Road To Mysore

This travelling to Mysore business...I was too exhausted to be excited. I woke up at 3AM yesterday to catch the 7AM flight from Manila to Hong Kong. I arrived in my hotel in Mumbai at around 11PM. What a long day spent mostly on airplanes and the different airports. My flight went from Manila to Hong Kong(5 hour stopover) to Bangkok(1 hour stopover) and then to Mumbai (about 2 hours to clear immigration and baggage claim. I'm glad that leg is over.

My 5 hour stopover in Hong Kong was eased by the fact that I met two fellow travellers at the airport. I was laying on a couch close by when I overheard the conversation of a male Sri Lankan Canadian and a female caucasian Canadian. The Sri Lankan was talking about the whole matchmaking process he went through when he married his wife. The whole courtship took place mostly by phone and that there was no sex involved before the wedding. The Canadian kept laughing and couldn't get over the fact that they had no sex prior to wedding because she had just had sex about 48 hours ago with a man she may never see again. The whole conversation was so amusing. As I sat up from the couch, I told both of them I didn't mean to evesdrop on there conversation. They asked me to join them and I did. I was bored to death and I had 3 hours to kill. Erin the female Canadian was heading for New Zealand to go biking and Riyaz was on his way to Sri Lanka to join his wife. It was nice to talk to someone and I learned a lot about both of them. I met two really cool people that day.

I thought spending time in the Philippines will soften the blow of going to India. Vincent(practices with Noah & Kimberly) another Filipino whose been to Mysore said that nothing can prepare you for India, not even the Philippines. He was right. I was shocked when I first stepped out of Mumbai International Airport. Everything looked so old and dark. Most of the cars are so tiny and old. The poverty didn't bother me. We have a lot of that in the Philippines. I think I've adopted to the weather though. They say in the Lonely Planet Guide that most traveller skip Mumbai and go directly to the other more pleasant cities. I can see why. I think I've gotten over the shock and I'm ready to move on.

I stayed in the Kumaria Presidency last night. The Lonely Planet guide classified it as a "mid range hotel" (I'd hate to stay in a hotel classfied as "budget") and I think it's considered a three star hotel in India. I think it's more of a 1 1/2 star hotel. It smelled so old. I paid 2,666 ruppees for my room (about 60 US dollars). I didn't really mind staying in that hotel(I've been in worst)
but for $60 I expected a little more.

I am now in the Mumbai Domestic Airport waiting for my flight to Bangalore. Blogging is such a good way to pass the time. I should be boarding in about 15 minutes. The next time I blog, I'll be in Mysore :)