We are staying at the Park Lane Hotel, which has air conditioning in the rooms, other mod cons, a competent restaurant, and a downtown location. After a series of long rides, many of us are in recovery mode.
Mysore is our last large center, and it is famous for silk and it's colourful markets. On the day we arrived, I set out with a big fellow rider to shop for silk. We started in the "government" silk factory store, which offered a pathetic retail experience, but gave us a sense of prices. Unenthused by their selection, we wandered around until we found a small clothing and materials department store full of Indian women. We wandered around until we were approached by a charming sales woman who spoke enough English to steer us to the right parts of the store, and show us sarees. She was joking with her friends as we sorted through many sarees and scarves to select some to buy. A fun time was had by all!
I found another interesting store the next day, where I bought more silk, a couple of shirts and some souvenirs.
We visited the Mysore palace in the morning, which was built on the design of a British architect in the early 1900s, with a mix of Indian and art deco influences. Some very beautiful halls. It reminded me of the party palace in Brighton, but a lot more showy. This palace demonstrated how to deliver a poor visitor experience, with sleeping guards, poor signage, dirty Plexiglas positioned to cause reflection issues, and the worst gift shop. It was a marked contrast to the delightful experience offered by the Amber Fort.
In the afternoon I visited the local crafts promotion center to see their collection, which was well displayed. I met a ceramic artist who was in the midst of producing an enormous quantity of delightful clay objects, and shook his hand, but he was taking a break, so I did not see him working.
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