Changes are good :)

I am learning that the only way to travel through India is by being completely flexible with my plans and accepting the inevitable changes. Even if you have every detail planned out, things will change, and plans will not go as expected. For example, distances that are super short to drive in the USA take hours (or days) to drive here, because of heavy traffic, super low speed limits, and cows in the road (or elephants, as I have found out). The government even forces people to slow down on the highways by putting up multiple speed bumps and baricades, so that vehicles are required to carefully go over and around them. I've had several plans fall through or change because it takes too long to get from one place to another. However, something else I've learned is that if you accept the changes and enjoy the journey, sometimes you will even up with something even better than you planned.

Matt and I had a few plans fall through so we ended up coming to Mysore (a completely different state than we were going to visit). But the journey to get here was full of incredible sites and surprises! We took a long-distance bus through the Western Ghats - a steep and dramatic mountain range, covered in dense jungles and tea plantations. We had the best seats on the bus, so we had a perfect view and it felt like we were on a jungle safari. The road was very steep and windy, with huge vehicles flying past each other around hairpin switchbacks. We saw groups of monkeys hanging out on the side of the road, playing and eating bananas! A few hours later the road went through a wildlife reserve, and we saw wild elephants walking around!

Here in Mysore the people are more pushy and less friendly, but there is a huge palace that lights up at night, so it's very beautiful. Walking around the palace and gardens, it's easy to imagine the great sultan that once lived there, parading around in long robes and with caravans of elephants. I wish I could have seen India as it was three hundred years ago!

I'm off to explore the city, so namaste!