Felix's farewell post - some reflections on what he's learned. Hoping we will be back soon, and thank you for reading!

WHAT I HAVE LEARNED BY BEING IN INDIA

• Cows can be dangerous
• Don’t listen to what mum says when she is describing your yoga teacher.  For a while before we got to India, she was saying ‘better pick up your game Felix, Saraswati will whip you into shape’ and then Saraswati turned out to be sweet and lovely.  Good ol’ mum.
• Monkeys are cute and funny until you get too close and they show their super sharp teeth
• Don’t judge anything by looks.  The seediest looking van turned out to sell the best Dosas I have had in my life.
• If any Indian man stares at you just because you’re from a different country, stare right back.  Just think of it as a staring competition with a random guy.
• I am too good of a teacher of the card game speed.  Everyone I teach just beats me.
• If you put in 100% to your yoga with every practice, you notice big changes.  Before I came to Mysore, I couldn’t catch my toe in 9/10 of my poses, now I catch all of them save one or two.  Mum said that my body has definitely changed, she says I look more flexible and stronger, and I look more focused.  This information pleased me a lot.
• Not everyone understands sarcasm.  Mum had to remind of this a few times.  Some people were left a bit confused when I said something sarcastic, as I’m used to everyone just understanding instantly.
• Indian buses are horrible.  Especially if you are in one for eleven hours straight.  It was worth it to go to Hampi though.
• Always try new things.  For example, bouldering.  I never even considered it until we met Ariel and Mariela, and Ariel, being a climber, wanted to go to Hampi.  So to Hampi we went.  And climb we did.  After Ariel taught me a few basics, we had a great time, climbing and chilling out with a bunch of random climbers. Frisbee, Guitar jamming and laughs we had up on the rocks that fine day.

This is my last blog for the India trip, I hope everyone enjoyed reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them.  To everyone back home, I will see you soon, you have all been missed, to everyone I met here in Mysore, thank you very much, I will miss you all, I hope to see you again in the future! Much love and good fortune to all J

Since food was the #1 Good Thing About India by Felix's reckoning, he decided to give a small tour of the places we have been eating at. It is, of course, just a selection of the available spots where yogis like to eat during their stay in Mysore.

FOOD OF GOKULAM

If you’ve been to Mysore, you’re going to tell me ‘oh Felix not all of these are located in Gokulam’ but most of them are.

Santosha: one of the breakfast places, and one of the two places that we go to most often.  It is probably the cosiest of the lot, and to me, it has the best vibe.  As usual, the tables are low and you sit on pillows around them.  The guy that works there, Arun, a local, is super chilled out and really friendly.  He has long hair and always wears a fedora style hat.  He always greets me with a big smile, a fist bump, and a ‘Hey bro!’  The woman that works there, Maya, is also Indian, and I’m not sure why, but she told Mum and I one day that we are her favourite customers.  Ever since then we have been good friends and many a card game has been played.  There are also the Indian guys that cook and work in the kitchen but they don’t really talk to customers.  Maybe they think we smell.  Or maybe they're shy. Who knows.

Khushi: the other most frequented place by Mum and I.  Pretty much the same as Santosha except not as cosy.  There is a bit more room.  Santosha and Khushi pretty much sell the exact same stuff, for very similar prices, so we don’t mind which one we eat at.  Though mum did make me go and volunteer to work there, yay me.  But the work is good, and all the Indian guys in the kitchen are super friendly and all excellent workers.  I mostly just make coffee, tea and chai, take orders, bring people their food, and clear tables.  Really easy work, and the payment is a free meal, woohoo.

Anokhi Gardens:  the fanciest of the breakfast places, therefore the most expensive, therefore the least frequented by us.  Really nice food, and it’s run by two really lovely French women. 

Tina’s Café: the best Indian food, made by the best Indian person.  The food there is traditional Indian food, and it is just amazing.  Every day it has changes to the menu, but the egg curry (my favourite) is always there, thank goodness.  I love eating the food and seeing Tina and Sanjeev, so it is just an all round great place

Dosa Van: from the first look, you would think this little white van parked on the side of the road selling Indian food looks really seedy.  That’s what I thought.  And my family DRIVES a white van.  So you can imagine how seedy this looks.  But the food they sell OH MY SHIVA (as I’m in India I decided to say an Indian god instead of just boring old oh my god) BEST dosas I’ve had so far.  A dosa is like a savory pancake, and the main one is the Masala Dosa, which has potato inside it, and two different sauces that accompany it, mostly a red one, and a spicier green one (reminds me of a funny story actually.  We were having Dosas and Ariel was sharing a Masala Dosa with me, and he kept eating the green curry because he thought the red one would be spicier, simple because it’s red.  Talk about stereotyping).  Yeah so no Dosa I’ve had even comes close to the ultimate deliciousness of the Van Dosas.  It’s like a rainbow exploding in your mouth.

Anu’s Café:  really lovely place, during the day there is a buffet that has traditional Indian food, really nice, but in the evenings they sell an assortment of smoothies and drinks, and because Mum and I’s daily routine is all munted because of our late yoga times, we have a late lunch so we aren’t really hungry  by dinnertime so it’s really lovely to just go to Anu’s and have a smoothie. (Warning: inside joke coming up) But if you text someone telling them you’re going to get a smoothie at Anu’s, make sure you put the apostrophe.  Especially if you’re ordering double chocolate.

Green Hotel:  fanciest on the list.  It has really good Indian food and apparently the rooms there are really nice too.  Not a casual place for us, more of a get-together with friends for an occasion place.  Surrounded by garden and greenness (I wonder why they call it The Green Hotel), it is a lovely restaurant, and the place where Ariel first learnt about Aussie slang.  He didn’t really understand, much to the amusement of Mum and I. 

So, the food places listed above are the reason that I'm putting on as much weight as I'm losing from doing the yoga. Indian food is the best.