“If you haven’t been to Mysore you just haven’t seen South India”

A quote from lonely planet I read on the comparatively fast sleeper train for a weekend trip to Mysore this Easter. I would argue South India is full of many treasures and Mysore is just one of them but being a ‘medium sized city’ it had the right ratio of tourist attractions to tourists yet doesn't have the extravagantly crazy rush that bigger cities like Chennai engulf you with.

The most impressive attraction was Mysore Palace which you are unfortunately not allowed your camera inside of as I found out form a tall Indian man with a gun. I didn’t argue. 

The design of many buildings in Mysore is actually quite impressive. Aboveis the exterior of an Art Gallery we visited.

We made friends with a couple of Indians who showed us some of Mysore’s more hidden secrets on their bikes. Mysore is also renowned for its silk exports so the first place they took us to was a silk factory weaving threads of silk and gold into expensive Sarees on machines over 100 years old.

The second place was a friend’s house who owned an incense business. It smelt divine. An old woman sat on the floor rolling the strong scented incense round thin bamboo sticks and I asked if I could photograph her. She rolls 6000-8000 sticks every day.

The next day en route to the market we got caught up by some mendi artists working on the street. It took about 45 minutes for 2 men to decorate all 4 of our arms but as you can see it was well worth the wait, I even got them to write my name on my palm.

The market was just like any other Indian market just a lot bigger. Here is one vegetable seller; 12 tomatoes for 10Rs (12.5p).

For sale here is Kollam (that’s how it’s pronounced not sure about spelling). Coloured powder that in Tamil Nadu is used to make intricate beautiful patterns outside your house to ward off bad omen (and make your doorstep look lovely). In North India and perhaps Karnataka it is used in Holi festival where they throw coloured powder at each other. Unfortunately I missed out on all this fun but there is so much to see, do and experience in India you couldn’t possibly do it all in one year volunteering.