Well the alarm this morning wasn’t very welcome, we’re still not adjusted to India time.
We had booked a car for the day and it was ready and waiting for us when we came out of the hotel at 10.00am.
Traffic here is positively frightening. You decide where you wan’t to be and aim for it, irrespective of what evryone else is doing. At several points both Maria and I had our eyes closed. 2 buses were both aiming for the same lane and we were in the middle. Motorbikes in particular are a menace, they squeeze into the smallest space, it is compulsory for motorbike drivers to wear crash helmets, but ONLY the driver. So you see a rider with a helmet, behind him riding (side saddle) a lady in a beautiful sari, carrying a baby, neither of them with a helmet, there may also be another child, either in front of the driver, or the lady, or both. So far the most number of people we’ve seen on a bike is 5, we are on the lookout for 6.
The first place we stooped at was the remains of the Tipu Sultan Fort. There is not a lot of it left, but what there is gives some indication of it’s original splendour.
There were several kids groups going round, the children seemed very interested in us and kept asking our names and where we were from. Next to the Fort there is a temple and while we were there a ceremony was taking place. Very colourful, there are some beautiful saris and shalwar khamizes around.
From there we went onto the Bull temple, this is famous, there is a VERY large statue of a bull made out of white granite, it was painted black every month. It is very old and was originaly carved and placed in the temple to appease the bull the lord Shiva rode on because a bull was ravaging the countriside around there.
Maria and John had to take their shoes off to go into the temple and they got some blessing blossom and a red bindi spot on their foreheads for good luck. They looked a bit strange to me.
We then moved onto the Botanical Gardens which are enormous, but luckily there is a tour in an electric car. It was fascinating, I’ve always wanted to know what a banyan tree looks like. Even the benches were beautiful.
Some of the pavilions dotted around were being renovated. The scaffolding and ladders are a wonder to behold
Our last landmark to visit was the summer palace of the Maharaja of Mysore. A beautful place in need of a lot of restoration. Apparently the Maharaja who built it saw Winsor castle and was very influenced by it.
There were preparations for a wedding, including covering the gateway with flowers, truly fantastic.
On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a Kashmiri collective shop. John wishes we hadn’t. He didn’t mind the painted eggs or the soapstone elephant but Maria fell in love with a silk embroidered throw, apparently ‘A thing of beauty and a joy for ever’. John reckons at that price it had better last for ever. He still bought it for her of course. As he says it’s a good job he’s off to work tomorrow, at least Maria won’t be able to persuade him to buy anything and enable him to earn some money.
It looks beautiful (and sunny!). We’re FREEZING over here so I’m very jealous.