Mysore

We arrived in Mysore at 5:30am so we decided to hang around the bus station until sunrise. We took a rickshaw to Mysore Youth Hostel but check-in wasn't until 10am so we waited until then. We checked in to a dormitory shared mainly with Indian girls attending university, but there were also a couple travellers. The beds were 50 Rs. per night and the place was super clean.

We took a rickshaw to visit Mysore Palace, then wanted to see a travel agent but they were all closed because it was a state holiday. We decided to check out Devaraja market, but we ran into a man who said it was closed and that we should visit the British market which would only cost 10 Rs. to get to by rickshaw. We thanked him and said we would go, but that we would walk there. We were a little hesitant because we had never heard of the British market, so we stopped to ask a store owner for directions. He also had never heard of the British market. I asked him if Devaraja market was open and he said yes. We turned around and started walking back towards Devaraja market, but we were confused as to why a stranger would lie about it being closed and then walk away. Thirty seconds later, the same man that had told us about the British market drove up in his rickshaw...suddenly it all made sense. We told him we weren't interested and kept walking. Many rickshaw drivers will offer cheap or free rides, but will then take you to stores or hotels that will give them a commission for bringing tourists. We made it to the market but they were selling mainly produce so we walked around a bit then caught a rickshaw home.

While travelling and speaking to people who had been to Mysore, all of them told us to make sure we were there on a weekend because the Palace is lit up at night and it's really beautiful. Unfortunately that didn't work with our plans so we were there on a Tuesday. While walking around the city though, we noticed that it was a state holiday so when we went back to the hostel we asked whether the Palace would be lit that night and they said it would be. So by total chance we got to see Mysore Palace all lit up and it was definitely worth seeing.

The next day was spent organising a way to get to our next destination. We visited the train station and two bus stations trying to figure out when to leave and where we could leave our bags. Finally, we found that we could leave our bags at the train station and a man assured us that our bus left at 9pm. We decided to spend the day walking around the city. Mysore is much cleaner than a lot of the other Indian cities that we've visited so far. After wasting our time wandering around the city, we arrived at the bus station at 7:30pm. After waiting a while, we decided to double-check our bus time with one of the drivers. He told us that our bus had left at 6:30pm. Georgie and I were both pretty upset considering we could have easily gotten there on time had we known that it left at 6:30pm. Georgie went to talk with the man that we had spoken to earlier, but he kept insisting that the bus was at 9pm and laughed at her when she told him it wasn't. Georgie was also receiving calls from her parents in England because her top choice for university was about to make a decision about her acceptance. It was a stressful time, but we found a less direct bus that left at 9:30pm and were able to get a seat. Georgie was very tense until she got a phone call from her parents saying that she had been accepted. After that, things went much better for all of us...except this bus had bed bugs. The fabric seats are more comfortable than the vinyl ones but it really isn't worth the chance of catching bed bugs.