Mysore pt 3

So, we left Chamundi Hills and drove back into town. Many guides and drivers have side deals with shops, so we weren’t very surprised when the van took an unscheduled stop into a ritzy craft store. It was maintained by the Princess of Mysore and even Banjo had to confess that the prices were a little high. We saw him pocket a payoff from the store owner for taking us there and it didn’t register as wrong really; it’s just how things are. I looked at the dancing Shivas, but they were brass and not really the style I was looking for. I should like to take one home as Shiva has been good to me this trip. We lunched at Chinese/Indian place. It was fine, but time-consuming.

Next was the palace. Now, we had been to the palace in Bangalore and after that I wasn’t really expecting much. This place was immense and really pretty cool. You couldn’t take pictures inside but each room was more immense, elaborate and imaginative than the next. I thought of shabby little Graceland and guffawed. This place was full of pillars, plazas, soaring ceilings topped with elaborate thematic stained glass, and expansive ballrooms and viewing plazas. Banjo broke down the history and origin of the items for us, explaining the symbolic art and murals. Nice place.

Now, we had to check our cameras at the gate and drop off our shoes. As in a temple, you must go barefoot in the palace for it is like a holy place to them. The group re-shoe’d themselves while Banjo and I retrieved the cameras. His idea was for me to ride back on the elephant that was there to surprise the group. Sadly, there was a long line for the elephants and no one really wanted to ride a camel. We took a zero on that, waved to the palace monkeys we saw on the way, laughed at the incredible chutzpah of the street vendors (actual conversation: “Want a wooden car?” No. “How about two wooden cars?” If I didn’t want one, why would I want two? “Maybe one is for a gift!”) and headed off. We stopped for another bit of shopping. After that we bade goodbye to Banjo and were off again. The drive back was long and bumpy. Soon the “Mysore butt” jokes started flying.

We shopped and relaxed on Sunday and geared up for the work week. Half of the team is leaving after this week, so it’s getting intense and a little sad.