India is quite the religious country, so of course, there are lots of temples to visit, Gods to worship and traditions (aka holidays!) to follow. On the way back from Bandipur, we were stopping at Mysore Palace, since last time I went I felt a little cheated that I didn’t go inside the palace. Our driver insisted that on the way we also go to the top of Chamundi Hill to visit the Chamundeshwari Temple. I believe “Very famous. Very famous in Mysore” were his exact words, but I was a little groggy and the Titanic theme song was bumping (for the 58th time) so I nodded my assent and up and away we went.

The temple was packed and so was the surrounding 1 mile radius. It was more like a street market mixed with a carnival. Tons of activity and bustling with street vendors, worshipers, animals, beggars and people in general. We would have gone inside, but the line was at least 100 people deep. Still pretty from the outside though. When I got home I Googled the temple to find out that it was once the site of regular animal and HUMAN sacrifice! Umm… yikes. To take your mind off death now here are some happy photos. Here is a fun picture of a snack vendor. He was just scratching his head before I took this.

And here’s a shot of Mysore from the top of Chamundi Hill.

Bedtime for me now. Happy Dawali to you all!