Mysore, Karnataka, India (by Kev)

11.3.2025. Continuing on from the 10th, we got on the train no problem and some stress got relieved. The train set off and we settled in. People walking up and down the carriages selling coffee/tea and biryani. Yep we'll have some of that. Set up the beds after dinner, lights off and tried to sleep. Woke up a bit during the night, people snoring and carriages making noise. I will say the trains here seem pretty smooth. In the morning we set the beds back to seating and ate/talked/played games until we got to Mysuru. Grabbed a taxi to our new guesthouse, 2 bedrooms, 2 showers and toilets. We may not see the kids for a few hours! We talked about that before we left. If one or the other needed a break from constant parenting we would work something out. Hasn't been needed so far, we still love them. Anyway, we chucked our bags in the room, searched for an ATM, grabbed some lunch and headed to the Palace. Chuck in a couple Tuktuk rides as well. The palace was beautiful, though lots of it is roped off and you can't see everything. There's a huge main hall with massive pillars and stain glass dome at the top, but you can only see a bit from the side because it's roped off. Otherwise it was pretty nice. There's also a museum here that we searched for unsuccessfully, only to find out later that it's “closed for repairs”. We still payed full price to get in though. They don't miss you here, pay for frigging everything. We payed 1000rupees each to get in, then had to store our shoes before we could go into the palace, fair enough. The guy taking our shoes, who I am sure is being payed to be there asks “tip”? Mel reminded him we just payed 1000 rupees to get in and did very well not to tell him to “f off”. I could see it in Mel's eyes. Tip for what? For putting a bag on a shelf and giving us a piece of paper with a number written on it, no harm in asking I suppose. Anyway, I'm rambling now. After the palace we went back to the guesthouse, I dunno what anyone else did cause I fell asleep for a bit, was a long night. Woke up and back to the palace for a sound and light show. Payed again, this time a lot cheaper tho. Went and sat in some chairs set up in front of the palace and listened to a story, I'm sure it was a good story, it wasn't in English so I missed a most of it. We could tell there was fighting and horses and swords and other stuff. People walking around and talking as the lights lit up different parts of the palace and it's surrounds. Was a truly mesmerising story I'm sure. Anyway, right at the end the lights really danced along with some music and then the whole palace lit up, saved the best till last. Found a nice restaurant, had a beer, Tuktuked to the guesthouse and crashed.
12.3.2025. Zoo day!!! Kids are happy, yay! Aquarium day, yay!! Had a small fight getting into the zoo, language barrier and me being somewhat simple-minded. I thought they weren't going to let me in with our lollies and Mentos (some days you just need sugar), but they just want to mark them with a sticker. For each sticker it was 10rupee, refunded when we left to make sure we took out the plastic we brought in. Makes sense I guess, it just took me a bit to catch up. Inside the zoo, was a different story. We saw quite an array of animals. We started to feel that a lot of the areas for the animals was too small, and seemed to hardly have any water in them. It's India, it's kinda hot here, dunno how much water they need but some didn't have any. They're not dead I guess, so they haven't stuffed up too much. Then we walked past some Asian elephants, their front feet were chained together, they could only walk slowly. WTF is this shit! Really put a sour taste in our mouths. We decided we may as well finish our visit, but we had lost a lot of enthusiasm for this zoo. Andrew loves Otters, who doesn't right! Guess what? No Otters, cracks in the glass and the area closed. Yay. We finished the zoo, less happy than when we started. I'm having a little trouble with the locals, the stares are getting to me. I get it, we're a white family travelling through India, but my kids got more stares then a lot of the animals. Some think it's ok to just try to take photos of us, most ask and I say no. The kids don't like it. There's stares and some touching, it's a different culture but that doesn't make it right. I can honestly say I like the food here, but India is not my favourite place. I just have to get used to the people here, they're loud and pushy and sometimes seem completely in their own world, and that everything is put there for them. That's my impression for now, maybe that will change, maybe it won't. After all that, the aquarium. Didn't know what to expect, wasn't great but it's better than any aquarium in Townsville! Fuck me!! Totally done with the selfie people. Race ahead, look at F all, stop in the way for a shit load of selfies only to race through looking at F all again except another place to take selfies. I guess they can look at all the fish at home on their phones. Ah the fish! There was some tanks FULL of fish! Some big tanks had one little one all by itself. We got to the “tunnel”, thinking it's a massive tank with a tunnel running through it. Nope, it's a tunnel with a tank built around it, some places not even thick enough for the big fish to turn around. Still better than anything Townsville has. After that, back to the guesthouse to do maths and blog. The kids seemed to enjoy their day, and I can't speak for Mel but the day was somewhat spoiled for me. I spent a lot of the day grumbling and Mel tried to cheer me up, love them for that. Im still with my family and maybe tomorrow will be better.
