Some sight seeing around Mysore today was scheduled. We visited the Golden Temple and a Giant statue of a cow called Nandi. With all the temples and spiritual icons, the trip can really make you think of religion at times, or at least has for me. It may be the lack of religious upbringing that has inspired the surge recently, but I think anyone could appreciate the mixture of spirituality. It can make it difficult to interact with people who are religious in a strict sense at times, but usually this is a rarity at least. I think mostly I do not like the restrictions in life choices that either having religion or not offers you, as so much of the world will be different from your view no matter your choice. Either way, there is no use worrying over such matters when I have wonderful opportunities available to me either in spite of or due to my life choices.
Mysore Palace is a beautiful place with incredibly ornate carved wood and stonework. Windows and stones pieced together in ornate patterns and religious icons along the walls and ceilings give the palace an epic feeling as you walk by icons of the royalty that stayed there. Unfortunately they don't allow cameras...so there's the front gate. We make our way to Nagarhole, which is a cute eco/cultural tourism spot near Bandipur Park. Butteflies abound and other wildlife as well. A cute skink even let itself get caught for a few minutes. We visited a nearby village. 
The people are friendly, but it is definitely impoverished with the children looking bloated and filthy. There is a school and many houses. Some of the families even pose for pictures for us with some of the animals wandering around. As night comes, we get a tribal dance from a local group that is quite lively and then some dinner. Most of the dinner is Indian but French fries and potato chips are a sight for sore eyes for lots of the group.
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