Silkworms in the car

---

Yesterday we arrived in Bangalore after a very uncomfortable 8 hour bus ride from Pondicherry. Padmanabh and Prashanth, two of our Bangalore contacts, picked us up at the bus depot as soon as we got there. This was quite relieving, it is the first time we didn't have to figure what to do and where to go. We spent the rest of the day relaxing at his home and recovering from the sleepless night. Anitha, one of my friend Mahesh's good freinds, came by and greeted us both with a bouquet of flowers. Everyone was extremely nice and helpful. All five of us spent the evening exploring M.G. Road, the most modern street I have seen in India, and planning our trekking adventure. We woke up for an early start this morning and piled in the car with Padmanabh and Prashanth. We spent most of the day driving but are knew friends also crammed into quite a few tourist sights along the way. Before we reached Padmanabh's friend's home, we stopped at the very old Sri Ranganatha temple. The temples are getting a little repetitive and this one was very similar to the rest. But neverthless it was nice to see. After this we stopped in a village called Palahalli and met up with Padmanabh's friend, Krishna, at his farm. Krishna's farm was gorgeous. He had acres of rice paddies all surrounded by coconut trees. He also grew mulberry bushes. The mulberry bushes are the favored food for silkworms. He took us into his silk growing hous and explained the entire process to us. It was quite amazing. Each worm produces 800 meters of silk in about 27 days to create its cocoon. The only bad thing is that they boil the cocoons to obtain the silk, thus killing the metamorphizing worm. Krishna joined us for the evening adventure and we visited a hill that gave a great view of the nearby national forest. We also stopped into Mysore at the Chamundi Hill Temple and at another of Padmanabh's friend's home for tea. This friend is a painter and you could tell from the the outside of his house what his profession was. He and his wife told us some info on the local yoga schools that taught the style of yoga Bean has practiced and invited us to visit if we decided to stay in Mysore. We finally went back to Palahalli for dinner and a short but comfortable nights rest at Krishna's home in preparation for the trek.

---