13.3.2025. Lazy start to the day. Blogged a bit, kids played on their computers while we tried to plan a bit for Africa. Around midday we'd had enough of being inside, so we tuktuked it to a temple on a hill. Sri Chamundeshwari Temple to be exact, had to copy and paste the name. 1062 metres above sea level. Not a huge temple inside but a pretty big decorated, ornate front part. Andrew saw a cow lightly headbutt someone to get them out of the way. He was already feeling a little uneasy about big animals after almost getting his foot stepped on by a buffalo in Laos, this didn't help. Wasn't sure what to do at the temple, lots of stainless steel fencing around the front. After storing our shoes and walking across the hot road, we found the way in. Busy inside, didn't get the chance to see much as it was rush rush and we didn't want to get in the way of the locals who actually visit to pray or be blessed. The fencing pretty much led you through a part of the temple with a bit of a squeeze, get your blessing and out the door. We figured out it may have been a bit more busy because it was closing soon, so people were in a bit of a hurry. No problem, I had a quick look and went through. We walked around the other side for a photo of the temple then made our way back out the fencing. On the outside there was this guy dressed up in some stuff, I dunno feathers and colourful fabrics, bonking people on the head as they passed. Bonked all of us as we passed even though we all tried to avoid him. Anyway that madness had passed, now it was time to eat something. Found a small restaurant on the hill and ate “Thali meal”. A selection of small sauces with rice and poppadom. We added butter roti (fried flat bread) to our order. Delicious, the kids had some rice or something idk. Our bellies full, we went for a walk. Down some steps, around the hill and found a huge cow statue. Also found monkeys, you know how I feel about monkeys, I don't like them! Weird little long legged rats with big teeth, and people feed them so they expect food from everyone. Signs around the place about pickpockets and monkeys. More worried about the monkeys. We made our way back along our path and back up the stairs. Not sure if it was the full belly or being 1klm up, but we all struggled a bit going back up the stairs. Was hot too. Found a shady spot to rest while we looked at Google maps to see if there was anything else to check out. Nope we're done with this hill. Ordered a Tuktuk (uber is good for that here) and went back to our room, where Mel came up with the idea of a drawing contest. One which some of you recently voted on, or voted for all of them because you couldn't decide, talking to you mum! Watched a bit of tv, kids are liking Blown Away on Netflix. We tried Indian tv, but that didn't work.
