in and getting settled Barnes ran through what the guide book actually said. Basically, the food is OK and cheap, the host is good and the atmosphere, cleanliness, etc is all pretty basic - if not downright dirty. The guide book on this occasion had it right. Food was pretty good and
Chocolate shop
Where else would he be but check out the sign over the shop. value for money but first you had to get over a pretty rough looking place that was decidedly dirty.
Ooty has a lake - which also doubles as a sewerage pond - and a race course and not a lot else in the town itself to recommend the place.
The region is a different matter. We took a train along a scenic railway through the hills. Beautiful country. Lots of tea plantations and a lot of eucalypts. Locals are quite interested that we claim these trees as ours. We hired a local guide who took us around the points of interest of a place called Coonoor and its environs. Visited a tea plantation and a very articulate guide explained the process of delivering Highland tea to your cups.
Dinner was super flash. The Savoy is a flash pub, has a flash bar and a flash restaurant. Prices matched. I think we spent as much on the drinks and meal as we have collectively spent in the last week on food and accommodation combined. Nice though.
Ooty is worth a visit simply because it is in a beautiful place. Now if they could just do something about
Oh Dear
you do need to be careful where you park the town.
Tips for Travellers in India - So Far
No matter how good the bargain, no matter what the value, you will find it cheaper. Someone may even come up to you and tell you that they will sell you the same one cheaper than they watched you pay the time before.
But, if you fail to buy it, then you will either never see one again or it will always be more expensive.
This hand business is probably ok if you are born to it. You can probably even learn to do it and do it well. But it is not as satisfying as a nice, thick piece of proper toilet paper.
Do not smile if you don't want them to follow you for a long time. Just say no and keep moving. Hand signals can also be good but do it like you are dismissing the squad.
If you give a beggar money be ready to hand out roughly similar amounts to the others. If you weaken and hand over a large-ish note everyone will know by the following morning so get out of town quickly.
Never, ever, ever go
Uniforms
school uniforms are big here and, generally, look good. out and about without a camera in India. Something will happen.
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Marika
non-member comment
Not Very Likely
Hmm now there is an unpleasant thought. Abstaining from beer that is...and wine if that too falls in the same category. As I sit here reading your blog, sipping a cheeky little red after a post-work beer it turns out that I'm not that pure a vego after all. Despite this, I would imagine that the vego eating around those parts is pretty decent. Even better with a nice cold Kingfisher or Taj Mahal to wash it down :)