Magnifiscent Mysore

I'm off to Mysore for the day. A guided tour that is to take me to ALL places in and around the city. A commando tour lol... I am the only foreigner in the bus and thus I become the local attraction.
My seat neighbour is an IT engineer in Bangalore but I really sympathise with my other neighbours, a young couple living in Saudi Arabia, Ali and Asma.
The bus in itself deserves a description: an old rusted bus with worn out leather seats racing at full speed (50km/h) on Karnataka's bumpy roads with all windows open...I'm in love with this bus!
As soon as we leave Bangalore, real India unfurls its green fields and small villages, its ox-carts and rice planters, its raws of palm trees.
The bus stops for breakfast at a small restaurant. I ask the waiter about what to eat since I have no idea about what an Indian breakfast looks like. I end up ordering a masala dosa like the other people at my table and a chai. So yummy!
The tour begins with Tipu Sultan's summer palace. Tipu, the tiger of Mysore, was very powerful and even won against the Brits...
I am soon followed by some kids, who ask me where I come from and what my name is. They follow me everywhere until I agree to take their picture. Mysore being a touristy place I didn't expect to be the only "gora" here...
Next stop Ranganathaswamy's gopuram(hindi temple). I know it's a cliche but I feel like I just entered Indiana Jones' Temple of Doom...Black statues wearing cloths and the priests with red marks on their foreheads and holding plates for puja. I feel so akward queuing with people waiting to perform their rites. Of course everyone is staring at me. Feeling out of place I leave but as soon as I am out street sellers jump on me as well as young beggars. This will happen a lot later on...
We then head towards St Philomena's church. That is an Indian style church where you can see a wax statue of Philomena surrounded by piles of Xmas tree's garlands...
At lunch I am invited by the young Saudi couple. I order my first thali, a famous dish in South India. Ali teaches me how to savour paan at the end of the meal (swallow the juice and throw away the leaf on th street lol!)
We head off to Amba Villas, Tipu Sultan's main palace. Massive gold thrones, paintings of the Sultan's family and British officials, a sun lounge in Art Nouveau style, a profusion of flashy colors and stuccoes. This palace belongs to an other world!
Then the bus takes us up to Chamundi Hills, where one can enjoy a panoramic view on Mysore. Our comando tour ends at Brindavan gardens, an eden that can easily compete with Versailles' gardens. Many Bollywood dance scenes have been shot in this place. Being a popular place, it is overcrowded,especially when night falls and the gardens are lit up.
I'm back in Bangalore in the middle of the night after a fantastic episode of bus to van switching...
A tiring but worth journey to the former capital of the Wodeyar dynasty!