Mysore

On the way back to Bangalore we stopped off in Mysore to see the Palace. The Palace is lit up on a Sunday evening between 7-8pm. We are really sheltered from the real India in Bangalore. They are used to seeing westerners and we get pretty much no hassle.
Not so in Mysore.

As soon as we got out of the cars, we were surrounded by people trying to sell us stuff. Mysore is known for Sandalwood, so we had numerous boxes shoved under our noses along with the most annoying home-made musical instruments.
The happiest beggar I have ever seen shuffled over to one of Bas’ colleagues, James, shoving his open hands under his nose. When in ‘being hassled mode’ the only thing you can say is ‘No, Thank You’, which is exactly what James said even though the beggar was offering nothing.
We jumped in horse-drawn carts with very wobbly wheels, which took us round to the entrance of the palace. It was beautiful when lit up and there was a regimental brass band playing very colonial sounding music for the full hour.