The calf and the autorickshaw

The next morning we set out at 7am to Halelbid. You might have noticed the pattern of early mornings, and I realise this is slightly out of character for me... However, Edd and I have managed to come to India in the height of summer, and not only that, but it is the hottest summer they have had for many years. In fact it is so unprecedentedly hot that some states have banned all cooking between 6am and 6pm in the little shanty towns and slums that surround most of the larger towns and cities. This is due to the amount of accidental fires there have been in these areas. Fortunately despite quite a low hotel budget- I promise we are not  staying in the slums... 

Hallebid is the sister temple of Belur, these temples are considered unique in south India and were built by the Hoysalas in the twelfth century. Hallebid turned out to be even more impressive that Belur, with an amazing sacred bull  carving guarding the outside. (It was lying down, but I think Cobbles would have appreciated the diminutive size of the legs- maybe his second cousin a few times removed?)

We then had a very tasty dosa (pancake filled with spicy potato) from one of the street food venders on corner of the station, before hopping back into a taxi and heading for Mysore.

We had decided we couldn't quite face the four hour non air conditioned journey back to Mysore, and were running a little short of time to see Hallebid so had hired a taxi for the day. Very profligate expenditure of money, but we did see a little bit more of India from it. My favourite sight was the calf happily travelling with its head looking out from the back of a 'tuk tuk'. Not quite sure where it was heading, but it didn't look too concerned about life, and looked quite accustomed to this mode of transport. I was slightly less keen on the taxi drivers adrenalin pumping overtaking moves. This eventually led to him clipping the back bumper of a very smart looking Hyundai i20 and a confusing hour wait on the side of the road where lots of people animatedly exchanged views on the situation.

We eventually reached Mysore for lunch and headed off for another excellent banana leaf lunch at hotel RRR. 

It was then time for the next adventure and we negotiated the Mysore junction train station and hopped onto an overnight train to the north of Karnataka state- Badami.

The overnight train  was surprisingly comfortable. Edd was very pleased with himself as he scored an enormous victory against me in boxes, and soon forgot I had thrashed at '21'.