10.25.09
I woke up in time to see the sunrise over Bangalore this morning from my window. It was beautiful. I got ready and had some time to spare so I flipped through the Cosmo that I bought yesterday. About 7, Shashank called and we had breakfast in the lobby. We grabbed our stuff and went to the bus station. We caught the 7:50 bus to Mysore. We chatted the bus ride there, which took about 3 hours.
Once in Mysore, we got a taxi to the Mysore palace. The palace is huge!!!We bought out tickets. Shashank only had to pay 20 rupees. I had to pay 200!! Dang my not being an Indian. We had our bags checked. I had to check my camera because they didn’t allow cameras inside. We then checked our shoes. My tennis shoes stood out like nobody’s business amongst all the sandals. So Shashank was barefoot and I was comfy in my socks. We walked into the palace and had our bags checked again. I got in trouble because I forgot I had my flip so after the guard laughed at me, we went back to the camera check.
We came back for round 2 and we were allowed inside. The inside was gorgeous. The carvings and everything are so ornate. We walked into the wedding pavilion and I wish I had my camera. There were beautiful peacock motif stained glass windows and these archways that looked like carved wood, but they were actually cast iron. The place was spectacular.
We kept walking through the palace. We had got a little audio tour so we walked and listened. We next entered a huge pavilion  thing where the king would hold court. They had magnificent archways that looked out into a beautiful courtyard.  I thought a saw a rat scamper across one of the balconies, but it was actually a squirrel. I thought that it was interesting that they are worried about people taking pictures, but they have squirrels running around inside.
I would have never imagined the wealth of India. There was a thing to put on the back of an elephant that was covered in 80 kilos of gold!  And there were chairs made out of crystal!
Right after we entered the palace we went into a temple. It was totally not what I expected. It was kind of dark and not at all like I thought a place of worship would be. Shashank got these sugar-covered things that tasted sort of like a sugar cookie that people consider holy. I can’t remember what it was called.
Once we were out of the palace and collected our shoes, I perused the gift shop, while Shashank went and returned the audio tour headset. I thought surely I would find a thimble because the palace is such a touristy place, but no luck.
We went and collected the cameras and walked around the courtyard. It was full of beautiful flowers and the humungous bronze tigers. It was very pretty.
As we were exiting the palace, we walked through all the stalls of the street vendors and Shashank got to experience a new side of India. Since he was with me and in cargo shorts and a Walt Disney World polo, all the vendors assumed that he was a tourist too. It was pretty funny to him react to all the vendors. By the end of it, all he had to say was that he was glad he was Indian and doesn’t have to be put up with that.
Shashank called our taxi and he took us to one of the 8 sacred hills in southern India. There was a huge temple at the top. The line to get in was at least a 2 hour wait. We decided to pass on going inside and walked around on the outside. As I was taking a picture of the temple, I almost got run over by a cow. It was really funny. It is amazing how they are not afraid of people like the cows at home. They bolt if you get too close. It could have something to do with the fact that they don’t eat cows in India. While we were up there, I had a red and yellow cloth tied around my wrist and a red dot put on my forehead by one of the holy men for luck. That was pretty cool. Up at the temple, they sell coconut with flowers on these platter things. Shashank explained to me that they are offering to the gods. Inside the temple, they break open the coconut. The water inside is used as a sacrifice and then the coconut is returned to you. You then go home and make a meal with the coconut and have a blessed meal.
When we were done at the temple, our driver took us to The Bull. It is a large black statue of a bull that is a holy place for Hindus. That was not what I was expecting, but that seems to be a common theme for India.
One the way down from the Hill we could see all of Mysore. Although, it was a little hazy due to the pollution, but it was still very pretty. I felt a like driving back at home because it was hilly and windy road.
The taxi dropped us off by the bus station and we headed into a local hotel for lunch. The hotel had 2 restaurants with different themes. One was a jungle theme and the other was a cave theme. We went with the cave one. It reminded me of a cross between T-Rex and Rain Forest Café. Shashank made a point to ask for stuff that wasn’t spicy. The started we got was delicious, but it definitely had a kick to it. It was kind of an Indian take on chicken wings, but much better. For the main meal we had white rice with a cashew chicken gravy. It was more sweet than spicy. It was definitely my favorite meal so far. I wish I could learn how to make it at home.
After lunch, we walked back to the bus station and caught a bus back to Bangalore. Once back in Bangalore, Shashank dropped me off at the hotel. I had about 3 hours until he would be back to pick me up for dinner. I showered, watched some TV, and used the hotel computer to look up information on Japanese rail passes.
Shashank picked me up and then we picked up his friend who we are going out to eat with. His friend is a rally car driver and is leading the league right now. We went to the building and up to the 13th floor where there is a really trendy lounge bar – aptly called the 13th floor. We ate out on this balcony overlooking the city of Bangalore. It was absolutely beautiful. It turned out that Shashank’s boss was there, so I got to meet him. He seemed like a pretty cool guy. He obviously had some clout because whatever he wanted got done. The place was blasting techno music and I felt extremely out of place in my tennis shoes. We had some French fries and I felt so stereotypical. I had chicken kabob thing that was good. Shashank and his friend had something really spicy with peppers all over it. He tried to get me to try it and he thought it was spicy so there was no way I was trying it. We stayed there for a while and chatted. It was a very nice way to spend my last night with Shashank.
After dinner, Shashnak dropped me off at the hotel. It was about midnight so I got my stuff ready and went to bed. When we got back to the hotel the doors were locked so Shashank had to call his friend to come let us in. I went upstairs and crashed.