We woke up early to catch the elephants at their bath and breakfast at a nearby sanctuary. Just after pulling off the road we noticed elephants bathing in the river below. One beautiful lady lay flat on its side as her caretaker scrubbed her belly, legs, and back. Another waded in the deeper part of the water, unattended, swinging his trunk back and forth in the stream, occasionally opening his mouth in what looked like a huge grin. I enjoyed watching them – they all looked so happy. We headed over to the feeding center where we watched the caretakers mash up cubes of food into giant balls that they placed into the elephants’ mouths. The elephants waited anxiously during the preparation process, swaying back and forth, shifting their weight, and swinging their trunks, clearly ready for their breakfast. Once the food was ready the caretakers essentially shoved the giant balls of food down the elephants’ throats. It was a pretty entertaining site and you could tell the elephants just loved it. Most of them seemed to swallow it whole but one of them grabbed the ball out of her mouth with her trunk and gracefully fed the rest to her piece by piece.
After the mornings activities we drove back into Mysore for lunch before visiting the Mysore palace. I’ve been told that the palace gets more annual visitors than the Taj Mahal. I haven’t yet been to the Taj so I’m not sure if I can say I see why, but the palace was pretty spectacular. We were lucky to get a great guide who took us through much of the history of the Maharaja (king of kings) of Mysore, the construction of the palace, its elements, stories, etc. While the outside alone was incredible, the interior was all the more amazing. Intricate designs in beautiful colors covered its surface, pillars were painted from pure gold, gold and silver adornments with elaborate details were found throughout, smooth and cool marble covered the floors, and fantastic murals depicting everything from elephant festivals to the amazing wars with the British lined the walls. We saw the wedding hall, the public and private conference halls, the Maharaja’s dressing rooms, etc. Unfortunately photos weren’t allowed and I could only capture its elegance in my mind’s eye.
Following the tour we wandered the grounds, snapping pictures of the outside when we happened upon elephants giving rides to visitors. While I am generally opposed to this use of elephants, I figured I had to ride an elephant at least once in my life and what better opportunity than at this fabulous palace and where I knew they were at least treated better than at other places in the country. I felt a little guilty the whole ride but couldn’t help but enjoy the sheer joy of being so close to such a beautiful creature and feeling its gentle sway below me as it walked. After hopping off, I handed her a 10-rupee note, which she took with its trunk, handing it up to the handler. She placed its trunk on my head, breathing in and pulling some of my hair up with it. I stroked her trunk gently until she pulled away. Probably the best 10 seconds of my life. It was pure elation and happiness.
We walked over to a nearby market where shop owners sold produce, spices, colored powders, perfumes, oils, incenses, plastic wear, etc. The aisles were narrow and stalls close together. Noise gathered as shop owners shouted “bananas! Bananas! 5 rupees! 5 rupees!” and people bustled through the corridors, pushing past one another. We wandered the packed halls, smiling at shop owners as we passed, mostly nodding off their requests for us to look at (and buy) their things. We did pause briefly for a man to demonstrate how to paint using the colored powders, using a bright pink to draw what sort of looked like a flower on the back of my hand. We continued strolling until we reached a man selling different scented oils and incense. He rolled some watermelon flower oil on the back of my wrist and I was hooked – the smell was delicious. We chatted with him, learning about his business. His grandfather had established the shop and it had been in the family ever since. He let us smell all the different oils and even showed us how to hand roll incense. I ended up buying a few small bottles of perfumed oil. A chai walla walked past the stall and the shopkeeper treated us all to chai. He also gave us all free sticks of incense, even to people who hadn’t even bought anything from him. He insisted it was a gift. He was such a sweet soul and I really enjoyed talking to him and was sad when our hour was up and we had to meet back up with the group.
We went back to the palace that night to see it lit up in beautiful bulbs of white light. Every Sunday for only 45 minutes, the entire palace is lit up with thousands of individual lights creating a completely different ambiance and image from what we had seen just an hour or so before. It could have been a castle straight out of a fairy tale. It was breathtaking and just completely magical. People admired the site, some up close to the fence, others relaxing on the grass, gazing up at its magnificent radiance. I learned a lot about my camera in those few moments as I tried to find a good way to capture it. While I never really could, I think I was surprisingly successful. What seemed like only moments later, the lights went out and long shadows cast over the palace.
