Yesterday we arrived in Bangalore after a very uncomfortable 8 hour bus ride from Pondicherry. Padmanabh and Prashanth, two of our Bangalore contacts, picked us up at the bus depot as soon as we got there. This was quite relieving, it was the first time we didn't have to figure what to do and where to go. We spent the rest of the day relaxing at his home and recovering from the sleepless night. Anitha, one of my friend Mahesh's good friends, came by and greeted us both with a bouquet of flowers. Everyone was extremely nice and helpful. All five of us spent the evening exploring M.G. Road, the most modern street I have seen in India, and planning our trekking adventure. We woke up for an early start this morning and piled in the car with Padmanabh and Prashanth. We spent most of the day driving but our new friends also crammed in quite a few tourist sights along the way. Before we reached Padmanabh's friend's home, we stopped at the very old Sri Ranganatha temple. The temples were getting a little repetitive and this one was very similar to the rest. But nevertheless it was nice to see.

After this we stopped in a village called Palahalli and met up with Padmanabh's friend, Krishna, at his farm. Krishna's farm was gorgeous. He had acres of rice paddies all surrounded by coconut trees. He also grew mulberry bushes. The mulberry bushes are the favored food for silkworms. He took us into his silk growing house and explained the entire process to us. It was quite amazing. Each worm produces 800 meters of silk in about 27 days to create its cocoon. The only bad thing is that they boil the cocoons to obtain the silk, thus killing the metamorphosing worm. Krishna joined us for the evening adventure and we visited a hill that gave a great view of the nearby national forest. We also stopped into Mysore at the Chamundi Hill Temple and at the home of another of Padmanabh's friends for tea. This friend is a painter and you could tell from the outside of his house what his profession was. He and his wife gave us some info on the local yoga schools that taught the style of yoga Bean had practiced and invited us to visit if we decided to stay in Mysore. We finally went back to Palahalli for dinner and a short but comfortable night's rest at Krishna's home in preparation for the trek.

View of Kerala from Brahmagiri Peak

We've spent the past two days in one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to. After leaving the farm in Palahalli we traveled several more hours by car to our current destination. We drove through a wildlife sanctuary where we saw wild peacocks, foxes, deer, and fowl. Prashanth drives extremely fast, like he is in a race or something, he finally hit a bump hard enough that his front bumper fell off. We tied it back on with some string and continued on our way through blooming coffee estates. The smell of the coffee flowers filled the air. We arrived at the base of the Irpu Waterfall and Brahmagiri Trek route at about 8 in the morning to meet up with a group of 15 trekkers. Most of them were accountants or businessmen, all out for a weekend away from the office. We hiked 4 km up the mountain to a base camp where we dropped off our gear and had lunch. Bean spent the afternoon at the nearby caves and I hung around camp to rest because I felt a little feverish. Though I did walk up to the hills to get some good sunset photos. Bean stayed up and sang songs around the campfire with our new friends and I went to bed early and slept for a good twelve hours.

Bean and I on Brahmagiri Peak

We woke early and started off to the highest peak. We hiked about 10 km and 1 km was straight up the side of the peak. The views of the surrounding country were amazing. We were actually on the border of Kerala and Karnataka and we could see for miles. After a brief rest the Indians were ready to head back down the mountain. They never take the time to stop and smell the roses. We had a quick lunch at the camp and packed our bags for the 4 km hike back to the waterfalls where we had a very refreshing bath. We bathed with many other Indian men. All of the men wear next to nothing while they bath and the women keep all of their clothes on, the opposite as it is in the US. We then got back in the car for more racing. Padmanabh and Prashanth dropped us off in Mysore in the evening.

Bathing in Irpu falls

We were dropped of in Mysore just in time to catch the Mysore Palace illumination that happens every Sunday evening. It was very much like a fair or carnival. The surrounding gardens were packed full of people: locals, Indian tourists, and westerners. I am glad we decided to come see this city, the palace is definitely a must see. I can't imagine how much electricity is used to light all of the lights for one hour or how long it took to string all of them. Prashanth treated us to a delicious dinner at a nearby hotel and then they headed back to Bangalore to make it in time for work the next morning. Bean and I were quite exhausted due to the frantic pace that our Indian friends like to follow in their travels. We didn't try to see too much of Mysore the past two days but we had a good time anyways. We viewed the inside of the main palace Monday. It was quite amazing architecture and full of some very nice art work.

Mysore Palace during the day

We spent the evening at the home of a very interesting man we met on the street near our hotel. He was dressed in a nice shirt and his pants were pulled high about his waist. His gray hair was covered with a crooked baseball cap and on his nose were a pair of glasses held on his head by a string. He carried a bag full of paper and notebooks and immediately began digging through the bag and pulling out little pieces of paper for us to look at. Each paper had an autograph of a different famous Indian, from Gandhi to Tagore. It turns out that his father was a freedon fighter during the time of India's independence movement and he was an associate of all the other freedom fighters and political activists of the time. The man's wife was also the grandaughter of the second president of India. They were very nice people and treated us to tea and sweets. It was fun spending the evening talking with both of them.

Mysore Palace at night

This travelogue was originally published here

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