Mysore arse

Why is my arse sore? Not a big night in Darlinghurst, just that I spent most of yesterday in a Tata Indicar having my arse hauled up and down the Bangalore-Mysore highway.




The day started out pretty well, passing such fantastic sights as India's premier fun park Wonder la, and Srirangapatnam - the place where the British defeated Tipu in 1799 to conquor Southern India.

Lots of temples, a catholic church, a wagon ride and a blessing from Lakshmi later, we arrived at the spectaluar Maharaja's palace - famous for corrupt puppet Taj and elephant shows. The assertion by my guides that the palace is 500 years old was only slightly contradicted by LP's assertion that the current building was completed in 1912.

It was only on the way home that things got... interesting. Every night hundreds of people visit Brindivan Gardens to see the illuminated fountains and - i discovered - even during monsoon season.

Being soaked through was a laugh until the Indicar became the Indiboat on the way back, and later still - when asked why he was driving at 40kph on an open highway - my driver Rajesh confessed that he hadn't slept in three days.

Thankfully he eventually agreed with me that stopping for a sleep was a good idea. But I am here to tell the TAC that the powernap nearly wasn't enough to save my life, with the rest of the 150km to Bangalore punctuated by lots of drifting to the verge and last moment braking for loaded trucks.

With a bit of luck and a lot of arse we at least made it back - in one piece - taking only 5.5 hours to do the two hour trip.