MYSORE

I thanked the young receptionist for all his help during my four day stay in Mysore and left the hotel. After then, I met with the two old local guy, who stood me a chai(tea) on the previous evening. They wished me a warm 'Good luck!' for the next days of my travel. I stopped by the local restaurant, where I had enjoyed almost all my meals during my visit; and waited for a few minutes for the young marketing executives of GlaxoSmithKline, whom I had met in the same place and had talked for long hours, in order to say good-bye. Unfortunately their meeting seemed to be not ended. I thanked the owner of the restaurant and all his crew for the delicious food they had served me, and more importantly for the friendly care I had received.

I walked for a few minutes, to Hotel Shilpashri Bar&Restaurant, in order to have a beer on its terrace before getting into the Thrissur bus. I was going back to Kerala, to a town near to Cochin, to wait for my Singapore flight. When the 650 ml Kingfisher came on the table, it was nearly dark. Beer was cold, at the right temperature as I liked. After I had my first sup, I realized that the full moon was rising at the back of an old building, just in the direction I was sitting and looking at as if I had been waiting for it. I put a big smile on my face. It was the best full moon I had in the last four months. I wasn't in a small village, set around a lake; I wasn't up on the Himalayas and I wasn't lying on the beaches of Goa. But this city of Karnataka state had hosted me very well for the last 4 days: a home with a terrace:), a local restaurant where I met lots of good people, a beautiful Sunday evening in the highlighted ground of Maharaja's Palace... Added with the positive finalization of my Southeast Asia travel plans. Just what I had needed, Mysore gave me.


Hotel Ghayathri


Maharaja's Palace

I got drunk by all these thoughts, by the cold beer I had and by the fact that I would be flying to Singapore on the 24th of January without having any kind of information and plan for the days ahead of me. I had to be in Cochin Airport at 22:00 on January 24; that was the only thing I knew, that was all I needed to know.