Advertisement
Published: August 27th 2006
Edit Blog Post
2001………..6wks-2nd CYCLING TRIP-2,200kms IN SOUTHERN INDIA
30.9.01 Mysore
Mysore is famous for its silk, sandalwood, incense and essential oils. I'm currently having a beer and then a meal at the ParkLane Hotel no less. It's next to where I'm staying here in Mysore. It's a real treat. It's quite quirky. But maybe this has something to do with having ordered another beer. I've only had alcohol at Kovalam and here and meat on 3 occasions, maybe. It's a great little restaurant that is set outside under a huge pergola of dense vine. There are boys in green tops hovering in the distance to serve you should you indicate you want something by pulling a light switch above your table. It lights up your own personalized red light bulb. It's such a wonderful combination of India and European influence. There is a small stage with two classically trained Indian musicians playing tabla and violin -Indian style. The headwaiter is dressed in a dark suit and tie with white runners on. He looks a bit like Lurch from the Adam's Family- tall and stooped and ever so polite. The apparent owner of the place is like a MC, directing traffic as he
Statue of Buhubali at Shravanbolgola
The 17m high naked statue is the world's tallest monolithic statue-ie it is carved out of the mountain in situ. stands like he's in front of the stage- arms waving directing staff.
Mysore (Night 3)
Well I have done so much over the last two days in marvellous Mysore. It's just after 6 pm, dusk is starting to settle and I'm having a beer on the Hotel roof garden. Slightly in the distance a hovering and circling mass of kites (or are they eagles) are going round & round. Groups of maybe 60 lorikeets fly almost within reaching distance directly overhead. At least 10 groups have flown over already. They keep coming. The sky is alive with the chatter of birds. The noise of the street is still active- the call of apple sellers, the singing of Muslim music, some traffic noise but not dominating, pleasant, part of the atmosphere because its the honk of rickshaws, the tinkle of bike bells, the clatter of horses hooves, the put- put of an auto rickshaw. It's a balmy night, slightly cool with cloud cover.
Tonight’s a special night- a special night that happens every Sunday & during the annual Dussehara Festival The special night tonight is that Mysore Palace is to be illuminated by 96,000 electric light bulbs between 7-9pm. Lorikeets
continue to flitter quickly across above me. The fruit bats have started to go above me. They are across the sky- there are hundreds of them. I better get going soon......................
WOW. The palace itself in any light is a sight, but with 96,000 globes going, give or take a few that don't work, have fallen off or aren't there anymore, it really is something special.
1.10.01 Mysore
The Maharaja Main Palace is what Mysore IS famous for. (What, you haven't heard of it?). Now, a palace by definition needs to be sufficiently grand to highlight and exaggerate the difference between those that are and those that are not- and Mysore Palace is no exception. The guidebook says it's 'over the top' which I thought a bit ungenerous until it DID get more & more & more grand. It was completed in 1912.
. I spent some time getting my mirror fixed - only a couple of hours later to get it knocked off by a bullock cart with a full load of something? The things one has to put up with! I bought another one (my third now) for 60c!
3.10.01 Shravanbolgola (96km(7 3/4hrs). 911.5km Total)
Lalitha Palace, Mysore
Built in 1921, it is now a hotel. Asking "do you know the way to San Jose" is one thing, but try saying "is this the way to Saravanabelagola"! I worked out that if you say 'Stone Burglar" very quickly, they knew what I was talking about. There is some difficulty in the getting directions from Indians. They might say turn left (pointing to the right) and then right. The shake of the head never seems to help in clarifying anything. You never seem to find out until it’s too late. How far down the road is the left and right- next left or next major road left or 1 km down the road left. I thought I had done well in getting out of Mysore - asking 3 people, making sure I had the first part right until after 30 mins there on the left, was the Mysore Palace. After riding 10 km and starting off to the North, how could this be? Somehow I had ridden completely around in a circle. Great start to a long day’s ride!
It was a pleasant days ride through rural India at its best- not too hot, varied country and agriculture; women in saris carrying pots on their heads;
colourful bullock carts going down the road; bullocks pulling ploughs through lush land; kids leading sheep by ropes with bells tinkling; lots of bird life; areas of large over-hanging trees etc.
"Stone Burglar" is one of the oldest and most important Jain pilgrimage sites in India. It is the site of the 17m high naked statue of Buhubali, which apparently is the world's tallest monolithic statue. It is carved directly out of granite on the hill and is thought to have been completed in around 981. The serenity of the face of the statue matches the view of the town with its large stone water tank used for sacred bathing and the other rocky hill 500m away.
4.10.01 Belur (93.6km)
I returned next morning to the top of the hill at 5.30 am to watch the sunrise light up the opposite hill. It would be memorable to be here in 2005 when the statue will be anointed. Every 12 years, thousands of pots of coconut milk, yoghurt, ghee, bananas, palm sugar, dates, almonds, poppy seeds, milk, saffron and sandalwood are poured on the statue’s head until the whole body is covered. There is an amazing lack of
foreign tourists to be seen anywhere because its off-season and also, I guess people are putting off their travels after the terrorism in USA. There is also a surprising lack of beggars compared to my memory of Northern India 20 odd years ago. I've had the odd mutilated hand and armless trunk thrust at me- but they usually get the idea when I say I feel sorry for them but that "I gave at the office". The postcard sellers and misc. souvenir sellers are the ones that annoy me because a no, shake of the head and look away is not enough for them. I usually have to do my eye contact and "READ MY LIPS-NO" routine. They are tenacious but business must be pretty bad for them at the moment.
Either there is someone out there giving away a lot of pens or teachers everywhere are teaching their pupils to ask for a pen whenever they see a white face. I get "Hello, pen?" or just a horrible demand "Pen!" (which I ignore completely), or an anticipated smiling face running towards me with "You got pen?". I like the little girl who said "Hello. This is a pen".
The temples at Belur & Halebid “ are squat, star-shaped structures set on a platform to give them some height. They are more human in scale than the soaring temples found elsewhere in India, but what they lack in size they make up for in the sheer intricacy of their sculptures. The arts of music and dancing were highly regarded. It's also obvious that these were times of a relatively high degree of sexual freedom and predominant female participation in public affairs. The Hoysalas converted to Jainism in the 10C, but then they took up Hinduism in the 11C. That is why images of Shaivite, Vaishnavite and Jain sects co-exist in Hoysala Temples" L.P
6.10.01 Dharmastala (135km, 1,179km Total)
While this was the 2nd longest ride on this trip so far, it really was the most pleasant. Coming down the Western Ghats to their foothills, most of the ride was down hill. The first part of the day took me through plantings of high Grevillea Robusta with under plantings of coffee. Then pepper, cocoa, rubber, bananas and rice paddies, which were a wonderful mixture of bright green and yellow. I past several small waterfalls in natural forest with
Sravanabelagola Hill
Look closely and you can see the statue of Buhubali plenty of mischievous monkeys around. In the first part of my trip today, I think tourists are an unfamiliar sight, especially on bicycles- some kids ran away scared.
8.10.01 Kundapur (115km)
Well I got to Malpe, which is better than the drivers of three vehicles can say. In the spate of maybe 20km, I saw the result of three serious accidents. The last accident , was of real concern - EXPLOSIVES.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.057s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 13; qc: 28; dbt: 0.0182s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb