Mysore: Jan 15-17, 2013

Mysore is a busy city, with a lot of traffic and pollution, and after just 3 days my lungs hurt, even after wearing a scarf on my nose and mouth often. There are: the beautiful Maraja's Palace, a silk factory where you can walk around freely among the workers, sandal wood and essential oils, amazingly skilled carvers, nice markets selling garlands of flowers...and of course there's Ashtanga. Thank you!
You don't find it in the center, there are areas in the near suburbs where the yoga schools are located. I went to Mysore Mandala, one of the few that offers drop in classes, and it was amazing, for more details see The Yoga Trail, but I just want to share that the energy there and the teacher was able to gently slide me into poses that I thought to be two years behind... like full lotus! I couldn't stop looking at my feet in pure awe!! Ahah!
We wanted to rent bicycles and it was very challenging finding some because apparently they don't rent to tourists here: we had to go through the owner of the shop where I bought all my essential oils, btw the oils at the market are watered down with alcohol so it's better to buy them in a recommended shop.
We stayed at the Hotel RRR close to the Palace, $15, decent quality.They also have a very good local restaurant downstairs where they serve delicious veg talis on banana leaves, and where you can observe the technique used by the locals to eat with their hands, apparently it's standard in India... and definitely funny.