Today we met the group at six thirty am for an early morning walk to hopefully spot some elephants. A walk it wasn't... More of a hike! We hiked up the mountain through bushes, over rocks, by waterfalls and to the edge of the hill.... And still didn't see and elephant. We saw plenty of elephant poo and a got a bit excited but alas... No elephant! However we saw lots of deers and birds and so on and the walk was an amazing start to the day! By eight ish we headed back for breakfast before hitting the road again.

We hit the road and headed to Mysore for a night, it was quite a drive but beautifully scenic and typically as we left the vastness of the reserve we drove past a wild elephant casually feeding on the side of the road. We all got excited and tried to get pics.. The bus couldn't stop too near to the elephant as he was alone which makes them a lot more temperamental. Apparently a group of elephants together are quite laid back but lone elephants can be quite hostile.

The drive took about four hours and we arrived just after twelve... We then went for a thali which was delicious. We booked into the hotel and had free time till about four pm so chilled out a little before we headed off to Somnathpur which is situated about thirty km out of Mysore. Here we visited the Kesava temple. It is situated on the left bank of the Cauvery river and was built by Somanatha Dandanayaka in 1268 AD. Somanatha Dandanayaka was an illustrious general of the Hoysala king Narasimha the third. It's very typical of the Hoysala style of architecture and stunning to see. It consisted of three temples with sacred inner sanctums and are ornately carved stone figurines on the outside. It was very similar to the karma sutra temples at Khajuraho but a lot less touristy. It was late afternoon when we arrived and so got some lovely pictures as the sun set behind the temple.... Even took a few jumping shots.

After a look around the temple we headed to a village nearby for a walk and it was such a pretty little place. The villagers were a lot more rich here and their houses were stunning and bright... Didn't stop the kids saying "hello pen" at every opportunity though. Steven saw his first bit of road kill and told all the girls not to look... Which obviously meant we all looked. There was a poor dog smeared across the road... Made even more gross by the fact a chicken had tried to take some meat home with him resulting in the poor things intestines being dragged across the road... The guys thought this was cool.

We the headed back to the hotel and went for a walk around the area to orientate ourselves before heading to bed....