Brittney's visit

So what better way to finish my Indian adventures, than with another trip!

Ben's cousin, Brittney had spent the month of May working at a University fairly close to Delhi and then added a week on to her trip to come and see us. On her list of things to see; tea, wildlife and markets. So we had a lovely little trip fairly similar to one we did with my parents, but some slightly different places.

We started a little slowly as en route to Mysore we stopped off to see the new house that our driver is having built, it turned out to be a bit out of the way. We managed some of the main sights in Mysore though. We went to Tipu's summer palace and Gumbaz (his tomb) and then headed up the Chamundi hills to see the Chamundeshwari temple. We walked from the Nandi statue about half way up the hill so we could stop and admire the lovely view over Mysore you get on the way up. We also took the chance for Brittney to try sugar cane juice and sweet lime juice.

Time was marching on when we arrived in Mysore, so after a late lunch we checked into our hotel and headed to the palace. Needless to say, they still haven't sorted out the sound and light show so it wasn't on again. We managed to see the lit up palace from the gate which is still quite pretty, but not quite the same.

At Mysore Palace

A pre-dinner cocktail

The following morning we were picked up by our driver who we had hired for the next few days. We decided to make a couple of stops in Mysore before heading off on our next adventure. First up, the Government run silk factory. We were expecting a shop with a bit of a demonstration in the back, but we thought it would be worth a visit anyway. We were very pleasantly surprised. It turned out to be the factory proper and was really fascinating. They had hundreds of looms all in big halls and a couple of huge warping machines. No photos I'm afraid as cameras weren't allowed. Next stop was the Sandalwood soap factory, or rather the sandalwood oil factory - the oil was then sent to the Bangalore factory to be made in to soap and various other things. It was not quite as interesting as the silk, mainly because they were not currently operating. They make the oil when an order comes in from Bangalore, so only operate about half the time and generally for a few months each time. Worth a visit nonetheless.

From there we moved drove to Wayanad which is a mountainous region just over the border into Kerala. Although popular with domestic tourists as a weekend destination from Bangalore, it is not on the main tourist trail. We didn't have very much idea of what kind of thing there was to do, apart from take in the lovely views. Our hotel was on a coffee plantation with a tea plantation across the hill so we planned for some relaxation and a bit of exploring.

We arrived at about 4pm, just before the heavens opened and as all the attractions around were closing so had a chilled out evening drinking tea on our balcony which had a fantastic view overlooking the Chembra peak, the highest mountain in the area, followed by a wander through the coffee plantation.

Beautiful view from our balcony

Playing in the coffee plantation

The following day we started early with our free tea plantation walk before breakfast. We were hoping it would be an informative tour of the plantation, but it turned out to be just what they said - a walk, I suspect our guide might have told us quite a lot, if he had been able to speak English, but it was not to be!

Joining the ladies on their way to work in the tea plantation

After breakfast we set off on a sightseeing tour. First up a lake that we can't remember the name of! We had a nice little stroll around it though and then spent quite some time in the shop. Next stop, a view point overlooking the valley. The rain was coming so we made it a quick one, although not quite quick enough! We managed not to get too wet though and moved on to our last stop before lunch: Chembra peak. There were 2 options, climbing the peak and a short walk to a viewpoint. Given that time was ticking on we decided to go for the viewpoint option. That meant we missed the heart-shaped lake at the top, but the views were pretty stunning all the same. We took the car about 1/2 way up the mountain and then had about a 1.5km walk to a small observation tower.

The view from Chembra peak

From there we continued on to see Edakkal caves. These are one of the main sights of Wayanad and apart from the fact that there is some ancient writing in them, we didn't really know much about them!

We arrived at the car park at about 3pm and were pointed in the right direction. The rain was on the way so we walked up the hill at quite a pace. It turned out to be a pretty long way up to the entrance (the booth bit, not the cave entrance), about a km at least. We then got hurried up more steps; 'the rain is coming', 'the rain is coming'! It seemed to be about half way up the mountain when we finally got the cave. Anyway, we made it with about 5 mins to look at the cave and head back down again. It turned out all the hurry was not just because they were wanting to close up but mainly because the day before they had had a 'lightening related incident'!

And then the rain came with vengeance as we ran down the metal staircase down the mountain in the thunderstorm. Suddenly we were a little nervous and went down at an even faster pace than we went up.

So the cave contains Petroglyphs (pictorial writings) from 3 different eras, the oldest may date back about 8000 years. It was an interesting stop, but there wasn't a huge amount more to know about them. It would have been a nice wander up to them and some good views from the caves in better weather.

The Petroglyphs in Edakkal caves

After getting pretty soggy on the way down we heading back to the hotel for a shower and some chilling out before heading out for dinner (unfortunately without Brittney who wasn't feeling well). The following day we drove back to Nagarhole national park and booked into our accommodation. We went for another one of these government places that do a package including food and safaris and a video etc. It borders Bandipur which we went to with my parents but this time the lodge was on the banks of the Kabini river. The evening safari was by jeep again, but the morning one was by boat on the river. 

Sadly, we missed out on tigers again. The groups who stayed longer and did the boat in the evening and saw one but it was around an inaccessible corner from us. Nevermind! We did see lots of elephants and deer (including Samba deer) and a Gaur (too briefly to get a picture), which is an Indian Bison. We also saw lots of birds and a couple of crocodiles on the river and a few other things. 

Nice view over the river as the light faded

Elephant dinner time (although I think that might be all the time!)

A quick coracle ride before breakfast

After a lovely stay at the safari lodge we headed back to Mysore where our driver picked us up. We did a quick trip to the Mysore sand museum, which had some amazing sculptures. Something of an improvement on the one I went to in Weston-super-mare in the UK (and a 10th of the price!).

Mysore sand museum

And then finally, to make the most of our trip we visited the Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary which is close to Mysore, but on the way back to Bangalore. It was a nice trip, although I have to say pretty expensive for foreigners! The number of crocodiles we saw up close on the boat trip was a little alarming, although I guess if they were really short of meat they would have filled up on the many boat loads that had gone before us!

On Brittney's last day with us it we had another trip to the ISKON temple so that both Ben and Brittney could see it (see my previous blog on Tim and Adam's visit, called Goan adventures). We then discovered another microbrewery at Orion Mall and finally delivered Brittney to the airport. She fly back to Delhi and then the next morning to the UK for a week before finally heading back to the States. I took a direct flight the next day from Bangalore and met her at Heathrow!

And there ended a fantastic experience of a year in India!

I'm sure we'll be back for the odd holiday. There are certainly some places we didn't get to visit that I will be back for.