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Hotel breakfast: dosa, idli, sambar,
spicy donut (and more), yum. |
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This post - and a few others (posted or "to come") - cover day-by-day activities during our India visit.] [
Properly-spelled names of folks we visited also "to come."]
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As always - click on any photo to enlarge all.]
Wednesday 30 May 2018
Oh wow that Indian-focused breakfast buffet at Le Ruchi! What a great way to start the day (seriously outperforming the U.S. free-breakfast hotels).
First order of business – after days of fun-but-busy – was a drive out to a lovely spa – a place Dharma and Janu had visited previously – our group included four customers excited for the two-person massage-plus treatment, while Sreedhar, Vihaan and I instead walked the beautiful grounds and then waited a bit in a nice patio area. The massagees, if that’s a word, reported complete satisfaction.
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| L: jackfruit (on spa grounds) looks kind of amazing; top R, those who were not massaged; bottom R, those who were. |
This was our first driving-around (passengering-around?) in Mysore – not nearly as hectic as Bangalore (city is approximately 1/10th the size). We stop by JSS Hospital – where Dharma learned her profession – it was nice to walk into the older section, now largely unused, where she had trained – certainly lots of memories for her. We had really wanted to see these kinds of places.
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JSS Hospital buildings (upper L = new; upper R and lower L are from the "old" section where Dharma attended); quite
the fancy rangoli here (in addition to seeing lovely versions at many of the houses we visited, we also learn that
Dharma and Janu had participated in a rangoli competition way back when (held in a Bangalore park)). |
Back to Le Ruchi; Janu and Vihaan remain there and the rest of us head into Mysore proper.
Interior view at Mysore Palace:
via GIPHY
We had very much wanted to tour the Mysore Palace – Mysore seems a place with an older, longer, and imperial, history – at least relative to the more upstart Bangalore – and much of this history is centered on the palace (even if most of the current building is relatively newer construction following a 19th century fire). The grounds, the palace – highly interesting throughout – we also encountered a huge crowd of visitors, more than our planners had expected for a mid-week visit. But that rather added to the effect!
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| Mysore Palace impressed us. |
I’m not much of a barefoot-walker – but this is another place where we were learning to leave our shoes with the concessionaire and get used to lots of barefoot walking – guess what, it wasn’t a problem at all. When we paused to look at things, we occasionally were (very politely) asked to pose in selfies or other photos. We much enjoyed the Palace tour, and had plans to return in the evening.
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| Mysore Palace scenes . . . |
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| . . . we felt kind of popular, or something, at the Palace |
We stop in St. Philomena’s Cathedral – quite interesting to see the dual-inscriptions in English and Hindi (or was it Kannada?); but they were pretty diligent about preventing folks from taking photos inside; big renovation of exterior; thought of Grandma Philomena Kohlhaas Bormann.
Sreedhar next had the idea to take us to a large downtown market – it shows up on the map as Devaraja Market – we loved this place and would happily have spent lots more time had it been available. The sights and sounds of these markets – the variety of vendors and goods – see the photos, it’s hard to describe. Little moments like watching folks string tiny jasmine blossoms. Sampled yet another variety of those marvelous small bananas. Seemed like it wanted to rain, but it held off.
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| market scenes (photos generally courtesy PJ) . . . |
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| . . . vendor . . . |
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| . . . flower section = unbelievably colorful . . . |
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| . . . and how about these colors! (among other things, these can be used for rangoli I think) |
We then work our way back to the Palace area – in the evening there is a light show with a description of Mysore’s history. We arrive and first visit the temple on or adjacent to the Palace grounds.
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| The temple on the Mysore Palace grounds. |
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| lovely setting as evening falls (Mysore Palace grounds) |
Evening weather is perfect. The presentation (due to Dharma’s translation) is informative for us – we learn the connection with the Chamundi Hills, for example (mythical demon killed by the goddess for which the hills (and temple there) are named).
via GIPHY
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| gifts, recognitions, smiles |
Now it’s getting rather late, but we have the good fortune to have another wondrous family dinner – the warm hospitality,
so much great food; one of the aunties gently chided PJ (who was doing her best but simply wasn’t able to eat in the quantities desired by our hosts) by matter-of-factly stating that PJ “was a very poor eater” – this was a funny moment.
