A journey to Pune: Mysore & Gokarna

---

Me and Dave have split up for a few days while I go to see a friend, and he goes to see some things that I’ve already seen.

I was going from Chennai to Pune, which as one train journey would probably be around 33 hours! So I decided to make two stops on the way to break the journey up, Mysore and Gokarna are where I'm going to stop.



When we got back from Andamans I'd arranged to meet Raja in Chennai. It was Thursday when we landed back on the mainland. Dave said he wasn't spending anymore than one night in Chennai, which is fair enough! I wish I'd done the same. I spoke to Raja who's currently in police training, who said his only day off is Sunday.

Fair enough, I don't mind waiting around until Sunday.

It gets to Sunday morning, I get a call. Apparently Raja has to work today 'n'all! So I've waited around for three days for nothing, brilliant. The worst part is I can't get a train ticket to leave to anywhere until Tuesday!

Collectively I think I’ve spent around 17 days in Chennai on this trip! Which is enough for a lifetime. It's all my own fault too, I could've checked some decent places in the south out in that time, you live and learn I guess.



Eventually after what seems like ages it gets to Tuesday, Football Manager and Game of Thrones do get boring after a few days. The train to Mysore is only 10 hours. I checked online before I went for somewhere good stay and found a place called “Sonder”. 500rs per night in a dorm, but it's worth it. You won't get anything else with those facilities for that price. It's just outside the city centre, in a relatively affluent area, so it's nice and quiet. There's three dorm rooms, one for girls, one for boys and a mixed one. There's a nice chill out zone in the front garden with a hammock, and in the back there's some comfy chairs. The dorm rooms are A/C, there's hot water, it's very clean and the wifi is the quickest I've ever come across in India. Plus there were a few other travellers around to talk to.

Due to the fact I'm trying to save money and I've been here before I decided I'll just check out the inside of the palace, which I hadn't done before and just chill out.

Before I leave for the palace the guy who owns the hostel tells me to download an app called “Jugnoo” it's basically Uber for tuk tuks, so obviously the price will be a lot less. Me being clever just decided to go get a normal tuk tuk, who ripped me off. Then it was 200rs into the palace, fair enough. You can check out the normal section of the palace inside with this ticket. However, If you want to check out the residential wing too then it's an extra 285rs!

Really regret going in there and paying that. I'm not a massive fan of museums that just have pictures and weapons anyway, but that's all it was in both parts. Granted in the residential section there was some old furniture. I expected to have more freedom to wonder around the whole palace, but you're restricted to certain rooms and you have to follow a route. Unless you're really interested or rich I wouldn't bother. Dave didn't go in there either, I need my travelling partner back, I can't be trusted to budget alone, which you'll see in a moment....

I left the palace rather hungry. I should mention that I love fried chicken, and I hadn't eaten fried chicken in like three months. I had some that wasn't too bad on Andamans, but it wasn't really fried chicken. So I headed to KFC.

Last time I went to KFC in Mysore was when I was volunteering in a veggie village so didn't have access to meat very often, that time me and my mate had a 12 piece bargain bucket each and finished the whole thing. Not chance I'd be replicating such a feat, but four pieces and fries sounds good.

So I’m there thoroughly enjoying myself, but need the toilet. I told the cleaner to leave the food there and I was just going to the toilet. Obviously when I came back a full piece of chicken and half chips had been thrown. I was furious! Literally could've cleaned the c u next Tuesday out! No man should be coming between another man and his fried chicken!



I left Mysore after the Chicken débâcle headed for Gokarna. A little fishing town on the beach, it's quite a spiritual place. I've been there before on my last trip and stayed on Om beach. This time I headed for Kudle (pronounced “could-lee” not “cuddle”!).

Wow! I was surprised, after Andamans I thought any other beach wouldn't look so great....I was wrong! Beautiful beach again! Not as good as Andamans, but much better than anything I've seen in Goa. There was something about that place too, a certain feeling, the ambience...no wonder it's popular with hippies.

I stayed just right when you walk onto the beach, decent room for 300rs per night.

I didn't really get up to much there, managed to get the hammock up again, chilled on the beach, swimming and watching the sunsets. I was only there for one night, but I can imagine getting stuck in Gokarna, and I remember thinking the same thing on my last trip.





Anyway off to Pune to spend a week with a friend and see some ancient temples and caves!

---