It was a very long journey from Hampi to Mysore, after 13 hours on the road we finally arrived to be greeted by India's monsoon rain. However our hotel here is lovely, we even received a goodie bag, which was very exciting. It's a beautiful moment when you realise the happiness that can be found in getting a surprise gift of toothpaste and a comb. Mysore is a fairly small city, there is not too much to see, but throughout my stay I began to really love this place.

After a leisurely start to the day the following morning; we head to the Palace, the crowning glory of this city. Compared to the other monuments I have visited in India this is one of the most spectacular. This is mainly due to it being such a recent construction; this has meant it has not been left to fall into disrepair, the sorry state of many older Indian treasures. The walls of the palace still hold their beautiful colours, the painting are superb examples of the amazing talent of Indian painters and the artefacts on show hold that extravagant royal touch.

After the splendours of the palace, its time to visit the local markets. You would not believe the amazing colours that seem to come alive here. There are numerous vivid coloured powders, all imaginable varieties of fruit and vegetables and beautiful necklaces of flowers everywhere. The markets are buzzing with people coming and going, buying and selling, chatting and debating. All people seem to congregate here, from the beggars to the Buddhist monks, Muslims to the odd westerner.

Upon meeting a friendly local man, suddenly we were whisked away from the market and into remote kind of shop. In the entrance a woman was sitting on the floor making incense sticks, a process I can admit, I had never really thought about before. Further into the store we were greeted by an array of oils on offer. After various trails and now smelling of all manor of things, I purchased some Lotus oil and returned to the streets.

Our last adventure of the day was to a local supermarket, the first of its kind I have seen in India, it was a joy you can only appreciate when you have been away from normality for a while. When you are mainly eating curry and rice, the excitement of biscuits and crisps brings a surprising amount of happiness.