Shortly after we arrived in Chennai, one of the officers who was leaving shared a list of her family's favorite trips in India. Near the top of the list was the Kabini River Lodge, a safari lodge about two hours outside of Mysore. The best time to view elephants is March and April. Perfect for Johnny's spring break! We've been excited about this trip for months, and it didn't disappoint.
Mysore is much smaller than Chennai and a little difficult to get to, since it has a small airport that is not currently served by any airlines. So we took a seven-hour train ride. Ack! It went surprisingly well, actually. Nothing at all like our last India train adventure. The worst part of the trip was our sprint through the famed Chennai Central (Gateway to the South) to catch the early-morning Shatabdi Express. A little miscalculation in driving time, and we nearly missed the train. I've dashed through airports before, but a crowded Indian train station is something else again.
Once we were aboard, though, it was a nice, relaxing journey through the South Indian countryside. There was no sleeper car, so we had tickets in first class AC (meaning air conditioned). It was like an airplane, but with a lot more room to maneuver and a lot more to see out the windows.
Evie took this photo. The guy standing in the aisle would come by with drinks or food every so often. I love the old ladies in the front! See, Mom. People do just walk around in saris all the time.
The kids did really well on the trip, though I don't know why anyone thinks it's a good idea to serve rice and dal or tomato soup on a moving train. Johnny devoured two Percy Jackson books, and Evie and Samuel colored, listened to stories and played with toys. If only trains were faster (and crossed oceans), I'd pick the rails over air travel any time.
We arrived in Mysore in the early afternoon and met our driver right outside the train station. Just the station was a good clue that Mysore is nothing like Chennai (well ... they're both in South India). The station was small, clean and NOT crowded. The city felt "small town." There were wide boulevards and lots of parks and trees. It felt like someone had actually sat down and planned a city. Chennai is big and bustling and sort of feels like a whole bunch of smaller cities got smushed together to make a metropolis. The population of the Chennai metro area is approaching 10 million. Mysore's population is less than a million, so its streets are cleaner and not nearly as congested as Chennai's. The language is different, too, so instead of Tamil lettering everywhere we saw Kannada.
Mysore is known for palaces, silk production and sandalwood. In fact, the hotel we stayed in was once a palace. As we were driving from the train station, I saw a beautiful building up on a hill and said, "Wow! What's that place?" John said, "I think that might be where we're staying." True! I couldn't believe it. Here's a view from the parking lot.
Samuel immediately fell in love with this carved elephant standing in the lobby.
In fact, Samuel's new favorite word is "elephant." He yelled it for the whole week. "El-e-phant! El-e-phant!"
The hotel was big and old and full of former splendor and rickety antiques. It was awesome. After we checked in, the kids did some chillin' on the big bed.
Our room reminded me a lot of the Chateau de Viques, this great old French villa we stayed in while in Normandy 8 years ago with John's family. (I highly recommend that place.) It had a similar sense of lived-in history to it. Our room in Mysore had old prints of tiger hunts on the walls.
Present-day Mysore really plays up its royal past. It was once the seat of the Kingdom of Mysore, which became a princely state under the British in 1799. They actually held off the British for quite a long time, through four Anglo-Mysore wars. The palace we stayed in is the Lalitha Mahal, which the Maharaja of Mysore had built to house important visitors (like the Viceroy of India). There was a wedding going on while we were there, so things were even more fancied up than usual, with a red carpet leading up to the door and a decorated entryway. I took this photo of the main entrance from our balcony.
We got to the hotel in the late afternoon, so we just spent the rest of the day swimming and relaxing. After we got the kids to bed, I did a little exploring.
The part the kids liked best (aside from the pool) was the 100-year-old elevator. It has a seat inside!
The restaurant is a former ballroom.
Aside from the wedding guests, there weren't a whole lot of people around, because this is the off season for Mysore. The city gets most of its visitors during Dasara, which is a 10-day festival marking goddess Durga's defeat of the demon Mahishasura. Evie was mesmerized by a stone relief of that battle during our first visit to Mahabalipuram. Mahishasura was supposed to have ruled the area around Mysore before Durga defeated him.
The point is, there were very few guests at the Lalitha Palace. So few, in fact, that on our second morning they said they weren't going to have a breakfast buffet and let us order whatever we wanted from the regular menu. Yummy.
