Gem Shop: I wanted to find a blue sapphire ring and Sasha was looking for a Pearl ring – will bring us much luck ;) Our first stop proved to be fruitless as the store owner was obviously trying to cheat us and I had a feeling the gems he was showing us were fake…Our second stop was spot on – the owner was great, showed us all the different quality gems, different selections, and even the imitation gems for each stone we were seeking. I picked out a very small gem, and he is going to have a silver ring made for me the way I want! SCORE!!! That is one of the amazing things about this place – you get to make what you want with the materials you want at very inexpensive prices….
Palm Reading: We headed into the city to get our palms read – it was a really fun experience – and so much more enjoyable to do it with Sasha. The guy was lovely, and much of what he said seemed plausible – if you believe in that kind of thing – I can’t say I am a firm believer but enjoyed the experience for sure….And I’ve always been a bit of a sucker for astrology – its just so much fun ;)
Market: Since we were already in the city we opted to track down a Himalaya store b/c Sasha and I both wanted to get some muscle and joint cream – I call the stuff ‘crack cream’ – it is the most amazing thing I’ve ever found in my life for muscle aches and pains!!! Afterwards we walked around the market for a bit – I ended up buying a few more bangles b/c, well, they are fun – and at a rupee a pop – rock it!
Metropole: After a long day of errands and a bit of ‘in your face’ vendors from the market – Sasha and I opted to unwind a bit at the Metropole…We were starving – however, I forgot that even the Metropole doesn’t start serving food til 7pm and we got there at 6pm – so we decided to have a glass of wine instead and just sit and chat for a while…We then moved on to King’s Kourt for one more glass of wine – I wanted to show her my favorite spots in town where I like to eat and hang out.
Green Leaf: Sasha has fallen in love with the Green Leaf restaurant – so after two glasses of wine we made way there to grab some much needed grub. We ordered some rice, naan, and Gobi – YUMMY!
High Octane: Keeping the pace of the last few days since Sasha’s arrival – we decided to end this wonderful day with a bit of dancing – help with zee digestion and rock out to some good tunes. We got to the club around 9:15pm and stayed til about 11pm when we both realized that our full tanks had completely run dry…We had such a great time though – didn’t know if we’d stay when we first arrived b/c they were playing house music and I’m not usually a fan – but the DJ was rockin out – thus we did too!
BED: When we got home, we somehow managed to change, wash our faces and brush our teeth before literally FALLING into bed and PASSING OUT! We most certainly got good nights sleep!
But waking up this morning proved to be most difficult…Since Sasha actually had led primary class with me today (as she’s doing Saraswati’s class her practice time is usually different than mine – but today we got to practice together which was really nice) we both got up a little before 4am to shower and get ourselves to the shala for 5am class. It was so painful – don’t know if it was because of all the running around we did yesterday – more likely all the dancing we did last night – but we both felt every single muscle in our bodies….
After practice we stopped at the coconut stand for some rehydration…I had my usual two coconuts and Sasha opted to have one today too ;) She was so cute – she really enjoyed the flavor of the coconut juice and when she finished drinking it she started digging into the coconut with her finger to retrieve the gungy – when I looked over and saw her sticking her little finger in the coconut I couldn’t help but laugh – I asked her if she wanted ‘coconut guru’ to open the coconut for her with his machete and make the gungy retrieval process a little easier. She smiled really big, and handed over her coconut…
When we got back to the flat we make some breakfast, showered, and headed to Ganesh’s to meet our driver – we were off to Bylakuppe today! It’s about 1 ½ hours from Mysore – a well known Tibetan settlement that is famed for it’s gorgeous Golden temple.
When we arrived at the monastery both Sasha and I had to pee something fierce!! As we headed to the pay to use toilet to relieve our bladders I told Sasha that I’d brought tissues for her to use b/c she gets really grossed out by the concept of ‘drip drying’ – she is really quite hysterical – she will refuse to use the restroom when she really needs to b/c there is no toilet paper ;) A few days ago she told me she didn’t realize toilet paper was a luxury! I smiled inside and explained to her I must really be acclimated here – not only am I not bothered if there is no TP, but I am actually so used to peeing the bottom of my pant leg that I simply pass it off as a ‘aim error’ realizing it will soon dry and all is good ;) - Sasha was so elated I’d remembered to bring tissues she acted as though it were her birthday!!
I must admit that Sasha and I were both lacking the necessary energy and enthusiasm to fully enjoy the trip to Bylakuppe – think the last four days have really caught up with us today…
Despite our total lack of energy, we both enjoyed the Golden temple very much – it is an extremely beautiful and immensely peaceful place…It did seem rather quiet there today – not sure if it’s b/c its Sunday, or because it was lunchtime. Very few tourists and few monks in the temples – did see many in passing as they headed from their compound to eat lunch - and my all time favorite were the three monks in a rickshaw on a cell phone ;)
Enjoy the pictures of the paintings inside the golden temple - while the pictures themselves do not do these paintings justice, I hope you can get a feel for their beauty!
