The Presidency Mysore

... once you start seeing signboards of Bettageri once you leave Madikeri.

Off-Bettageri junction is our dear Civet Creek on a 45-acre piece of plantation land and is accessible ONLY by walk the last stretch of 300 meters. This walk is a beautiful prelude to what the trip is gonna be, with astonishingly small pathways filled with slush & mud, pavements vanishing into diving mud-banks. You would generally be ...

... t think it was going out but ah well, here's the rest) Yeah, so I went to the spa resort (yesterday now). I was all nervous on the way there, on my lonesome interviewing a big business man. But then i mentally prepared myself to become a harsh journalist, asking all the questions that needed to asked. To be honest tho the questions don't get particularly harsh when you're writing for a travel magazine trying to endorse the place. However, the mindset was ready. I arrived half ...

... and English floor tiles), we got back to the hotel and crashed into our beds. Mysore was 33 degrees in the shade by midday! We didn't head that far for the next couple of days. Dean was feeling pretty grotty and what with the coffee store, wifi and the Star Movie channel we were as comfortable as possible. We headed to the pharmacy, a little open fronted shop with dubious credentials, to get Dean some drugs once and managed to find another Hotel with a fairly decent ...

... Rebecca, Roo Glatman, Sarah K, Shenola, Sophia, Tjebbe and Larry. The trek group is larger than the other Alpha group as all Venturers are scheduled to participate in the trek. The trek travels through some of the most scenic and remote parts of southern India and includes two days of rafting. The trekkers left before sun-up yesterday. Expect some good pix in the next few blogs as our photographer Ann has joined the first four days of the trek. (sorry I can't get the ...

... my time in Goa seems as though it can only be relaxing, but more on Goa once I'm there.  As a little teaser, Goa is the place in India that the Beatles chilled when they were here, I believe right before they recorded St. Peppers, so that's cool.    I'm apologize for the onslaught of entries just now, but they've been piling up on my computer with no way to post them, so I should stay up to date now.  Once again, I hope everyone is doing well.   Later days,   Dave    

... Mysore pretty easy. We planned to have a couple of days there and then take the bus to Ooty on day 3, and a couple of days is easily enough time to see the City. The Maharajas Palace is one of the nicest places we have had the pleasure to visit, knocking spots off most of those that have made Rajasthan famous in the North. The usual tourist levy applied, but for our money this time, we got one of those audio guide things, which meant we could saunter ...

... whereas Luke had his first disaster meal 'Baked Chicken Florentine'. This dish was meant to be chicken in spinach and white sauce (according to the waiter). It came in a dish, the look on our faces must've been a picture, because what sat in front of Luke resembled the grassy pat of a cow with digestive problems, mixed in with a little white sauce. After braving a couple of mouthfuls Luke promptly moved it to the other end of the table (where the waiteres left it sitting for the whole ...

... do now however it's as "the girl who broke Ganesh". As luck would have it have it though we were off to the races... Mysore Race Club. Yes. A track in Mysore. Who woulda thought? Spent 3 months in this place a few years ago and never even knew it was here. To bring in the year right we took the climb up Chimundi Hill, 1000 stairs and 1000 karma points for the new year. Ben said that real pilgrims do it barefoot, I replied that pilgrims don't need worms from ...

... which we bought plenty of between the 4 of us. We met one guy selling these oils and he said that perfume companies all around the world bought their oils from India (which I believe) and that we could buy the oils for about $5. He showed us plenty of oils that smelled like different perfumes that we all knew, and said that the stuff that we buy in America is is a tiny bit of oil and lots of alcohol to ...

... got there they wouldn't let us in because we didn't have reservations (we didn't think we needed them because a group went rafting last weekend and didn't need any... but they went to a different place). So they told us to wait and they might be able to get us in. So we just stood on the side of the road for maybe 45 minutes, until we realized we were not going to be able to go. We went inside to try to make reservations at a place down the street, and they ...