We took a relatively brief (2 hour) train from Bangalore to Mysore, and we've hunkered down here for the last 3 days while Francis recovers from the inevitable gastro-ailment of India. Since we're eating same same & I am healthy we can only deduce the draft beer is the culprit. Or it could be that I have some super-immune system by virtue of my profession and daily exposure to all sorts of germs and crud. 
We've exhausted the sights of Mysore (alas - nary a monkey to be seen in spite of this warning sign in our hotel room). The cows are prone to hunkering down in the middle of the road or behaving as though they're about to chase me down the sidewalk.
Our first night here we met a lovely couple from Iran and have a long-standing invitation to visit them there. Each conversation about religion seems to go the same way - with acknowledgment that we are all one people with more commonalities than differences.
Yesterday we toured Mysore Palace ("please check camera, no photos permitted"), but the true delight was waiting for us today - The Indira Gandhi something something otherwise known as a branch of the Museum of Mankind. And this is where the rest of the photos in this post were taken. It seems that the thus far the true highlights of this migration have been the free bits.
Mysore has had more touts and beggars than we've seen so far. The tuk tuk drivers are starving for business in a town you can walk end to end in about 20 minutes. One of my favorite sights so far have been the tattoo "artists" who set up shop on the side of the road with a homemade tattoo gun and no sign of sterile equipment. So far we've seen arm, chest, and neck tattoos. Hard core.
The heat has caught up with us - with temps in the low 80s. Today bestowed me with my first Indian sunburn. We leave tomorrow by bus to Ooty - a hill station famous for tea plantations. Since there are no railways where we're headed - the next few days of travelling will all be by bus. I'm not sure what to expect. I'm anticipating something like the VIP buses in Laos and have a xanax saved up just for the occasion.
2 comments:
Oh, so beautiful sculpturings! and yes, I think you're probs right on both accts - your immune system has got to be incredibly good b/c of all the monster germ exposure and also all sorts of nasty cruds can live in tap lines.
Bottled beer!
xoxo
On the bright side, Francis will have the cutest figure just in time for the spring cotillion!
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