mich_and_dan_moors

We left Fort Cochin at around 7pm, so 2 rickshaw trips later & a Ferry we finally ended up at the right train station (our lovely Rickshaw driver took us to the wrong one initially, just becuase it was closer. Don't you just love them!) This was our first overnight sleeper train.....neither of us were really looking forward to it. Me (Mrs Moors) even less so once I had boarded and found myself on the top bunk of a jam packed carriage shared by around 35 passengers. Just lovely!!! But to be fair, once I had gotten over the initial shock & tucked myself up in my sleeping bag it was ok & I managed to get a few hours kip. We got awoke to the cries of ' Tea! Chai! Chai! Tea' at about 7am, passed a few hours away chatting to a lovely Indian couple & watching the scenery and finally arrived in Bangalore station around 10am.
We were pretty lucky to find a train leaving at 10.30 to Mysore.........but little did we know that this would take us another 5hrs. Finally we arrived after travelling for about 17hrs in total and consuming just a few biscuits in all that time! The saving Grace was that the homestay we had booked was just so lovely & clean, very much like a B&B in the Lake District!, so we quicky got changed a went to the 'Park Lane Hotel'
Afer about 10 bottles of beer, some gorgeous curry & a few hours of watching the Cricket all was forgiven!

Later that evening we managed to drag our tired bones to see the maharaja's Palace. It was so worth it, it was lit up in all it's glory. Truly beautiful.

Day 2- we went on a rickshaw tour of the city which including Tipu Sultans Palace, the Mysore Prison, Chaimundi Hill, a temple of worship with Amazing views of the city & a v.large Black Bull!, plus all of the local sights such a a guy hand rolling cigarettes (he makes around 1500 a day & gets paid about 1.30GBP a day, 10 hrs a day, 7 days a week!) the local market & Insence stick making.

All in all, Mysore was fab. Well worth a visit and the trauma of getting there ;-)