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| these folks (lotsa personality)! |
They kept bringing seconds; when Sreedhar joined us at table (after we were largely finished), he became the sole target of their largesse and it was funny to watch his fending-off techniques. Thoughtful ceremonies and gifts for us; these gatherings couldn’t have been nicer.
Then back to Le Ruchi.
Thursday 31 May 2018
We began the day by visiting the neighborhood where Dharma’s family had lived for some period of years; one of their neighbors (and a close friend of Dharma’s mom, and the entire family) had invited us for breakfast. Great food and conversation with these folks; her husband an Indian “folklorist” so that was also interesting.
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| visiting in the old neighborhood . . . |
We pick up Janu and Vihaan and head to the Chamundi Hills – this is the setting where one can take 1000 steps up the hill to the main temple; we opt to drive to the top and walk down. Weather good but it could feel a little warm when out of the breeze, so the downhill idea was wise. Sreedhar arranged for us to bypass the main line into the temple – a big crowd here as well – we understand this to be a famous Hindu temple, shrine portion dates back to 12th century perhaps, I read that the tower portion (impressive in its own right) was added quite a bit later.
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L: Chamundi Hills steps (some pilgrims dab color on each of the 1000 steps (visible with zoom);
top R: fine views including trees-in-bloom; bottom R, monkeys await at bottom |
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| Vihaan in front of Nandi statue (supposedly carved from single piece of granite) |
200 steps down from the top there is a separate temple for Nandi – huge granite statue – from here Chris, Dharma, Janu and I continued walking the remaining 800 steps while the others found our driver and met us. At the bottom of the stairs – the monkeys gather! So we finally get to see them up-close. Which was fun though I can’t say that I entirely trust them. Dharma says they are aggressive banana-snatchers which seems about right.
Monkey business:
via GIPHY
Back to the hotel for another tremendous lunch; CPG and I and Sreedhar sample a bit of Kingfisher with our meal after the heat of the day. We are continuously impressed by both the staff and the food quality.
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| Brindavan Gardens were absolutely gorgeous on this evening. |
In late afternoon Sreedhar has lined up an outing to the KRS Dam and adjacent Brindavan Gardens. He explains background of this project (noted
in Chapter 33 of this book). Heavy rainfall as we drive over – which threatened our little outing (and we debate buying umbrellas from the vendors upon arrival). But instead the rain moves away, leaving in its wake a pretty amazing sky as the sun sets. As we stroll in the gardens, the light is pretty much perfectly lovely. And the rain had dropped the temps a bit – felt like room temperature, just right.
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| clockwise from top R: KRS dam; Brindavan Gardens; CD cover for would-be band (or something) |
We settle in on the patio portion of the Elephant Bar at the Royal Orchid Hotel – right on the grounds – giving us a glorious view of the gardens and the sunset and the dam. Tea and Kingfisher and conversation – and just enjoying the view and being together here – it was a great spot. We didn’t make it to what we understand is a pretty impressive evening light show on the dam itself – but that attraction drew most of the crowd away from the hotel area, allowing us to pretty much have the place to ourselves.
via GIPHY
We walk the area a bit more; the vendors with postcards and whatnot are persistent as we get to the parking area (certainly we looked like promising marks) but PJ has mastered the Kannada word to rebuff ‘em; then we are driven back to the hotel. En route: a quick stop at a drug store – CPG complaining about needing allergy medication or something.
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| "drugstore" looked a little different than US-style |
Then: an entirely enjoyable late dinner at our favorite restaurant, complete with the amazing service to which we’ve become accustomed or addicted.
Friday 1 June 2018
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PJ's doorman-buddy with daily flower decoration; final Le Ruchi meal,
including pose with that amazing wait-staff. |
One last go-round with Le Ruchi’s wonderful breakfast; then we check out and get organized for a pretty full day: visiting three separate temples, then driving back to Bangalore and our OJ Plex.
One of the best parts of this fine day: just looking around as we drove. Will write more about that separately.
