Ever since I visited the Trivandrum Zoo, I've been looking for a chance to take the little one to the Mysore Zoo. Finally, after almost a year of pestering the husband, one night when we had B's friend and family came home for a stay over, I resorted to cribbing to them about the pending Mysore Zoo trip and tada! The plan was finalised then and there to go the coming weekend. As luck would have it, just before the weekend, the government announced the demonetisation of 500 and 1000 rupee note. After much doubts and contemplation, since none of us had much useable notes in our purse, we decided to proceed with the plan anyway. And thus, on saturday morning, we started our road trip to Mysore with whatever cash we had and hoping most of the places would accept debit cards.
As we reached Bidadi, we decided to stop for breakfast at one of the roadside Thatte Idli places. The husband cribbed as he wanted Masala Dosa from A2B and as to how we are spending whatever little cash we had even before we started the trip. Nevertheless, we didn't pay heed to him - how can one pass by Bidadi without having Thatte Idli! And I must say, stopping here was one of the best decisions that we made. The Thatte Idli, here, was the best I've had in my life, as soft as it can be, melting in my mouth and left us wanting more. Sadly, the men declined our request for not wanting to spend whatever money we had with us.
We reached Mysore Zoo by around 10:30 in the morning. Thankfully, the zoo accepts card payment and soon we got our entry tickets. The men decided it was best to walk rather than take the buggy (and of course, later regretted it!). It's a good 5 Km walk but since everyone was excited about it, we decided to do it. Our walk started by watching birds, pheasants, flamingos and peacocks.
The tigers and the lions were just waking up from their nap.
We saw monkeys fighting with each other and hanging on the branches. We also saw the lion tailed macaques and baboons.
Then of course, the Zebra was there and I was excited as much as the little ones.
We also saw wolfs, jackals and bears.
And, of course, the elephants too.
We took a walk through the snake park and I was enchanted by the pythons, anacondas and vipers. Surprisingly, this time the little boy too was way too excited to see these!
Our zoo visit came to an end with these beauties who stole our hearts. We spent quite a few minutes just standing and watching them much away the little twigs and leaves, and clapping with excitement!
It was a quite long and hectic walk and the two little boys were tired by the end of it, but we did have a good time here. There is a cafeteria inside and we stopped by for refreshments, but again the place accepted only cash (barring the 500 and 1000 notes) and we restricted our order to basic refreshments. The lush greenery provided the much needed shade while we walked and of course, it was a treat to the eyes as well.
The Mysore Zoo is far better when compared to the Bannarghetta National Park, and of course one of the best I've seen, but if you ask me, I might rank it just slightly below the Trivandrum Zoo. But don't go by my words here, since this might be completely biased coming from a true Trivandrum lover! Yet, again, I feel, Trivandrum Zoo is a tad bit more greener!
By the time we were out of the Zoo, it was time for lunch. We were in a mood to try out one of the popular eat outs in Mysore and that led us to Gayatri Tiffin Room. After a couple of wrong turns and difficulty in finding the place, we finally reached there only to find that the place was closed! We decided to start our journey back to Bangalore and have lunch on the way when we passed by Hotel RRR (yet another popular restaurant). But here again, they accepted only cash and not card and hence we decided to give it a miss.
Thus, with much disappointment we started our journey back. A couple of kilometres into the ride, we came across Pujari's Fishland and decided to give it a try. The place is huge with ample parking space and a big hall that is converted into a restaurant. I loved the ambience and decor here. A look into the menu and I realised it's Mangalorean cuisine at its best however, there weren't much vegetarian options. We ordered for a fish curry meals, chicken biryani, curd rice, and rice and rasam. Except for the chicken biryani, all of us loved the spread and surprisingly, even the rasam and the curd rice was delicious. We had a hearty meal and topped it off with a sweet paan.
We had a good drive back with stories, laughter and two little entertainers. We saw the famous Rasta cafe board on our way and since none of us had been there, we decided to stop there for a break. And, we fell in love with the place. The greenery, open air, artsy walls and just about everything added to the beauty of the place.
We sat there for a long time, enjoying the food ( fries and a crispy chicken burger along with a few cold drinks) and chitchatting.
It was the perfect end to a trip I was dreaming about for a long time. Perfect company and a long drive just added to the whole fun. It was wonderful indeed!
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