Mysore

We hopped into a car to go from Mamallapurum to Chennai (or Madras) to catch an overnight train to Mysore. Peter said that there wasn't much to see in Chennai, and based on the traffic that we saw, I doubt I would have liked it much anyways. The traffic made rush hour in Toronto seem like a fun thing to do. I was bored so I pulled my camera out and got some great abstract shots...I'll post them on my next internet stop (maybe).

It turns out that we arrived in Mysore in the middle of the Dasora festival...an annual thing for the city, something on the order of a christmas like celebrations. People dress up their cars and autorickshaws and the city is done up. It also means that a lot of people came into the city for the occasion and it's really busy !

The main attraction here is the Maharaja Palace. It's really fancy and the decorations are impressive. The maharaja is only a figurehead now and the palace is a museum/tourist attraction. We had to fight through some crowds to get in and a guide showed us around and explained some of the features, but it was really too busy to appreciate fully.

Along with the festival is a parade that goes through...sort of like a santa clause parade. A few floats go by and an army band, some elephants, and the like. There is also a show at the local arena...sort of a make shift structure that holds a log of people. We went there to see the rehearsal for the show...the highlight is a motorcycle stunt show put on by the police motorcycle unit. The people here get a kick out of it, but we've been exposed to motorcross and the like so I didn't find it all that exciting.

Today we sat by the road and watched the parade go by. I found it really entertaining...there were some very comical scenes. I'll upload the pictures next time I sit down to publish...