Day 106 (Sat 21 Oct) - Mysore
Headed off early to the Mysore Palace. The Maharaja's Palace is relatively new, it was only completed in 1912 after the original palace burnt down. We left our shoes and cameras at the gate and ventured into the palace. Our first impression of the palace was that it was simply stunning.
With it's ornate ceilings, gold pillars and archways, polished shiny marble floors and walls full of paintings and artifacts. But it soon appeared more and more ostentatious and garish. The inconceivable amount of money that would have been required to construct such a whimsical building angered us, especially bearing in mind the standard of living of many of the people outside the palace walls.
We walked around the palace museum which was quite interesting although looked more like a place where the present owners store their old junk. It started getting busy so we left the palace.
Sarb really wanted to walk up to Chamundi Hill. Jo's legs were still aching from the previous Saturday's jaunt and she couldn't face climbing up the 1000 steps to the 1062 metre summit.
We agreed that we would meet at the top; Sarb would walk and Jo would lazily take an autorickshaw to the top. The autorickshaw dropped Sarb at the bottom of the stairs and then headed off to climb the hill.
It didn't get very far and the driver decided his elderly rickshaw would not make the journey so popped Jo back into town to persuade one of his colleagues to take Jo up the hill.
Meanwhile Sarb was steadily climbing the 1000 steps, whilst dodging dinner plate sized spiders. We finally met up at the top and walked around the outside of Sri Chamundeswari Temple.
We both walked back down the 1000 steps and Jo saw the spiders Sarb had braved on the way up. On the way we passed a massive bull which had been carved out of one piece of rock back in 1659. The locals were decorating it with flowers to celebrate Diwali.
The views looking back at the Palace were pretty incredible.
Later, when we got back to our hotel, Sarb suggested we go to one of Mysore's posh hotels to relax in their gardens. We ended up going to the Green Hotel where Jo polished off two glasses of white wine and Sarb had a couple of beers.
With it's ornate ceilings, gold pillars and archways, polished shiny marble floors and walls full of paintings and artifacts. But it soon appeared more and more ostentatious and garish. The inconceivable amount of money that would have been required to construct such a whimsical building angered us, especially bearing in mind the standard of living of many of the people outside the palace walls.
We walked around the palace museum which was quite interesting although looked more like a place where the present owners store their old junk. It started getting busy so we left the palace.
Sarb really wanted to walk up to Chamundi Hill. Jo's legs were still aching from the previous Saturday's jaunt and she couldn't face climbing up the 1000 steps to the 1062 metre summit.
We agreed that we would meet at the top; Sarb would walk and Jo would lazily take an autorickshaw to the top. The autorickshaw dropped Sarb at the bottom of the stairs and then headed off to climb the hill.
It didn't get very far and the driver decided his elderly rickshaw would not make the journey so popped Jo back into town to persuade one of his colleagues to take Jo up the hill.
Meanwhile Sarb was steadily climbing the 1000 steps, whilst dodging dinner plate sized spiders. We finally met up at the top and walked around the outside of Sri Chamundeswari Temple.
We both walked back down the 1000 steps and Jo saw the spiders Sarb had braved on the way up. On the way we passed a massive bull which had been carved out of one piece of rock back in 1659. The locals were decorating it with flowers to celebrate Diwali.
The views looking back at the Palace were pretty incredible.
Later, when we got back to our hotel, Sarb suggested we go to one of Mysore's posh hotels to relax in their gardens. We ended up going to the Green Hotel where Jo polished off two glasses of white wine and Sarb had a couple of beers.
posted by Jo and Sarb at
10/21/2006 09:48:00 am
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