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| this figure was pretty amazing . . . |
Temple #1 was the Gommateshwara statue dedicated to Bahubali – Jain imagery – we get there (in the town of Shravanbelagola) after about two hours of driving pretty much straight north from Mysore (so we now were about straight west of Bangalore). We leave our shoes with the concessionaire and walk barefoot up the 600 steps (carved out of the rock) (but well-smoothed after over 1,000 years of steady use by pilgrims) to the hilltop – we enter the temple with no idea of what we’ve come to see – and I can report that the statue (57 feet tall) is pretty stunning. (Wikipedia tells me it was voted #1 of the “seven wonders of India” in a 2007 online poll, for whatever that’s worth.) It was interesting to see Jain worshippers in their yellow dress; also interesting to watch as they pour different colors down from atop the statue. Great views from the hilltop; then we descend back to the staging area. Sreedhar treats us to coconut water from the onsite vendor; he and PJ also try some jackfruit. Pilgrims arrive here from around India, for example a family from Rajasthan asked us to pose for a picture with them.
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| scenes from temple #1 . . . |
via GIPHY
Now we travel west for about an hour to a very nice restaurant just outside Hassan (Hoysala Village Resort) – this was a good find, very good lunch plus location and timing worked for our somewhat crowded itinerary.
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| temple #2 as we approach main entrance |
Next we proceed pretty much north for a half hour or so – to reach the entirely amazing Hoysaleshwara Temple in Halebidu. Sreedhar arranges a guide – he does a very nice job of explaining the background – and we need to read more about all this – here is a 12th century temple that was damaged by Muslim raiders in its first couple hundred years – it’s interesting to see where some of the exterior carving was hacked at in those days – but overall this looked largely intact.
via GIPHY
The amount of detailed carving is rather unbelievable – exterior almost moreso than the interior (though it was pretty dark inside, especially as clouds gathered). Raindrops started falling as our tour continued, and eventually it was a full downpour – which was rather interesting, quite atmospheric, to watch from the interior of the temple. This spot was lovely throughout and we would happily spend more time here.
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CPG gets this interior image while the rain falls outside and we visitors wait inside
(is this the best (most artistic) image of the entire trip?) |
Rain continues. A group of Indian visitors, or pilgrims, had a tarp; they had asked PJ to pose with them; then they invite our group to run with them to the parking lot beneath the tarp (we grab shoes but no reason to put them back on!) – folks on the outside hold the tarp taut – this works pretty well and seemed like a so-friendly, quintessentially Indian way of handling a small challenge – a delightful moment, nonstop laughing and chatter as we hurry to the parking area.
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| Janu captured this delightful image of the flight-beneath-the-tarp |
We next drive through a full-fledged rainstorm to the final temple for the day – about a half hour to the west – this is the Belur Chennakeshava Temple – perhaps most impressive of all for the day, which is saying a lot. Our driver does a nice job of dealing with the rain amidst the variety of vehicles on the road.
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| and how about this image (courtesy PJ) as our driver navigates through the rain en route to temple #3 |
We wait in the car for about 15 minutes or so, hoping for a break in the downpour. That doesn’t happen so we (all but Sreedhar and Vihaan and the driver) jump out of the car and run for it – never had bothered with shoes when leaving Halebidu so could skip that process here as well. The rain does let up a bit, but we don’t have a good opportunity to explore the temple’s exterior. The carving on the interior is even more delicate than the work at Halebidu. Also built in 12th century; also damaged in wars; dedicated to Shiva.
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| temple #3 was dramatic from any angle |
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| interior carving was ridiculously fine |
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| inside temple #3 |
Final segments of our journey have been westward, or away from Bangalore – meaning the return drive is 3.5 or four hours – off we go. Back seat crew even more heroic than before – during the downpour our driver had the presence of mind to move the luggage from the roof rack into the rear of the vehicle – good for our bags, not so good for those who were further cramped by them. Occasional rain in the early going – but we make very good time – one stop for a snack – we are happy to be back at OJ Plex! We settle in; order carry-in food; and much enjoy eating and talking-talking about all we’ve seen during an amazing day.
