On friday just passed I chucked a sickie and headed off for Mysore/bangalore on an overnight train on thursday night. However, karma must have kicked in because I managed to get the flu off someone and was a bit sick for the weekend- but it didn't stop me- just had to utlise my travel first aid/drugs. It was my first experience on an Indian train- we (Billie -australian med student) had decided to go for 2 a/c which is one below he best class and suss out what the other classes looked like. It was pretty good- we had our own beds and they provided blankets and pillows- which we definitely needed because the air con was so cold. Had to use my first squat toilet- and basically you just pee onto the tracks, it actually quite amusing to try and stay still enough on the rocking train to aim if you get where I'm going......When you stop at the train stations you can actually ssee the lines of human waste baked onto the tracks! I didn't get much sleep but we arrived on time to Mysore after 8 hours on the train.

We went to some local markets which are well known for their colour because of the array of fruit, flower garlands and powdered paint which is really vibrant. The you kids connected to the stalls all had the same ploy to entice you to their wares- they would ask what country you were from, then say they had a friend in your city and that they had a letter from that friebnd and they wanted to show us. If that didn,t work then thay would pull out and australian coin and ask about ti and if we had any more....etc... all this while they followed you up and down the narrow alleyways of the bazaar (indian market). Next we headed out to a sandalwood factory- mysore is well known for its production- it was ok andf the giude kept repeating everything about 3-4 times so i was pretty happy when it had finished! I was pretty tired by this stage but we still had heaps to do- so I walked around in a daze in Mysore. We went to the Maharajihas Palace which was huge and very colourful- a little over the top at times. It was really pretty at night all lit up. For abou the 3rd time yet an Indian asked to have their photo taken with me- yep I'm a tourist attraction in India. Lots of parents come running up with their children and wnat us to shake their childs hand or get a photo with them- its so weird. We headed up Chamundi Hill to a temple at sunset and it was beautiful- I was so invigorated by the fresh cool air. It was nice to seee out over the country-side. The temple itself was pretty standard- some sadhu (indian holy man) smeared brown paint on my head which was fun, and then there was the crazy cow at the xit who would charge at people exiting the temple- damn cows! The ride down in the rickshaw was the best bit- night fall had broken and the full moon was out- lucky actual;ly as otherwise the driver would not havebe able to see cause his rickshaw had no lights- but he was a safe driver and stayed behind a motorbike with lights the whole way down so we didn't get taken out by the oncoming buses!

The next morning (after missing our train cause I set my watch wrong!) we got the bus to Bangalore- about 3 hours away. I was in the sun and wanted the window open for some fresh air but the bloody indians kept closing it because they were cold- it was about 25 degrees and they are wearing beanies. So after sweating it up on the bus we were relieved to find a nice hotel in bangalore. Its a pretty westernised indian city- even had McDonalds. Billioe and I were intrigued by what they served seeing as beef was taboo. Pretty much chicken- but I had a paneer wrap- paneer is solidified milk solids/cheesey type thing. Lots of the girls we wearing jeans and t-shirts etc and there were lots of shops! The bets bit was proper coffee like back home- just what I needed for an energy boost. That night we ventured out to a bar after dinner- it was pretty seedy and the fact that there were only men in the bar didn't help. I don't thinkl women go out much- men tend to hang out together- they even walk around holding hands- its purelya friendship thing but. Its something we have termed 'man love'.

The train home was late and I was over trains for the weekend. I made friends with the train carriage attendants and they shared some friut (don't know what it was) with me and in return I let them take turns listening to my MP3 player. I filmed them on my video camera then would show them- they loved it. At first there were two then about five more appeared- at least it filled about an hour of the journey. Of course it wouldn't be a interaction with indians if one of them didn't ask for a gift- the cheeky b***** keep asking for a valuable gift! Needless to say I retreated to the safety of my seat after that.

Back in Vellore now and planning to go to some Golden temple this afternoon with some of the other students. We are having another "sick" day this friday and heading off for the coastal town f mamallapuram- should be relaxing- I hope!!!!!

Jess xo