The President Hotel Mysore

... the inside. One huge wall was painted with small pictures of all the rulers that Tipu had defeated - there must have been hundreds! We also made a stop at a sangam, a place where rivers meet that is considered holy and saw many people praying or preparing puja offerings.

We then returned to Mysore city and our first stop was the Mysore Palace that we had see lit up the night before. We went with a guide who was really good and probably ...

... Hampi and we weren't even off the bus before we were being pestered by an auto driver. He was shouting at me through the window. Jo told him to leave in a way that didn't leave any doubt in his mind, neither of us were in the mood for pestering. We sat down and had a chai which made everything seem nicer. We then went to the famous Mango Tree restaurant and as soon as we sat down on the mats and looked out over the river we knew we had made the ...

... dozens of small shops selling home made chocolates and jars of coffee beans. It certainly gave me a hunger. We stopped in a small dirty cafe and ate before arriving at the hostel. I had a little paddy about being coerced by the "christian" staff but soon calmed down when I got round to exploring the C.S.Lewisian old house urned hotel expecting to find a hidden world in the back of a cupboard. The library had many books older than me mostly about chuches ...

... to Liz and Paul for Alpha 1 photos too.

Alpha 1 Misappuli Mala trek group: The whole of Alpha 1 successfully completed their trek yesterday evening. HOORAY!! We were delighted to finish in one piece, despite being a little exhausted. Our final day of walking was on Tuesday and our last two days have been spent rafting down the Periyar river in Kerala. We made rafts out of bamboo and powered our way along 13 kilometres during Wednesday and Thursday. We reached ...

... that women can go to the front of any line in India but i can't bring myself to push in. Once i got to the front the clerk tells me i need to fill in some additional forms that she hands to me then i must line up again. I fill in the forms, do the line up again then she motions me to the entrance to the shop. I am not sure what she wants me to do so i go to another counter but they just do a bobble head from side to side as though to say we have no idea what you are ...

... old friend Sharda Nayak in Bangalore tonight. For those who care about things like this (Mom) I will be staying at the Sandhya Guest House at Janatha Plat Hampi, Bellary (Dist.). Our leader, Rob, said he tried his best but couldn't find us Guest Houses without western toilets. Too bad... Since we last spoke I have visited a lovely Hoysala temple at Somnathapur. It was great in that it was our ...

... luck with food in Mysore so far we decided to go to Lalitha Mahal Palace Hotel for a spot of lunch, 'the city's grandest dining experience' darling. Felt a bit stupid and out of place wandering in there as it was a Maharaja's Palace (they had a stuffed lion in the entrance!). We shown through to the pleasant courtyard, away from the posh restaurant, where we had chicken sarnies, crisps and freshly squeezed orange juice. It was a real luxury having simple proper food and the orange ...

ca y est je me retrouve toute seule,mon 3 pieces me parait immense, avec maman, on a visite le plus possible entre mes cours et le stage de massage, nous avons effectue une rando: Chamundi hill surplombe Mysore a 1062 metres d'altitude, les pelerins ont le devoir de gravir a pied les qques 1000 marches qui y menent mais ceux qui n'ont pas besoin d'ameliorer leur karma se contentent de les descendre, nous on est monte et descendu bien entendu, on avait ...

... would have saved lots of money on fruits, purses and bangles and I would have gotten higher quality incense for the same price. It was a really "Indian" atmosphere, if that makes sense. I felt like I was kind of popping the bubble that surrounded me everywhere I went that made it impossible for me to experience real India just because I'm white. Its definitely a must see for anyone visiting Mysore.

So last weekend on the 1st a bunch of us went shopping in Mysore. It wasn't anything too exciting, but when we stopped in a jewelry store we started talking to this woman. She met an Indian American from Houston online and they've met in person three times. Now she is getting married to him on the 14th, and she invited Debbie, Sarah and I to her wedding! We were actually invited before we even knew her name, which is Bhajana ...