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Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Hoysala temples of Belur and Halebid - Nov 9 2014


Leaving Mysore and heading towards Madikeri, we stopped on the way to visit the temples of Belur and Halebid in southern Karnataka. These two remarkable temples were built under the Hoysala Empire and are examples of the unique architecture of the time. We had a great luch at Vishnu Regency in Belur where we first tried (and fell in love with)a dish of mushroom manchurian

Chennakesava Temple in Belur

 














Monday, December 22, 2014

Street Parade in Mysore - Nov 7 2014

Arriving in Mysore we got off on the wrong foot when we almost fell for one of India's infamous scams. We were taken by our rickshaw driver to a natural oil shop where, after some sweet talk and chai, they tried to coerce us into buying overpriced essential oils. We barely escaped and recuperated instead in a nice flower, fruit and vegetable market.










woman rolling incense at the fishy natural oil shop  







at the market:










Mysore is also famous for its palace, and it is quite impressive inside but unfortunately no photos were allowed.








We were not too impressed with the city and were ready to call Mysore a disappointment just as we stumbled upon a wonderfully crazy parade on the street which made the visit worth it.






















unhappy peacocks
















children on a float, not too impressed with 
the festivities


sugar-cane juice

temple at Charamundi Hill

                                   
Karanji lake


I was also hoping to do some yoga in Mysore as it is known as the home of Ashtanga yoga, but as it turns out most places only offer long term courses and not drop-in classes. so that didn't happen. We left Mysore after a few days and set out to explore the temples of Belur and Halebid.

Sunday, December 14, 2014

Goan Sunsets - Nov 1 2014

Set on exploring the south of India, we decided to start our adventure at a familiar place and returned to Goa, relaxing on the cliff near the sweet lake in Arambol Beach in the wonderful Shree Sai Cottages (hut @ 450 Rs). We also liked the Outback and Gecko restaurants for a nice seaside dinner.

first(and very yummy)momos for this trip, 
good thing you can get Tibetan food everywhere 
in India!

our hut

our sea-view balcony on the cliff 









We continued down the coast to southern Palolem beach for a few more days of beach-bumming.


millions of tiny crab holes on the beach




the signature Goa "cow on the beach"




canoeing through the river to the sea