Days 1 & 2 - Friday 10th & Saturday 11th Nov

Submitted by Phoebe Mortimer on November 12, 2006 - 18:49.

As I write this it’s about 11.30pm on our second night at The Green Hotel in Mysore. They’ve told us they’re easing us into what will become a relentless schedule – certainly it’s been relaxed so far. We landed at Bangalore on Friday morning, after minimal amounts of sleep on the plane. My first glimpse of India, the airport was utilitarian looking and could have been anywhere. We spent half and hour or more waiting for bags – curiously some suitcases were tightly wrapped in cling film, as though an enormous spider was lurking by the carousel and occasionally pouncing and rapidly encasing a luggage item ready for it to eat later on.

Anyway... we went out into the morning twilight where our bags were strapped onto the roof of two mini buses. Inside the buses were padded and dark and I was desperate to sleep. But as we set off, I pulled the curtain back and stared avidly at the world outside with my mouth hanging open. I saw people; people in dhotis, people sitting on the curb, people patting cows, people on mopeds, bikes, rickshaws, cars all conversing with a ‘peep peep’ or ‘piddle paddle piddle paddle’ or a ‘hawwnk’. There were dogs trotting around with an air of purpose, lots of adverts, moustaches, whole houses painted red and yellow courtesy of Nescafe. I was struck by the buzzards. There were hundreds of them, milling about like pigeons on roof tops, flying around like crows, hovering a mile up in the sky.

After a couple of hours I was jolted awake outside the Green Hotel – it must have been about 9am and dishevelled, I staggered from the bus hoping someone would help me sleepwalk to bed. Instead the smiling hotel staff dressed in green suits and green gold edged saris, ushered us inside the hotel where they adorned us with strings of blossoms, red roses and rose geranium leaves, put henna on our foreheads and handed us fresh green coconuts with straws stuck in them to revive us from our stupors. The smell was beautiful, the room was cool and dark and in an instant all memory of the long journey melted away. We checked into our rooms soothed and slept for a few hours. read more | add new comment | india