Mysore-Srirangapatna-Somnathpur

December 23- December 25
December is a season for holidays..and to ensure that you avail most of the pending Annual leaves as well :-). With just 3 days with us, we decided not to travel too far from Blore. So the destination we chose was Mysore...rather Srirangapatna. Reached the place in 2 hrs with a lunch break on the way at Kamat Yatrinivas. We chose to stay at Amblee Resort. Due to Christmas rush, they had only duplex A/C rooms with them. Costed us Rs.1800/-!! A cost we had to pay for deciding on a last minute trip. Same evening, we left for KRS. Somehow managed to reach the dam in midst of traffic. After reaching the parking area we realised why we had so much of traffic on the way...there were more than 1000 vehicles parked in the parking lot!! 23rd being a Sunday, we had a huuuuuggggee crowd, so much that we had a second thought on entering KRS. The mad rush and thought of stampede, made us head back to our resort. But then on the way we decided to do some sight seeing/ window shopping in Mysore city. Went to the central market area (dont know the name of the area..sorry). Got to know that there was a mall there called Fab City. Must say, they had good stuff. Got to see lot of things which you wont normally see in Blore stores. Interestingly the clothes there were also almost half the price you would see in a Blore store! So although we had decided not to do any shopping, it was difficult for us resist..hehe I am not going to mention the amount we finally ended up spending. It was 9.30P.M. by the time we browsed through the whole store. Had Hot Open Dosa & a glass of fresh Orange juice at a joint close to 'Bombay tiffins' restaurant.

at Amblee

Next morning we checked out of Amblee and went to Mysore Zoo. Daughter had a good time watching all the animals & birds. Best was the Giraffe- three of them. It was lunch time for the Giraffes. A caretaker was walking around with a bucket of water. He put about 3-4 mugs of water on each Giraffe. Then got a Big branch with lots of leaves near a pole which had a rope in it. And just the way a flag gets hoisted, we saw the branch going up and getting munched by the Giraffes. When one branch was getting raised, the other Giraffe was patiently waiting for its turn. One of them also kissed the caretaker. It was 3.00P.M. by the time we reached the exit of the Zoo.

at White Orchid

The next challenge was to search for a place to stay for the night. After a few calls to the hotels & resorts in and around Mysore/ Srirangapatna we managed to get a place at White Orchids Resort (Bombay Tiffany's group- Veg). Room rent costed us Rs.1400/-. Food was excellent and the rates were pretty reasonable.

Same evening we left for Chamundi Betta (Chamundi Hills). The Chamundeshwari temple closes at 8.00P.M., Lovely drive..the Ghats gave a good view of the whole Mysore city and the Mysore Palace. We went in for the special darshan (Rs.100), and went in straight from the front gate, instead of the long 20 min queue. Devi was dressed beautifully in a green saree. Since photographs were not allowed inside the temple we couldnt take one!


Next morning around 11.30 we left for Somnathpur temple, about 30 kms from Srirangapatna. A temple which is dedicated to Lord Keshava, has a similar structure like Belur Halebidu.
at Somnathpur


Have to mention this: Outside the temple there was a guy selling cut cucumber and Pineapple. We bought a full Pineapple for Rs.15/-. He cut it for us, put some khara and salt and gave it to us in a piece of paper. On our way back to the resort, we relished the pineapple. It was sooo tasty..slurp slurp, that in the city it would be difficult to find such juicy pineapple.
By the way we also had Papaya fruit in Mysore city near Hotel Viceroy. This guy was like any other vendor selling cut Papaya. This guy managed to grab my attention when I saw a guy coming by scooter, stopping by, walking to this vendor with a plastic cover. The vendor puts in all the papaya skin into the cover. Pulls out a fresh Papaya, skins it, wraps it with a newsppaper and gives it to this man. Then there was this urge to try a piece of Papaya. We picked up three pieces from this guy for Rs.5/- each with khara & salt. This was the sweetest Papaya I have ever tasted. Point to be noted mylord...I dont usually eat Papaya. By the time we moved away from the vendor, the cart was empty. Within 10 mins we had seen the full cart getting empty.

Anyways, after the Somnathpur drive we checked out of White Orchid and started on our way back to Blore. Reached home in 2 1/2 hrs time. Hey, forgot to mention, this was our first long drive in my new i10...smooth.