On this blog, it’s true that we’re almost always giving a positive vision of India. But of course, this crazy country is far from being a safe and smooth ride everyday and we have to struggle more than often. It’s sometimes pretty difficult to avoid the nervous breakdown… We knew that before choosing to settle down in Bangalore, so we try to keep some distance and zen with everything happening here.
It’s not exacly what this post is all about but this weekend wasn’t an easy one. We wanted to get out of Bangalore (even if we weren’t in full shape), so we picked Mysore, 150 kms away, a good and easy road-trip opportunity. We already went to Mysore 7 years ago but didn’t come back since we live in Bangalore.
After the usual traffic to exit Bangalore, we took a secondary road (Kannakapura) unfortunately full of crazy trucks and buses. We finally had a flat which is never a problem here but caused us a big fear as it happened suddenly while we were overtaking a truck at 80 kms/h and the bike was very difficult to handle… But the Royal Enfield is true to its reputation and pretty stable. We were finally able to stop on the side and we pushed it to the next “puncher” shop who did a great job pretty fast.
Finally, arriving in Mysore in late afternoon, we barely had time to visit the city before dark. By chance, we stumbled upon the light and sound show at the Palace. But our patience being limited we didn’t stay until the end of the show which was in Kannada language and pretty boring… Except that they were full lighting the palace at the end, something we, of course, missed. At least we had a few beers in a pretty nice ambiance at the Parklane Hotel in the evening with some friends passing by the city as well.
But the best was to come. Stopping next to the same old-fashioned hotel we stayed in 7 years ago, we decided to take a room there, Dasaprakash Hotel. Except this time, when we came back to sleep, cockroaches were all over the place and our bed infested with bedbugs. Cockroaches are not really a problem, at least they don’t bite… but bedbugs!? It was impossible to sleep. We finally changed of room at 2am. On top of that, one of us was also more and more sick. The rest of the night wasn’t better, the non-stop voices coming from the corridor weren’t helping neither.
So after a brief hesitation, we packed everything and were hitting the road on our way back at 11am, crashing miserably at Taco Bell in Bangalore for lunch… A hot shower, a siesta, a home-made soup and back to bed, finally, we’re not that bad at home!