Blogs from Mysore, Karnataka, India, Asia

Our second placement weekend was spent in the beautiful city of Mysore, (mistakenly pronounced by Ali as ‘Mee-sore’ much to the amusement of our Indian housemates) a three hour bus ride away from Ashwini. We stayed in a hotel 3km outside the centre claimed by the Lonely Planet as ‘the nicest hostel in all of India’. Not convinced by this statement but if nothing else it definitely has a shot at being the most hilarious. We were staying in the women’s dorm which contained about 20 bunk-beds and at least another 20 mattresses strewn on any available floor surface. The other guests were exclusively Indian, my particular bunk-mate made her irritation at our presence very clearly known-after enquiring of me suspiciously several times ‘why are you here?’, she tried to oust Ali and I to ... read more

So next stop after The Andamans are parts of South India, before heading north for a few weeks, and then going to Japan at the end of this month. These are, in fact, “filler” weeks as we were going to do Darjeeling & Sikkim till we discovered that it might be too cold to visit this time of year, and we didn’t wish to carry our warm gear with us as well through the places we have visited since the girls left. We get a Jet Airways flight from Port Blair to Chennai after a slight hic cup when we realise we don’t have the copy of the e-ticket for C. Thankfully there is a Jet counter at the entrance to the airport & we get a copy free (as she is sooooo nice) - they ... read more

(I wrote this weeks ago and have been meaning to edit it before posting it. However, I have giving in to the fact that I probably won't find the time to do this. So hear it is in the raw...) This weekend we went to Mysor, about 5 hours drive from Shanti Bhavan. Much more open than other India cities and towns, the atmosphere felt a bit slowing and more relaxing. Though cars still packed the streets, the wideness of the main streets made the traffic less daunting. A weekend away in a lovely city, with lovely people, eating delicious food and seeing interesting sites: It was a good weekend. We visited the Mysor Palace, the home of the Maharaja built during British rule. Architecturally the palace was stunning and interesting. Mixing Hindu and Gothic styles ... read more

For my vocational day in Mysore, three very different visits had been arranged for me. The first of these was to a 90-bed private hospital that is part of an international chain of hospitals providing world-class healthcare. It opened in 2009 and recently achieved accreditation with international standards. A community ethos is an integral value for the hospital; free / concessional clinics are offered every month. Although I have not visited a private hospital in England, the facilities, services, and operational procedures I observed and was informed about were in line with what I would expect and hope to see in any hospital. I was slightly surprised that the hospital had only one ambulance (with access to a back-up). The emergency department was only set up with three beds, though it could accommodate six and could ... read more

Just as we are thinking that Indian driving is chaotic, we come to Mysore and discover traffic lights, traffic police and CCTV cameras checking on road use. So you see traffic waiting at junctions to allow others to cross, a sight not seen in Mangalore. I must apologise to our Indian hosts if I seemed critical of their roads. Mysore is a beautiful city, with many interesting old buildings as well as some very attractive houses, which appear to come from the Art Deco movement. There is also some innovative modern architecture. The station is housed in an attractive Victorian building, but the star is Mysore Palace. The present palace was built in 1912 to replace the previous one, which was built in 1800 and burnt down. The current palace is full of beautiful carved doors ... read more

While we are all enjoying meeting new people, especially with everyone being so warm and welcoming, we are trying very hard to remember names and to pronounce them correctly, not always successfully! We have noticed that this seems to be the case for our names too, over the last week we've come across a variety of new names so I thought share a few with you. Angie has been re-named Angela Briggs, and Di has been changed to Dina and Deyan. Emily is actually a word meaning Tamarind so she is naturally called that and has also had an Amelia. While I have taken to being called Nicole and had my last name changed to Oswald! Tracy seems to be the most awkward, she has gone from Tracky to Tacky to Tacy to Chesy but her ... read more

Tuesday 15 – Wednesday 16 January 2013 Lack of wifi here means we can’t keep you all up to date as much as we would like. Some of us have it in some homes and others don’t so we are trying our best to use open networks in malls and shops when we get a moment. Thank you to everybody who has left comments and messages on the blog so far, we all really appreciate them. Our first full day in Mysore kicks off with a visit to the silk factory which produces the world famous Mysore Silk. Unfortunately (like all the best places) we can’t take photos inside. The process of creating beautiful saris from the spit of silk worms is fascinating; especially the gold threads which make them appear extra special. At the end ... read more