14.3.2025. Mel wanted to see St. Philomena cathedral, so we went and had a look. A newer cathedral, built in the 1930’s. Still don't know who St. Philomena was or what they did, might look into that one day. I found The Regional Museum of Natural History just looking around google maps, we decided to have a look. Nothing else doing today and it's only a 35-40 min walking distance, we set off in foot. Not sure how many Tuktuk’s we turned down, but it was lots, and one guy would not take the hint. Know it's how they make their money, but it seems if they pester you enough you're going to give in. Nope just kept on walking, he eventually buggered off. We stopped about 2/3rds the way through our journey, hunger was setting in and there was a nice looking restaurant on the side of the road. We ordered some dosa for everyone, a different fried flat bread with some dips. Emma's was stuffed with potatoes, Mel's was like a wrap with potatoes and stuff inside and mine had onion fried into it and placed atop a small pile of potatoes. Andrew just had plain dosa, which he enjoyed. I tried everyone's, they were all good but I think mine was the best. Back on the road, 10 more minutes of walking and we had found the museum. Free entry, bonus. We didn't know what to expect here, all of our searches of “things to do in Mysuru” not once had this museum came up in a list. Well, what a nice surprise. The displays, while maybe a little old were well put together and had lots of information in English. It covered rivers, mainly the Cauvery, one of the sacred rivers. It covered lots of animals, including a giant squirrel species we didn't know existed. Lots of info about the different types of environments. There was lots of pictures of Indian tribes that still exist today and how they dress. Finally there was an exhibition on how the world started, from being a ball of hot gasses to becoming a planet. A timeline and information about all the periods in time and the animals that existed during that time(Jurassic eg.). It was an interesting museum, and needs to be advertised more as a place to see in Mysuru. I found there was a butterfly park next to the museum, so afterwards we headed there. There was a gate near the back of the museum we headed through (found out later we were supposed to pay to enter the park, oh well). We found ourselves on a nice path through some forested area near a lake. We walked along and found the butterfly park, on a small island we accessed with a small bridge. Flowers and of course butterflies. We saw many other plants and animals on the small path around the island. There was an aviary and playground on the other side of the park, so we walked for a bit. On the way, Andrew saw there was a watch tower. As we were walking towards the tower, something crossed our path a little further up. Something that I thought looked like an otter at first, but it's tail was bushy. We got closer and had a slightly better look. It's a giant squirrel!! We just found out and read about them and now we've seen one!!! We knew it was not a regular squirrel as we've seen hundreds of those, maybe thousands and it was 5-6 times larger. It disappeared into the forest and we climb the tower. Once up the tower we saw another giant squirrel!! Lots of birds too, but that couldn't compare. We found a nice place to sit and rest a little, it was nice to get away from people and the noise for just a little bit(even with two kids). We enjoyed listening to the birds and the wind in the trees. Also we saw a monkey!! It wasn't that close so everyone was ok. We kept walking around the lake and found a fenced area for peacocks. The zoo should take note, this aviary was huge, at least 15m high with lots of room for bigger birds to fly if they wanted, the big birds in the zoo were basically in a shoe box compared to this. We found a nice playground where the kids used their muscles for an hour or so. The playgrounds in India are pretty good(when you can find them). Slides, swings and monkey bars. There was a rope bridge obstacle course the kids liked most. After all that, we left through the front entrance (without paying) and tuktuked it back to the room. Played some games while we rested, then later went to a cave themed restaurant for dinner. A good day.
15.3.2025. We're going to a Holi Festival today, not sure what it's all about but we're gonna have a go. A short taxi trip to the outskirts of Mysore, we were there. We got our wrist bands and our free drink, Andrew got two cokes since Emma doesn't like soft drinks and there was no other choice. Mel and I got a beer each. The music was pumping, geez it was loud, or I'm old. There's this big framework setup in the middle with sprayers pointing down, soon after it all started they turned the water on. I never got completely drenched, but the water was nice against the Indian sun. We were given bags of colourful powders to chuck around at each other. Holi is a Hindu festival celebrating the beginning of spring and other things. We had a few people put colours on our face and wish a “happy Holi”. It was a fun atmosphere, people dancing and singing and just enjoying being with each other. I had fun, I think the kids did too. They danced with us, with each other and with some of the locals, though they needed a little encouragement. There was a buffet set up, all included with our tickets which really wasn't much. We had a few photos taken, which I didn't mind here, as here we were part of the people sharing something. We were all getting buggered, so we ordered a taxi and left the locals to party. We got back and went straight into the shower, the colours took a lot of washing off. We rested then played some games. Went out for dinner later and found a shop selling lots of Indian sweets. Mel and the kids bought a small selection to try. Had some as a dessert while watching an episode of blown away. Bed time.
16.3.2025. Do some blog, pack and move out.
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