the second nut shell full of india

good, my 3k time reads 16:39 now, slashing 50s off in the space of 5 days~ sweating really is a problem XP

anyway, lets continue at india day 2.

breakfasting at the same dark little coffee shop, we consumed more dosas and tea. the first half of the morning was spent exploring tipu palace, a well kept old palace, which june and i believe, belonged to a clean and uncorrupted king ^.^ the building is simple and airy, unimpressive in size but made up in style, and has certainly aged in elegance. dad camera's memory card got abused, but too bad the results are not to be seen :P

we also spent an equal amount of time in a temple adjacent to it, drawn by the notes from musical instruments we couldnt name. a ceremony was in place. probably just a normal prayer day, but it was our first time in a hindu temple nonetheless. we were urged into the central chamber for blessings by the friendly locals, but we shyed out, worrying that we might miss-place a step and do something out of place :P most men, if not all, attended in white; while women were draped in brightly coloured traditional clothings. they were all very receptive towards the two ETs of the day. fruits and jasmin flowers were aplenty, fire and water were used (ok, i've just learned that tejas means fire XD), and the music was being played all the time.

after retrieving our shoes from the small tent beside the temple, a kind passerby halted a bus and sent us on our way to KG road bus station, or where the locals call "majestic", a kota raya equivalent i suppose. after another affordable and enjoyable lunch, we departed to mysore.

pani poori (geez, i'm gonna forget all these names if the writing is to be left any longer), a tiny version of poori, fried into ball shape and (poked?) broken at the top to fill gravies/curries/sauces that goes with it. impressed 0_0 steal other ppl's picture for illustration purpose: picture by Medhaa


like alysha said, rail travel in india is a whole other world by itself ^_^ "a million kinds of passangers and a million hawkers coming and going vending their goods", she says. samosas, padam milk, coffee, dosas are among the millions of repetitive, monotonic syllables that i can make sense of, where there are other things that smell and sound and look like nothing i've ever seen before. they even have railway court and railway police, as if governed by another set of rules.

our train arrived well before time, and ppl were sucked to the it like paperclips to a magnet, throwing their belongings thru the open window to reserve their seats. june and i prebooked our tickets online, and was surprised that we actually booked the 1st class tickets, given the price we pay, around RM17 for 150km. our names were printed on the door of the train compartment we were supposed to be in, stating our reserved seats, impressed again 0.0

after some walking and looking at Lonely Planet, we were at the reception at a hotel in mysore. the guy behind the counter asked us our budget. we dully said 750rupee, he had a glance at the crumpled photocopy LP in my hand and said their cheapest room is 800rupee. we had a look at the room and agreed that it's a fair price. double room, ensuite, with TV, RM30 per person. we could afford a bit of luxury ^^

the whole point of being in mysore, where both my x-family doctor and his wife graduated, was to be left breathless by the breath taking mysore palace that is lit by more than 100 thousand light bulbs from 19.00-20.00 on sundays. after another wonderful dinner of paneer and mutton curry, we walked half the periphery of the palace wall to the south where the entrance lie, stopping at the east entrance for photos u will never see XD june and i decided that, unlike the one that occupied thiru palace, this king must be corrupted XD the walk from the north gate to the south gate took us almost 20mins in total.

and then, came the blackout. and we went "what the...". the electricity came back in a matter of a couple of minutes, and we spent the rest of the hour, standing idly, marvelling at grandness and beauty of the brightly lit palace, letting the cool mysore wind brush thru us, secretly thinking about the Earth Hour campaign and the environmental impact, counting the light bulbs that went malfunction, deciding that they are not connected in series, all with the military band playing marching themes in the background. (and taking more photos la...)

the night ended in sweetness, as we had our first taste of mysore pak, a local sweet delicacy which looks ordinary but tasted so good it pulled us back for more, and more... ^_^