Ramblings of a Northerner

Saturday adventures

December 16th, 2006

We went off to Mysore Palace to see some cultural icons of India.  You’re not allowed to wear shoes in many areas including the palace and the many temples, so we walked around with a guide barefoot and listening.  We hopped on an elephant for a short ride around the palace grounds which was a fun silly thing and then headed off to a group of local temples up on a high mountain.  There is a lot of begging and constant payment for services (no matter how insignifcant) that really is tough to deal with if you happen to be a Canadian (as we’re not really used to the pressure sell).  I felt bad for the guy who was taking us around the site because he was just shelling out the money constantly (pay to keep our shoes, pay to get a coconut, pay to break the coconut open, pay to bless the coconut, pay to be blessed, pay to have a kid tell us the capital city of Canada).  In the end, I ended up donating money too, but I made the mistake of not paying attention to what I was giving the temple monks and instead of 50Rp (about $1.50), I gave them €50 (about $75.00) by accident.  But you can’t blame me, if you compare them, they look very similar in colour.  In the end, I should get massive karmic blessings for such a donation.  The day rounded out by a return home and me feeling like complete crap (either because of too much sun or because my stomach was finally succumbing); luckily the internet had started working again (it had stopped earlier in the week for me) and I quickly checked mail and went to bed.

Entry Filed under: Highlights, Life