Coming soon: The children turn into demons! We tour the palace and two factories anyway! Stay tuned.
Mysore is much smaller than Chennai and a little difficult to get to, since it has a small airport that is not currently served by any airlines. So we took a seven-hour train ride. Ack! It went surprisingly well, actually. Nothing at all like our last India train adventure. The worst part of the trip was our sprint through the famed Chennai Central (Gateway to the South) to catch the early-morning Shatabdi Express. A little miscalculation in driving time, and we nearly missed the train. I've dashed through airports before, but a crowded Indian train station is something else again.
Once we were aboard, though, it was a nice, relaxing journey through the South Indian countryside. There was no sleeper car, so we had tickets in first class AC (meaning air conditioned). It was like an airplane, but with a lot more room to maneuver and a lot more to see out the windows.
Evie took this photo. The guy standing in the aisle would come by with drinks or food every so often. I love the old ladies in the front! See, Mom. People do just walk around in saris all the time.
The kids did really well on the trip, though I don't know why anyone thinks it's a good idea to serve rice and dal or tomato soup on a moving train. Johnny devoured two Percy Jackson books, and Evie and Samuel colored, listened to stories and played with toys. If only trains were faster (and crossed oceans), I'd pick the rails over air travel any time.
We arrived in Mysore in the early afternoon and met our driver right outside the train station. Just the station was a good clue that Mysore is nothing like Chennai (well ... they're both in South India). The station was small, clean and NOT crowded. The city felt "small town." There were wide boulevards and lots of parks and trees. It felt like someone had actually sat down and planned a city. Chennai is big and bustling and sort of feels like a whole bunch of smaller cities got smushed together to make a metropolis. The population of the Chennai metro area is approaching 10 million. Mysore's population is less than a million, so its streets are cleaner and not nearly as congested as Chennai's. The language is different, too, so instead of Tamil lettering everywhere we saw Kannada.
Mysore is known for palaces, silk production and sandalwood. In fact, the hotel we stayed in was once a palace. As we were driving from the train station, I saw a beautiful building up on a hill and said, "Wow! What's that place?" John said, "I think that might be where we're staying." True! I couldn't believe it. Here's a view from the parking lot.
Samuel immediately fell in love with this carved elephant standing in the lobby.
In fact, Samuel's new favorite word is "elephant." He yelled it for the whole week. "El-e-phant! El-e-phant!"
The hotel was big and old and full of former splendor and rickety antiques. It was awesome. After we checked in, the kids did some chillin' on the big bed.
Our room reminded me a lot of the Chateau de Viques, this great old French villa we stayed in while in Normandy 8 years ago with John's family. (I highly recommend that place.) It had a similar sense of lived-in history to it. Our room in Mysore had old prints of tiger hunts on the walls.
Present-day Mysore really plays up its royal past. It was once the seat of the Kingdom of Mysore, which became a princely state under the British in 1799. They actually held off the British for quite a long time, through four Anglo-Mysore wars. The palace we stayed in is the Lalitha Mahal, which the Maharaja of Mysore had built to house important visitors (like the Viceroy of India). There was a wedding going on while we were there, so things were even more fancied up than usual, with a red carpet leading up to the door and a decorated entryway. I took this photo of the main entrance from our balcony.
We got to the hotel in the late afternoon, so we just spent the rest of the day swimming and relaxing. After we got the kids to bed, I did a little exploring.
 |
| This is looking back toward our room. We had a view of the Palace of Mysore, which is lit up at night, but our lousy camera couldn't get a good image. |
 |
| Looking down the grand staircase |
 |
| Life-size portrait of the Maharaja |
 |
| Looking down to the main lobby |
The restaurant is a former ballroom.
Aside from the wedding guests, there weren't a whole lot of people around, because this is the off season for Mysore. The city gets most of its visitors during Dasara, which is a 10-day festival marking goddess Durga's defeat of the demon Mahishasura. Evie was mesmerized by a stone relief of that battle during our first visit to Mahabalipuram. Mahishasura was supposed to have ruled the area around Mysore before Durga defeated him.
The point is, there were very few guests at the Lalitha Palace. So few, in fact, that on our second morning they said they weren't going to have a breakfast buffet and let us order whatever we wanted from the regular menu. Yummy.
Coming soon: The children turn into demons! We tour the palace and two factories anyway! Stay tuned.
No comments:
Post a Comment