Hampi, India:2June07

The bus ride from My Sore to Hospet was terrible. Extremely bad. The Indian young guy beside of me were basically molesting me eventhough i pushed him away from time to time. He just leaned against me at my shoulder for the whole journey until i started to raise my voice at him and asked him to sleep properly!

The bus was very squeezed with 3 persons have to sit in the bench only fitted for two. It stopped from time to time to pick up more passengers and there were ashes dropped from the ceiling whenever the bus bumped onto something. The twelve hours night bus was the test of determination with the bus driver drove with the suicidal speed.

i rented a bicycle to travel around the ruins in Hampi. i like the ruins, impressive kind of workmanship. i tried to stay safe by sticked to other travellers or Indian families. Unfortunately, i still got my worst experience then.

The story goes by, two young Indian guys were following me at the temple area and i basically awared of that so i made sure that i sticked to others all the time. i thought they would give up then and at the branch road, i walked strayed from the family. To my horro then, i found these two guys just 100 meter away from me and they started to wear some kind of mask to cover their faces! So i started to scream as loud as i could. They kind of scared and walked away. Two foreigners heard me and walked with me to the main road. Then i joined an Indian family to walk back to the town.

i was really scared at that time then. i told the Indian family of what had happened and i found it both ridiculous and funny that, this was actually meant nothing to them! They were very excited to have a foreigner in their group and basically asking me to pose in their family photos! In some way, this has eased a bit of my fright and i really grateful to their kindness of walking with me

Cost: 560 Rs



Vittala Temple, a world heritage site. These outer "musical" pillars reverberate when tapped. I was followed and almost robbed on my 2km trek to this temple.



The wheels of this ornated stone chariot in the courtyard of Vittala Temple were once capable of turning.



The elephant stables of Royal Centre, where the state elephants once resided.

My Sore-Hospet, India: 1June07

Shopping, Thali ...

i generally find it difficult to find coffee or tea without milk in India. A lot of time, even if i asked for without milk, what was served will still be something with milk.

i would just do shopping for the day. i went into a shop and the shop keeper insisted that i am the first customer and i MUST buy something from her, or else there would be bad luck for the day to her. In the end, i bought a blouse which i didn't really want.

There are not many female shopkeepers (almost none) selling clothes over here. i found it a bit uncomfortable to buy female cloth from the male and i doubt they know anything about female fashion. But somehow i managed to buy an Indian kalwar salmeez then. The shopkeepers kept wanted to sell me the sparking bright yellow or orange color garments and i had to repeat and repeat to him that, i am not used to this kind of thing! i was glad that, in the end, i settled at something less bright in color.

Cost: 655 Rs



Sayyaji Rao Road, the main shopping street.



The 'usual' India street sight. The vehicle and animal carriage both on running on the same road.



The Thali. India is a heaven for vegetarian.

My Sore, India - 31May07

The Beauty and the "Ungly"

i got my first frightening experience here. A child beggar basically pulled me here and there to beg for money and she just didn't give up. When i finally got to the bus, i gave another child beggar some biscuit from the bus window. i did not expect that some other child beggar then boarded the bus to ask for my 'contribution' then. She also refused to give up until a local Indian girl took sympathy on me and 'chased' her away.

The second shock was the bus. i had saw this in Chennai but did not expect me to be in one of them. Those people pushed and pulled just to board the bus. i was trapped in the middle of them! i forced my way out and waited for another bus. But the experience of been in the middle of a group of people 'lost control' to just want to have a place in the bus was really frightening.

The third experience was a lady selling flower outside of the temple demanded Rs 2 for 'guarding' my selipar. i was kind of scared (the first two frigtening experiences were still fresh in my mind) but reluctant to pay her. i knew this is seriously just a few cents but this is also a kind of daylight robbery to me! It was on Chamundi Hill, one of the 8 most holy hills in South India and don't people supposed to act like holy in the ground of God? i told her firmly and with my stern face that, i would not pay you even 50 paise (i doubt she understands though) and walked away.

The reason that i got to My Sore was for the Maharaja Palace. This Aladdin-liked majestic structure was beautiful and astonishing. Photographing was not allowed inside but the outside looked equally fascinating.

Asking direction is a disaster anywhere in India. If you asked four persons, you will basically got all North , East, South and West directions. If you got only 3 directions, that was because there was no road at one of the direction. The Indian is so reluctant to say "i don't know" that they would just simply give you a direction. The roads were not well marked too. So it is basically not as easy to walk around.

Cost: 565 Rp



Sri Chamundeswari Temple at Chanmundi Hill. The temple is seven-storey or 40m high. i took a bus up there and descending by the 1000-plus steps.



View of My Sore town from the 1062m summit of Chamundi Hill.



The fantastic Maharaja's Palace of Mysore grces the city's skilyline. The interior of the palace is a kaleidoscope of stained glass, mirrors and gaudy color. Photography inside of the palace is not allowed but undoubtly, this is the most beautiful palace i have ever visited in India.

Chennai-My Sore, India: 30May07

Oh, Chennai ...

i visited the museum, high court and St George Fort. Nothing really impressive but wandering around the building of high court was kind of 'interesting'. i don't think one is allowed to do so in Malaysia or Singapore. The architectual of the buildings are beautiful. Somehow almost all buildings and train stations (you have to say railway station as nobody i asked would know what is train station) look like a mosque. There are a fair share of Muslim community.

i went to T. Nagar to shop, trying to buy a Indian Salwar Kalmeez. Tried a few but never managed to get any. Other look too colorful and too much "indian" to me. i would prefer something more plain and could just fit me without any extra alteration. All shops said, alteration could be done in just 20 minutes, which i am not sure i trust them. All shops are run by male and just every few have female shopkeeper. In a way, this is making me feel uncomfortable too.

There seems to have a lof of digging, construction and renovation all around the town. The traffic is almost like in Vietnam but less in motorbikes and more in cow carriage or cart. i had grabbed the orientation in the city now and i just followed to local for the short cut from Egmore train station to my guest house.

The central train station in Georgetown was like a picnic scene. One Indian girl told me that it is the two months summer holiday (April and May, ended on 4 June), so there are many people traveling around. People just put mat on the floor (some without) and sleep there while waiting for the train. i got a sleeper train to My Sore and shared my compartment with two families. This made me felt more released on regards to the safety.

Cost: SGD 26



The beautiful yet crowded Egmore Railway Station.



The 'picnic' scene at Central Railway Station.



The British-built buildings are now the Government Musuem.



This beautiful red structure, High Court, is said to be the largest judicial building in the world after the Courts London.