Mysore

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The road down the mountain towards Mysore was rough and rugged but travelled through National reserves so we were entertained with flocks of pretty spotted deer, a baby elephant being washed in a stream and a group of very cute black faced monkeys who had decided to come down to the road to watch the humans and play a game of chicken on the road. They observed us as much as we observed them. The road became much better once we hit the flats and we motored quickly to Mysore, pausing once to admire the pelican elegantly fishing in a lake and a group of pelicans nesting up in the trees. Once we arrived in Mysore we headed directly to the palace. The place was teeming with tourists and we learned from Antony that it was the 'number one' palace in India, and second most popular tourist attraction after the Taj Mahal. We were not allowed to take photographs and in fact could not even take a camera inside. The bag screening indicated that Sue had a camera and security were insisting that she take it to security until a guard called Roy over and said that it was okay and she could keep her camera but not take photographs for a tip. Roy handed over the hundred rupees explaining to the guard that this was a bribe/ not a tip - the guard was happy whatever the language, Sue was happy that she kept her camera, so we popped off our shoes and headed in. Firstly we got herded into a line by a very officious elderly gent with a stick which he banged on the floor, banged in the pole and waved at us yelling and gesturing to us in Indian. It was quite strange to be treated like cattle but also very funny. We were basically herded through the entire place in a long snake of tourists which was okay except if you needed to go through a door and these became very claustrophobic as everyone tried to jump the queue. The palace was spectacular and is the official residence of the Wodeyars, the royal family of Mysore who ruled for over seven centuries. I have put in a link as we had very little information about it and became quite interested. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mysore_PalaceAnother 5 star dinner- to bed.

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