Mysore

Leaving Hampi last weekend didn't go without a struggle.
First at the busstop in Hospet I met a German girl and we decided to go get some dinner before spending 9 hours on a nightbus. We went into a restaurant and they simply refused to serve us. After some commotion we got tea and the bill at the same time, making it clear that we could drink the tea but then had to leave. I think it's because we were 2 women alone without a man. I had been in that restaurant before with Matt and it was fine that day. They were friendly and talked to us, but this time, without a man... no, we were not welcome. :-(
Then when I arrived in Bangalore I took a local bus to go to Mysore. I was the only tourist on the bus, but that was fine. People stared, but they left me in peace. I think they saw I was just really tired. When the bus stopped halfway at a busstand they gave us 15 minutes to go to the toilet, have a drink or something to eat. I bought some tea and went standing next to the busstop to have a smoke. In India it's not aloud anymore to smoke in public places, but if you set one foot outside then you can smoke. So I did when all of a sudden I heard a little girl screaming. When I looked up I saw a police officer throw a little girl, about 6 years old, of a bus, my bus, and while he was holding her arm he was hitting her with a stick. Apparently she was begging on the bus and people complained. This is the kind of situation that breaks your heart, but you are powerless. It's the way things work here in India. These people don't seem to have the right to be here, anywhere, and they are treated like animals. I haven't even seen one Indian hit a cow the way they hit this girl. Yet on the other hand, the beggars have no morals, because they have to survive. So it's a vicious circle; the harder they get, the harder they are treated, the harder they get, the harder...  :-(
Then I finally arrived in Mysore and everybody tried to sell me something and tried to warn me for others. The same old story. But one guy in particular told me I should be careful because there were men that would try to sell me drugs and take me to a place where you can smoke. But, he told me, it's illegal here in Mysore so don't go there!! Well, thank you for that good advice. He gave me his name and number and if I wanted to take a tour I should just call him. When I got to the hotel I slept a few hours and met up later with a German guy, Christian, for dinner. When we were walking towards the restaurant a guy, the guy who tried to warn me about the drugs, was walking next to Christian. He told him if he wanted to smoke some hasj he could take him to a nice place, relaxing, no problem???! Huh, the guy who warned me about this in the afternoon, was here, six hours later, doing it to my travel-companion?! And he saw me but didn't care, because now I was traveling with a man and then the woman has no voice. Great! :-(
Mysore is not a very friendly place for women, or at least that was my experience. They tried to touch me, grab me, shouted stuff at me on the street... and I was wearing long trousers and long sleeve loose shirt, very decent. When I was walking with Christian, everything was fine.
Despite that the sights are really beautiful. The palace is lit on Sunday night and it is amazing. On Monday we went inside and it's so beautiful, it makes you dream of times gone by when princes and princesses got married in the big hall and big balls were given in honor of the maharani.
Tuesday I decided to go on a tourist tour. You know; see all the sights in group taken there by a Mini Van. Or at least that's what I thought I was gonna do. It turned out I was the only 'white' tourist and so they put me in a Mini Van with 6 other Indian tourists. A family and 2 young men. No problem, everything was in Hindi AND English and as long as they took me to the different sights I was happy.
First stop was an Art Gallery. I almost cried because the Art Work was so damaged. Holes in painting, carvings in furniture, the building was leaking, yellow staines on all the pieces due to the dust that came pilling in... But there was more to come so I was being optimistic. Next stop was a shop. Yep, a silk shop. A bus pulled up at the same time with some 60 Indian tourists and they all went into the shop and bought like crazy! One woman even bought 6 sarees! Crazy crowd. Little did I know that I would be spending the rest of the day with these people. Yes, they moved me and my 6 Indian tourists to join the big bus and form one group! So there was one big bus, one driver, one busboy, two guides, 62 Indian tourists... and ME! They put me in the front of the bus next to the driver. An honorary seat where you HAVE the best view and at the same time you ARE the best view. Jippie!  :-D
It all turned out fine tough. There was one family from Kerala and a couple from Andreh Pradesh who spoke english and they took me under their wings. They translated for the guides and so I just had to follow the crowd. Off we went from one temple to the next. We saw 3 in total and spend most of the time there. For Indians visiting temples is the most important thing when they are traveling. And I, well I saw and waited. We drove past some of the other sights, like a summer palace and a museum, but there was no time left to go in. Of course after the silk shop and the three temples, we now had to hurry to go to Brindavan Gardens. We had to be there on time to see the dancing fountain at 7! Oh yes, you do NOT want to miss the dancing fountain! It is a real fountain with real disco music in the background and the fountain moves on the rythm of the music! And it has different colors and shapes and waaaaw! The crowd went WILD! Haha! So cheesy! :-)
But you see, in the end I had a wonderful day because I got to spend it with some really nice Indian people. They really took care of me and before departing the mother gave me a present, a picture of the dancing fountain. That was really nice, because it was sincere.  I've got the daughters email adress and if I want to go and visit them in Kerala, I am more than welcome! So meeting them and seeing the sights made my trip to Mysore worth it.
But as a city, Mysore has nothing more to offer. The last hour I was there someone, a young woman, even squatted in front of me, in the middle of the street and did a number 2. Just like that. No shame, no fuss. Jezus! It was time for me to get out of there!
And so I did, I took a nightbus to Cochin - Kerala where I arrived this morning at 6. And what a relief to be here. Kerala is what I expected it to be. We had just crossed the border last night and made our first stop to have dinner and I knew we arrived in Kerala. It was a pink building, with pink tables, pink curtains, fake flowers on the frontdesk, music, smiling faces, hardly any staring... oh, I am in Kerala! Joehoe! :-))