We ate a late dinner at an organic restaurant in a neighborhood of Mysore where all the yoga teachers and practitioners stay. After a satisfying meal I flipped through their photography books as others used the restaurants free Wi-Fi. We stayed just up until closing before shifting to a nearby coffee shop, passing time until our train left late that night, until we would be back in Manipal. Back to reality (well, only sort of).
After the mornings activities we drove back into Mysore for lunch before visiting the Mysore palace. I’ve been told that the palace gets more annual visitors than the Taj Mahal. I haven’t yet been to the Taj so I’m not sure if I can say I see why, but the palace was pretty spectacular. We were lucky to get a great guide who took us through much of the history of the Maharaja (king of kings) of Mysore, the construction of the palace, its elements, stories, etc. While the outside alone was incredible, the interior was all the more amazing. Intricate designs in beautiful colors covered its surface, pillars were painted from pure gold, gold and silver adornments with elaborate details were found throughout, smooth and cool marble covered the floors, and fantastic murals depicting everything from elephant festivals to the amazing wars with the British lined the walls. We saw the wedding hall, the public and private conference halls, the Maharaja’s dressing rooms, etc. Unfortunately photos weren’t allowed and I could only capture its elegance in my mind’s eye.
Following the tour we wandered the grounds, snapping pictures of the outside when we happened upon elephants giving rides to visitors. While I am generally opposed to this use of elephants, I figured I had to ride an elephant at least once in my life and what better opportunity than at this fabulous palace and where I knew they were at least treated better than at other places in the country. I felt a little guilty the whole ride but couldn’t help but enjoy the sheer joy of being so close to such a beautiful creature and feeling its gentle sway below me as it walked. After hopping off, I handed her a 10-rupee note, which she took with its trunk, handing it up to the handler. She placed its trunk on my head, breathing in and pulling some of my hair up with it. I stroked her trunk gently until she pulled away. Probably the best 10 seconds of my life. It was pure elation and happiness.
We walked over to a nearby market where shop owners sold produce, spices, colored powders, perfumes, oils, incenses, plastic wear, etc. The aisles were narrow and stalls close together. Noise gathered as shop owners shouted “bananas! Bananas! 5 rupees! 5 rupees!” and people bustled through the corridors, pushing past one another. We wandered the packed halls, smiling at shop owners as we passed, mostly nodding off their requests for us to look at (and buy) their things. We did pause briefly for a man to demonstrate how to paint using the colored powders, using a bright pink to draw what sort of looked like a flower on the back of my hand. We continued strolling until we reached a man selling different scented oils and incense. He rolled some watermelon flower oil on the back of my wrist and I was hooked – the smell was delicious. We chatted with him, learning about his business. His grandfather had established the shop and it had been in the family ever since. He let us smell all the different oils and even showed us how to hand roll incense. I ended up buying a few small bottles of perfumed oil. A chai walla walked past the stall and the shopkeeper treated us all to chai. He also gave us all free sticks of incense, even to people who hadn’t even bought anything from him. He insisted it was a gift. He was such a sweet soul and I really enjoyed talking to him and was sad when our hour was up and we had to meet back up with the group.
We went back to the palace that night to see it lit up in beautiful bulbs of white light. Every Sunday for only 45 minutes, the entire palace is lit up with thousands of individual lights creating a completely different ambiance and image from what we had seen just an hour or so before. It could have been a castle straight out of a fairy tale. It was breathtaking and just completely magical. People admired the site, some up close to the fence, others relaxing on the grass, gazing up at its magnificent radiance. I learned a lot about my camera in those few moments as I tried to find a good way to capture it. While I never really could, I think I was surprisingly successful. What seemed like only moments later, the lights went out and long shadows cast over the palace.
We ate a late dinner at an organic restaurant in a neighborhood of Mysore where all the yoga teachers and practitioners stay. After a satisfying meal I flipped through their photography books as others used the restaurants free Wi-Fi. We stayed just up until closing before shifting to a nearby coffee shop, passing time until our train left late that night, until we would be back in Manipal. Back to reality (well, only sort of).