A day to remember and no mistake! Whilst Rach finished off the trip to Mysore with a hotel facial, Gaz hit the pool. It was then all hands on deck to pack and get ready for the trip to Sivasanudram. We left the Windflower in our own A/C car and were soon zooming (much faster this time without Boris) the two hours to our next destination. Unfortunately, this driver was none too good at directions and proceeded to drive us to the first hotel he could find in Sivasanudram. Looking totally confused that this was not, as we had told him, the Georgia Sunshine Village, he got some directions (finally) and we were soon at the homestay.
We were greeted warmly by Leonard and his wife Georgia, but there was a look of puzzlement in their eyes. We soon found out why; we were supposed to have arrived yesterday! Ah. We had somehow managed to stay an extra day in Mysore and lost track of which day it was… long holidays do this to you! We felt terrible that we’d let the owners down, but this paled in comparison to the feeling we got when we realised that we would not be able to stay as our overnight train from Bangalore to Hospet was…this evening. Aaaargh! It was another 4 hours at least by car and we had just arrived to a luxurious country retreat that we would have to abandon.
And so onto Bangalore. The car journey was long and dull (but a good sunset with hundreds of fruit bats in the air). The traffic in the city centre was incredible; millions of cars all looking for the same two inches of road, which our driver (through poor use of clutch pedal and overuse of loud horn) managed to fill every time.
A number of people in our carriage seemed to have missed the train (strange, that), so there was additional space. We managed to secure seats in the next compartment to our own as a family was bedding down in our original area. Although the lower bunks were occupied at around midnight, we were safely tucked up in the – slightly small– top bunks, thanking our lucky stars we were not still in Bangalore! The rock of the train as it rolled north-east lulled us to sleep. Well, Gaz anyway…
We were greeted warmly by Leonard and his wife Georgia, but there was a look of puzzlement in their eyes. We soon found out why; we were supposed to have arrived yesterday! Ah. We had somehow managed to stay an extra day in Mysore and lost track of which day it was… long holidays do this to you! We felt terrible that we’d let the owners down, but this paled in comparison to the feeling we got when we realised that we would not be able to stay as our overnight train from Bangalore to Hospet was…this evening. Aaaargh! It was another 4 hours at least by car and we had just arrived to a luxurious country retreat that we would have to abandon. However, things worked out. Leonard spent a good half hour berating the Windflower for overcharging us on the next leg of the taxi journey, and his wife was more than happy for us to have lunch, walk in the sweeping open countryside surrounding the retreat, swim in the pool, have tea and coffee, play carom, and read our books amongst their 10 dachshunds. We eventually left at 5.30pm feeling we had definitely had a good taste of the area, despite not actually staying there.
And so onto Bangalore. The car journey was long and dull (but a good sunset with hundreds of fruit bats in the air). The traffic in the city centre was incredible; millions of cars all looking for the same two inches of road, which our driver (through poor use of clutch pedal and overuse of loud horn) managed to fill every time.
We eventually pulled up at the main railway station at 8.30pm, so it wasn’t as long as we thought. Our train was due to leave at 10.30pm, so we busied ourselves buying snacks and drinks and then sitting and waiting. At 9.00pm we felt the creeping fingers of concern when the 10.30pm train did not appear on the boards, but a train looking remarkably like the Hampi Express was due to depart any second. An elbow-slinging rush to the help desk (locals bouncing off like carom counters) confirmed the suspicions: our train had been rescheduled an hour EARLY and was departing…NOW! Cue a Monty Python style rush through the station with mounds of heavy bags (more bounced locals and uncoordinated running on our part) to our platform, then a crazed dash along the train, jumping on and off, until we found our carriage. We boarded with about two minutes to spare until the train moved slowly away. Stress! We couldn’t believe we had made it! Since when do trains depart an hour early??????!
A number of people in our carriage seemed to have missed the train (strange, that), so there was additional space. We managed to secure seats in the next compartment to our own as a family was bedding down in our original area. Although the lower bunks were occupied at around midnight, we were safely tucked up in the – slightly small– top bunks, thanking our lucky stars we were not still in Bangalore! The rock of the train as it rolled north-east lulled us to sleep. Well, Gaz anyway… 
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