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Day 19 - With much confusion over altered trains at Bangalore we made it onto a packed train at Mysore. Helpful passengers told us the train got in at 3pm (luckily they meant in 3 hours!) After chatting about India and a man insisting Catherine got her ears pierced while in India to fit with local custom (she's still thinking on this one!) we got to Mysore and walking past hundreds of men queuing by an Indian cinema for an unknown reason we found the cheap and nice Mysore Hotel Complex noting that the fish in tanks get bigger with every hotel. For lunch we ate Veg Thali and Biryani from banana leaves before looking at the Silver Jubilee Clock Tower and Rangacharlu Memorial Hall (which a rickshaw driver maintained hosted a music festival every night!) Avoiding men selling and demonstrating horse whips we made it to the magnificent Mysore Palace, left our shoes and walked around its beautiful lavish rooms - though we're still unsure lime green and gold combined looks good. With monsoon rains starting a quick brush with and elephant and a speedy wet walk around the Temples and grounds completed our visit. Luckily Bombay Tiffanys provided pineapple and chocolate sweets and milkshakes and a rain escape. An impressive gold statue of Gandhi led us to the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya which housed nice carvings and tribal works. After confusing security we made it to Government House but were escorted away from it again. Tom Hanks in Turner & Hooch provided an amusing afternoon break before sunset when we left for Mysore Palace. We're eternally grateful to Justin for this recommendation as the 96,000 light bulbs (at 15 watts!) lit it up it was a breathtaking sight and well worth the journey to Mysore as we viewed it from afar and up close while listening to the performing police band. Parklane Hotel's Rooftop "Beer Garden" provided entertainment with its musicians and complex light system to attract waiters' attention, though its pasta left a little to be desired (a banana split made up for it). We retired to watch Disney's Up, sadly a power cut ended our movie watching.
Day 20 - After a breakfast which may have left us banned from Parklane Hotel we caught Bus 201 to Chamundi Hill 1062m up a winding road. Our first brush with monkeys since Jaipur was much less eventful! The trail of calves led us to the Hindu Sri Chamundeswari Temple where we witnessed the daily blessing ceremony, a unique moment. Not wishing to push our monkey karma we returned to Mysore's Devaraja Market, covered in vast quantities of fresh fruit, flowers, spices (and fake "Tescoo" bag retailers!) It was the largest and most colourful market so far and lovely to wander round even haggling ourselves some cheap clothing and free bangles! We walked to find La Gardenia where we ate superb, if pricey for India, Veg Pad Thai and Green Curry. Totally stuffed we slowly walked to Jaganmohan Palace housing the Jayachamarajendra Art Gallery which had interesting musical instruments. Sadly our time in Mysore was up, though we were really pleased to spend time in such a nice place, and we got on a packed train back to Bangalore. We met a friendly nurse called Helen from London / New Zealand and made friends with some nice guys who even bought us spicy onion cornflour cakes / cookies. Highlights of the journey include the men jumping and screaming every time a train screeched past and a lady sleeping in the tiny gap under the train's lower berth (the newly discovered basement berth!) not even the locals believed this was possible. Back in Bangalore our first hotel room was fine after our 12 year old cleaner had finished 45minutes later and we had a quick Veg Thali and Dosa before bed.
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