Mysore masti

I jumped to the idea of visiting Mysore when we planned for our yearly trip to India this time(March,09).Even though I have been to Mysore as a kid before,I wanted to see the city again as a teenager.Therefore my dad agreed to me and he booked the hotel room through on line, from Singapore, as we planned to be there on a 2-day trip.We took the direct train from Madurai to Mysore and it was an overnight journey.The journey was pretty comfortable,and the train had neat and clean seats and toilets! India has developed much in these four years I thought.The hotel in which we booked our room was actually once a palace and now turned to be a hotel,Lalit Mahal.Its being maintained under the Government of India.I was just too exited to stay in a palace! Common, how many of us would have the opportunity! I though that I may have born as a Princess in my last birth and my mom thought that she was born as a queen, which is the reason why we got the chance to stay there! Who knows! We had our breakfast there on the next day morning,the food was served on silver eating utensils! The puri masala I had (which would barely be less than 20 Rupees in an outside restaurent)costs 135 Rupees there! But of course the price that we paid includes for the food being served on silver eating utensils and the ambiance! The dining hall was so big with beautiful Belgium glass paintings on the ceilings.Forget not about my First ever ride on a Chariot! I felt like real princess as I climbed up to sit comfortably! And it seems that the horse has appeared in the Tamil film "Muthu" which Rajnikanth rides upon!(he appears as a zamindar).And for those who plans on a tour to Mysore in future and want to stay at the Lilit Mahal, book your air/train tickets as soon as possible because it is said that the mahal is going to be rented out for a private company as a guest house!,dont miss the chance!

We visited the Mysore Mahal on the same day.I was aw struck by the architecture! Mesmerised by the beauty of the palace inside.It was so huge,in fact the biggest of all I have ever seen.The collection of the the King's and the queen's paintings,illustrations and the sculptures,no words to explain,it is something to be felt!

We also visited a couple of temples,which includes the famous Nandi (bull) temple in which we can spot one of the largest nandi's in the world.It is said to be about 15 feet in height! The serenity of the Chamundeeswari temple also enticed us.Just a two day trip to Mysore left me with an urge of wanting to see more in India! Especially the historic places of the Northern India. Cant wait for a trip! Indeed India is a country with rich culture and heritage! Proud to be a desi!

Bangkok, Thailand

Bangkok had the hustle-bustle of any other big city with lots and lots of tourists flocking up.It was a quick 2 hour flight from Singapore to Suvarnabhumi Airport,Bangkok.On day-1 we took one of these tuk-tuk's to visit the Grand Palace and a Buddha Temple which is said to be about 700 year old! The Buddha statue looked tremendous ,painted with gold.I was stunned for a second looking at it.I considered myself Lucky to have been having an opportunity to see that temple.I rewarded myself with some Thai Food for lunch,which tasted pretty good.But,I must say that the Thai food which I have had in Singapore and Malaysia so far is so much different from the authentic one.We roamed in and around the city for about 4 or 5 hours before we headed to a Whole sale shopping mall which was located just beside our Hotel,Grand Diamond.The mall was huge.Me and my sister were asked to shop around,whereas my parents were resting at one of these resting areas in the mall(they where too tired after walking up and down the mall for an hour or so).We were surprised to know that most of the shops and restaurants in Bangkok closes before 8 Pm! Having not buying much at the end of the day-1 shopping as the shops closed before we could finish seeing all ,we made use of the opportunity the next day where we headed to the mall around 4 Pm so that we would have more time to shop.We bought so much of stuffs including Dresses,Bikinis and some hair clips which would cost a bomb in Singapore in total! I came to a conclusion that Thailand is a good choice for shopping (especially for girls),and you need to bargain as much as possible to get best deals!
The Grand Palace
We also booked for a half day city tour and were taken to one of these pagoda's.It took 15 minutes to reach there by boat.At the end of our half day city tour we were taken to the floating market where by you can see vendors and purchasers floating in their small rowing boats,selling or buying goods.But I was disappointed to see that the Bangkok floating market is not as big and nice as the original Floating market which is located about 110 Kilo-Meters from Bangkok.We did not have time to visit that as it was said to be one or two hour hour journey from the city(but have planned to cover those places on our next trip!).Over all it was a nice and memorable trip to Thailand-The land of friendly people.

Caught this at a food stall in the Food court.

This is the gigantic 700 year old Buddha!