To Mysore by Train

We took a day trip to Mysore by train.  It was fun and we saw a whole different view of things.

 Jerome has always wanted to take the train, but we had no idea that it was sleeper bunks like this. There are 6 bunks to each cubicle.  It was an eye-opener to how the trains work.

 Here is the sleeper cubicle.  The top and bottom bunks are there, and the middle bunk is now being used as a backrest.  If you look closely, you can see me in the mirror taking the picture.

 I look pretty tired here.  We were up at 4:30 to catch the train by 6 am, and even then we had to run through the station to get the train on time.

 The sun rises on another wonderful day in India.

 Uday with our driver, Shankar, at breakfast.

 The happy couple, travellers, getting ready to eat.

 This was breakfast consisting of igly (white rice pattie) which is torn off and dipped in the 2 sauces. And wada, the donut shape, which is eaten the same, torn and dipped.  The sauces were dahi (yogurt) and a spicy curry sauce.  It wasn't really hot, though. It was all good.  Then we had a small dish of rice pudding, sort of.  It was also good, I thought, but Jerome said it wasn't sweet enough.

 Here is the Restaurant where we ate breakfast, Sree Annapoorna.  Very nice inside, as well.

We hired an auto for the day.  Here is our driver, Shankar, and his rig.  Pretty nice, in good shape.

 We visited a Botanical Garden

The Aviary was cool.  So many pheasants and peafowl.

 I haven't been able to determine what kind of pheasant this might be.

 But look at how pretty he is when he struts his stuff!

A young peacock just growing his tail feathers.

Here is a lovely White Peacock.

 I wanted this peacock to spread his tail, but this is the best he would give me.  So beautiful, still!

The beauty just keeps on coming.

Namascar from Uday

So many places in Mysore are beautiful, like this tree lined street.

YSA FHE

We held a Bangalore 1st Branch Young Single Adult Family Home Evening at our apartment.

6 Young Single Adults came.

We ate Chicken Curry with plain rice and had Chocolate Chip Cookies for the Treat.

 We had a really fun time.  After dinner, we had a lesson on Jacob 5 and discussion on Indian culture vs. Church culture.  That was good.  Then we played "Do you love your neighbour".  So fun!

 In attendance was, from left to right, back row, Tony, Elder Wigg, Richard, Jennifer.

front row: Selvyn, Uday, Karthik, Sister Wigg

These are such great young people.  We are totally loving the Indian people in general but more especially the members of the Church.  They are generally humble and wanting to grow in the gospel, with sweet testimonies and tender hearts.

Seeing more in Bangalore

There is so much to see in Bangalore.  We spent a day in an auto just looking at places we have not yet seen around the city of Bangalore.  It was a fun day.

Outside the Shiva Hindu Temple in Bangalore on 100 Feet Road.

Every ribbon tied on represents a prayer that was spoken for someone.

We walked through long halls inside the caves.

Inside the caves, there was ice, slowly melting and dripping.

Shiva Temple was very interesting to see.

Side by side seeing the sights.

 I love this picture! 2 cultures...side by side...both so different...yet very similar in many ways.

The 3 of us squished into the back of an auto.  Thanks, Baskar, for taking us around for the day.
Uday was the guide and explained the many things we saw. He also advised and acted as buffer to things around us.

 Fabulous silks everywhere you look.

 One of the main shopping streets in this area of Bangalore.

We walked through small alleyways.

This shop was the most colorful that we saw.

The mango vender.  It's coming up on mango season and I'm eating one a day, at least.

 We had to walk around this cow on the sidewalk.

 The trees are massive and provide much needed shade.

 These are local Government Buildings. -new here

 These are the older Government Buildings.

Everywhere is greenery...oh, and autos.

We arrived at Sankey Tank and it was closed and locked to the public.
So Uday asked "is there a phone number we could call.  We just want to take some pictures for a few minutes?"  So he called, asked in what he called minimal Kannada and we were given permission to go inside.  That was amazing.  He said he was very polite and he said he had some foreigners here to take pictures. We were impressed.

 It was pretty inside the park.

 I love the lines and color.

 Uday spoke with the locals.

 The park is well tended and clean.

I think this is a Black Kite.  He's a beautiful bird and we watched several of them fly, land, drink and take off again.  It was fun.

 This looks like a goose house.

 Jerome and Uday conversing.  I love the colors and the lines and angles in this picture.

Ah, there's the smiles. Well, one smile.

Gorgeous.