Mysuru (Mysore)

My plan to catch up writing did not work out, I definitely have to get faster at this. I promise to improve :). From now on I will also put the dates in the beginning so you have an idea how far behind I am :D.

Dec 17th - Dec 19th

On the next day I leave Kalpetta and take a 4 hour bus ride to Mysuru  (Mysore - so many cities have new names in India ...). Mysuru is mainly known for its palaces. On the way there the bus goes through a huge nature reserve. To minimise collisions with animals lots of speed bumps are integrated in the road. This is the main tool in India to enforce the speed limit and it's a lot of fun (not) if you sit in a public bus with bad suspension ;).

When I arrive I almost directly leave the hotel to roam in the city. I will again only stay 2 nights and want to make the most of it. On my way a Rikscha driver offers me to drive me around for a very cheap price and to show me three different "markets".  As usual I don't really trust it, but I don't want to walk again all day like in Kalpetta and decide to find out what the hitch is. The first market is a spice market and really small. It takes me 2-3 min to see it all. After that we drive to a "market" for incense and essential oils which is basically a shop. Later I will find out that this is the typical local scam. I don't mind though. I get a demonstration how incense sticks are made by hand and I get to try lots of the oils. I even get a head massage :). In the end I buy one oil (their strategy worked on me) which is way over market price but still so cheap that it doesn't really matter. I also meet a girl from China in th shop who works in Bangalore. She also ran into a Rikscha driver who made an offer she could not refuse ;). We plan to meet up later, which will not work out, at least not in Mysuru.

I decide to skip the last "market" and ask the Rikscha driver to drop me off a the Mysore Palace. It's an impressive Palace but the place is packed because it's weekend. It's the main attraction so I just have to push my way through.

After this I check out the local market called Devaraja, finally a huge and real market :). While I walk through the narrow alleys I suddenly hear some girls calling me from the back of one of the stores. I look closer and discover 5 girls hanging out in the back. 4 from Germany and 1 from France. It turns out to be the local meeting point for volunteers in this area. I join them and we talk about our experiences and this is also how I find out about the "scam", since some of them also went through it. The indian shop owner Adil also tells me about it and in the process sells me another 2 oils for 1/3 of the price of the other shop. Here I only get a free tee though. I wonder if this is the real price now or just a more advanced scam :). It doesn't really mater because I enjoy this situation.

On the next morning I get up early to walk up the 1000 stairs to Chamundi hills. It's really cold in the morning especially with the wind on the Rikscha but it's the best time to walk up :). On the way up people put candles and holy paint on each step, I wonder if they do it for all 1000. One guy sings a mantra on each step and some just use this as a good workout. On the top the sun and a great view awaits me and I line up to get into the temple. On the way down I encounter lots of monkeys who get fed by a guy up here.

Later that day I am bored and once again visit the local zoo which once again is a super green and cool oasis inside the city. Still I probably should try to not support zoos. It's the first time I see an ape almost human like and that totally reminds me of the movie Planet of the apes. Almost a little bit scary.

A more funny encounter is again with monkeys but this time not behind a fence. This one monkey stole a bag from a woman and especially searched through it for the mobile phone and took it hostage.

In the evening I again go to the palace which gets litten up every Sunday evening and afterwards I check out a ferry close by. It's super crowded but also interesting to see how it's done in India.

On the next day it's time to pack my bags and move on to the 3rd largest city of India.

Wayanad (Kalpetta)

To visit Wayanad in the north of Kerala was highly recommended by a couple of people. That's why I stopped travelling up north by the coast and travel land inwards.
I have a front row seat on the bus to the city Kalpetta which is the headquarters of the wayanad district. I have a nice view driving up the mountains but the horn of the bus is so annoying that I have to put in my earphones :). The higher we get the more monkey's are on the side of the road. The bus fights it's way up and through the hairpin curves.

After two hours we arrive in Kalpetta and I go directly to my Hotel. I am looking forward to privacy, a hot shower and a comfortable bed ... so amazing :D

On this first day I don't do much and just walk around a little bit. I bump into a local monkey family and some long abandoned vehicles which was fun and a nice sight.

On the street I meet a French woman who directly asks me if I know a good place to exchange money. That's just a big topic right now and all the money exchanges use the situation to rip you off so you get very bad rates. Luckily thanks to the miracle ATM in Calicut I am set for a while and especially don't need to exchange Euro. Later I meet her again in the hotel, which is a funny coincidence.

The next day I take the bus to a neighbouring town and from there a Rikscha to the starting point of the hike up the Chembra peak, which is the highest mountain in this area with 2050 meters. The road there is extremely bad, in between the Rikscha has to drive so slow that walking would be faster :) The ticket to walk up to the heart shaped lake (it's not possible to go up all the way to the peak) costs 1500 rupees for foreigners. It's a little over 20 EUR which is incredible much money for india. I am here now and I want to go up so I don't really have a choice :). It includes your own personal guide who will hike with you the whole way (According to him it takes 2 hours total for foreigners and 4 hours for Indians. Seems like Indians are usually not so good in shape. Now I feel it's even more unfair that foreigners pay more ;)). I don't know exactly why a guide is required but I guess that's how they make sure you stay on the path and keep the garbage to yourself. It's a nice walk up, but everybody who has seen the Alps won't be impressed. On the way I meet some tourists from the States and from Australia. It's a rare sight because I haven't seen many foreigners in this area.

The more interesting way is the way down. Instead of taking the Rikscha I walk down through the tea plantations. It is really pretty and does not even cost an entry fee ;). Again I meet some local monkey family's and this time I am prepared with bananas.

(zoom in to see some peppers)

The guide suggested to also visit the waterfalls nearby. I don't have anything else planned so I go for it. Again I take the bus and then walk up to the Soochipara Waterfalls. They are not that big but it is nice to take a bath and shower after the long walks. Again monkeys but this time at least one of them is really cocky and almost steals my backpack. I knew this could happen but they are so cute and were really well behaved so far, so I let my guard down :).

On my way back I catch a private "bus", which seems to be common in this area, because the public bus does not drive so often. It's usually Jeeps that just drive back and forth. I sit in the back and although there is space left new people seem to prefer the front. In the end there are 3 people + driver in der front 😂.

On the next day I leave again for the next stop on the touristic path east.