Mysore update

Here I am again! We wanted to come on the internet earlier already, but the internet connection in Hampi didn't work. 

At this moment we are sitting in a small internet cafe in Mysore - with slow connection, so I can't get on my site, it's taking ages... but I'm feeling so good. We visited Tibetan refugee settlements today, some 90km from Mysore.

Tibetan settlements

Sitting in the bus, we were thinking: how long would it take? Hmmm... 1 hour? No that's too short, in India everything takes a little bit longer, especially going by bus. So 2 hours? Yes, that'll do... NO it didn't :) The roads in India are full of holes, and if it's not the holes, there are the "humps", very nasty traffic slowing things that force the bus to stop almost entirely, or otherwise the roads are under construction. And above all this shaking, the buses are in that condition that it makes a LOT of noise (my poor ears) and moreover the driver is using his horn (mostly about 90dB I guess) all the time. But all this is worth the beautiful landscape and little villages alongside the road and all these different kinds of transport you encounter. So three long hours later we arrived at Kushalnagar, from where we took a rickshaw three km further to the Namdrooling Monastery. That surely was another experience, since it was very different from the rest of India: Tibetan culture and buddhist monks all over the place. Very friendly and warm people too, and such a quiet and calm atmosphere.

Is it that we're getting used to India, or rather that we just go to different places than before? Thing is we're not having that at unease feeling so much as before. I still have troubles when there are beggars standing in front of me, handicapped, skinny people or so pretty little children ticking at your arm, asking for money, cookies, pens or anything. Also these children trying to sell postcards, guide books, or other things to you that just keep on following you are not easy to cope with. You don't want to be rude, but in the end you are, because it's the only way to get rid of them. Same goes for all the 'guides' that want to lead you around in all the astonishing beautiful places we visited already.

I guess I'm giving you all a very negative picture of these Indians... But that's not the case for sure!!! They are very friendly people, very curious (but sometimes answering the same questions over and over again is a little bit tiring) and very helpful. Apart from the staring, which is just part of their culture, it is very usual for them, men are behaving properly. There has been a case where I thought he just wanted to shake my hand, but he held it and finally I understood his gestures: he wanted a kiss. They do think indeed that western females are very easy-going, but when I said and acted that I wasn't like that, he just let go, so no problem at all.

So... What else have we done? After Ellora we visited Ajanta. We were a little afraid that after the Ellora caves, we would be quickly fed up with these caves. But it was really different: fantastic landscape and the caves were really different too: much darker, more cave-like :) Together with artificial coloured lighting, the effect was complete. We also enjoyed the surroundings, walking up a hill to a viewpoint and than all around, crossing the waterfall and then further back to the entrance. There were some really nice boys from the nearby village, who were on their way to their shift for the cow-herding, that accompanied us. Thus we could also safely pass the cows, because some of them have really long horns. However, we are getting used to passing cows, since everywhere, whether in rural villages or in big cities, cows are wandering around, looking for something to eat. Mostly they are like how you would imagine Indian cows: kind of skinny, grey-brown or white with long horns, but here in Mysore, the European variety seems to have taken over: rather fat, black-and-white spotted with shorter horns.

Mysore

After Ajanta, we said goodbye to Jacqui, the Australian girl with whom we visited Ellora and Ajanta and who was very nice company. She also thaught us on what and how to eat Indian food, but unfortunately, that is still nothing for us really. It simply is too spicy for us and we can't get used to it. I was sick one day in Hampi, but whether it was from the food I can't say. But I do have a reluctancy to eating Indian food... So we're surviving mostly on cookies and some fruit and lots of water. Today however we ate Tibetan. I can't say that was a real success, but I had the first meat since my arrival in India. South-India is largely vegetarian. In Hampi, the food was, like all the rest there, very turistically and thus western oriented. We even had a pancake there! Not very culture-sensitive, I know, but despite that it tasted GREAT!

Hampi

Hampi was great. Astonishingly great. We read about it in the guidebook, but you can't compare it with seeing it in real. It's so big, and remainings of this once by 500 000 people inhabited city are scattered all around the place. This together with huge boulders makes it a very alienating experience. The little village we stayed at, contained more guest houses and shops than normal houses, but to see it really was a great experience. The thing was, we also felt more at ease in this very turistic place, because there was less staring and we could even dress very un-Indian without being looked at. Also, the things they sell there are also more adapted to what the tourist wants to buy; these 'typically Indian things' that are really hard to find in the bigger cities. There they are selling 'real European' stuff: clothes that look quite old-fashioned to us, very cheap-looking plastic toys and handbags that look like all these fake designer things at home. But that's part of the charm too. Funny that all these sellers think they have really good buyers with us, since we'll probably like these things?! (NOT)

We're kind of avoiding the really big places, such as Bangalore or Hyderabad, because these are really busy and noisy and different and also quite shocking with all this poverty. We're saving that for later, for when we're more used to India :) The latter we did visit however, since our train arrived in the morning and the next train to Hampi only left in the evening, so we had some time left. Things that we noticed, except for all the traffic and crowdiness: lots of female in burka, black long clothes with only the eyes visible...

Traveling by train is really comfortable: mostly traveling sleeper class, so you have a bed-like thing for yourself, and since the trains are mostly overnight, it's very smooth.

Time's really running out... So here's our more-or-less-traveling-scheme: after Mysore, we go to Mudumalay wildlife reserve, than to Ooty, Madurai,Thanjavur, all the way back to Mangalore and than via Goa back to Mumbai.

Kisses!

Do you like my henna tattoo?