Hassan - Halebid - Belur -Svanbelagola - Mysore and Madikeiri

Hi Bloggers
The day after the hair cutting and the cheap food we headed by local bus again to Halebid and Belur, two local towns with beautiful temples dating back to the 12th century. The carvings in the stones were incredible and must have just taken so long to do and really skilled craftsmanwork. In Belur we walked past some really loud music so we thought we would be brave and take a look inside the building. It turned out to be a wedding and we were welcomed in with open arms. We took a seat and watched the beautiful procession and took lots of pictures. After the procession, the bride and groom wanted their picture with the 3 of us (we are currently travelling with a lovely french girl, isabel) it was crazy as we didnt exactly look the part! After we took the bus to Svanbelagola, ate a horrible thali ( a mixture of curries, naan (chipati in the south its just thinner naan), papads (poppodums) and rice and then walked barefoot (buddhist temple) up 600 steps to see the tallest buddha in the world. It was an incredible sight, all over parts of india and the buddha itself was just breathtaking, how they can get such a huge rock statue up such a high mountain.

That eveing we tried out the cinema and I got my foot run over by a motorbike going through a blemin market! Ouch. The cinema, what an experience! It was an English film they played, 'In the name of the King', even though maybe people were complaining because we were the only two westerners and they wanted to watch a bollywood film. It turned out to be a pirate dvd copy with bad sound, mouths out of sync, and then half way through they had a toilet break!! How crazy is that! So we decided to leave as the movie was just appaling!

The next day we left with Isabelle to Mysore, south of Poonani....not even joking! We took the local bus and it was really full so we had to sit separately. After a while we had to keep switching seats to make sure we could see our bags...you just never know if you can trust people and they were at the front of the bus. We arrived in Mysore after 3 hours and found some ok ish accommodation, a triple share with Isabelle - as the room was much cleaner than the double (no cockroaches here though). We walked to the Maharaja's palace which was a truly impressive site built by the British in colonial times. Unfortunately there were 2 prices for entry, 2 rupeees for indians and 100 for foreigners. We spoke to the guards and I played the 'racism' card, asking why we had to pay just because we had white skin...so they let us in for free! hehe.

The next morning we took a trip to the market. This was the flower market and they had hundreds of different flowers, all freshly cut in front of your eyes. Mysore is also famous for its 'essential oils', so we spent 2 hours smelling different oils and picking 10 bottles to bring home in a nice wooden box. After, we went for breakfast, we found an English menu and ordered toast. Whilst we were waiting 30mins for toast (yes, 30 mins for TOAST!), we met an English lady who told us our next destination was on fire! Forest fires had 'engulfed the area'. However, we decided to risk it as we wanted to visit the elephant rescue camp. So we grabbed our bags, jumped on a bus and took another 3 hour journey to Madikeri.

In Madikeri the lodges were distgusting...bugs everwhere. So we decided to try a 'home stay'. We found a lovely country house with a lovely family to spend 2 nights with. They have cooked for us and given us great hospitatlity all for 125 rupees each. We also booked 3 days trekking in the jungle here, which starts tomorrow! Should be crazy in this heat but luckily it rained a bit today so fingers crossed. Its over 40 degrees right now here so unbareable between the hours of 12 and 3.

This morning we attempted to get to the elephant camp. We took a bus, hitchhiked and walked 10kms to get there for 9 am!!! But when we finally arrived we got to bathe the elephants in the river, feed them and generally spend time with them. It was a fantastic experience! They are truly incredible animals. Whilst there we met a lovely Indian couple from Bangalore who offered us a free lift to our next place to visit, the Tibetan refugee camp. Terry also had a conversation with the guy there about bloody IBM and IT as he was also in the industry...so sad!!!

The Tibetan refugee camp had a wonderful Buddhist monestary with 3, 60 foot gold buddhas. It was an inspiring place, peaceful and shanti-shanti (relaxing!). After we had a great Thali and gave our leftovers to the homeless, hopefully good karma.

So, wish us luck on our trekking. Im not sure how long I'll last, but as with the trek in Chiang Mai (northern Thailand) theres always Tel to pull me up the hills with a stick!...yep, that seriously happened. He has made a deal with me...if I dont moan too much I can be rewarded with 150 rupees (roughly 1 pound 20!). Woohooo....

Get some piccies on here in a few days. Peace out