Bandipur

Shiva arranged for a driver to take us to Bandipur the day after Mysore. He picked us up at 5:30 am for the hour long drive.

It's hard to see any wildlife at Bandipur, because they put you on a huge coach, which loudly rambles through the jungle. I'm sure all the animals run away. But I did see ONE wild elephant, well, one wild elephant butt:



I saw two other elephants, but they were chained to one spot, so I don't think that counts.

I noticed how pretty the Karnatakan hills are:



And I liked the shop (at least the intention of the shop):

Mysore

Last weekend I went to Mysore, a Karnatakan city which is famous for its palace and gardens. The Mysore Palace was disappointing and they never mentioned what was so great about these Mysore kings. But here I am anyway:


Of particular note, at least for me, the autos look different in Karnataka:


And for the most part, the auto drivers and other street purveyors are a lot more pushy, but that couldn’ve been because I was staying close to the palace. But I did find one really nice driver, Shiva:


who took me to the Chamundeshwari Temple, which is situated in the hills around Mysore. It was a lovely drive up the hills:


and Shiva took time to stop and talk:


The temple is gorgeous both inside and out:






I was even able to go inside and see the god, which was an incredible experience:


Around the temple is a lively market which was fun to walk around:


The monkeys harass you for your snacks, but they look super cute:


Next Shiva took me to the Mysore Nandi. This particular Nandi was even more impressive to me than the temple:


Around Nandi was another little market where I bought and drank some cane juice. I loved watching the machine squeeze all the juice out of the cane:


And I was struck at how every Indian experience ends with a treat!