A Review of Indus Valley Ayurvedic Center (IVAC) in Mysore

I think I’m finally believing in Ayurveda! Ok maybe the massage part more so than the medical part, but had I more time at Indus Valley Ayurvedic Centre (IVAC) it might have just converted the U.S. trained nurse in me over. I have always thought Ayurveda massages were too oily and didn’t work my muscles

Bahubali | One of the 7 Wonders of India

You’re gonna need your Wheaties in the morning to get up the stairs to this statue! This is one of my 8 favorite day trips from Mysore. The statue in Shravanabelagola is the biggest monolithic statue in India (meaning it is made from one stone only) and one of the 7 wonders of India (with 47% of

Shivanasamudra Waterfalls Lit Up a City

Located on the bank of the Kaveri River, you find the Shivanasamudra waterfall,  the first hydro-electric power station in Asia (1902). They had so much extra energy here that they decided to light up all of Mysore- this was before NYC had lights! This area holds ancient temples and they believe that a long time ago

Somanathapura Keshava Temple & Village life

I absolutely loved checking out Somanathapura Keshava Temple- which is not something I usually say about temples. This is one of my 8 favorite day trips from Mysore. I know that the temple is the main attraction here, but even more so, I loved just walking through the small walkways between homes in this village. We

Oxygen Acres Organic Cheese Farm

I went to a cheese farm! I was pretty excited since in Goa, the only cheese I find which is edible is imported from Europe and costs about 12 bucks for a small square. In a place that reveres cows, I was curious to see what a cheese and milk farm would look like here

A Reality Check |I forgot how hard backpacking was

As I mentioned, living in India as an expat is much breezier than backpacking through India for a variety of reasons like budget and familiarity. Before I started my kickass goMowgli tour of Karnataka I had to get myself to Mysore from Goa. I’ve been on a bit of a I-hardly-have-an-income budget, so instead of

Melukote Temple, Khadi, & Iyengars

This small town has a few good reasons for visiting and you could spend a full day here. It's just a 90 minute drive from Mysore. The drive itself was very pretty and I was happy to be going by car with goMowgli rather than bus so I could stop to take photos or to

Where to Stay in BR Hills | Exploring with Gorukana

Just a day trip from Mysore, you can be up in the gorgeous B R Hills where there are 2,500 species of plants and tress along with tigers, leopards, elephants, sloth bears, and guar plus over 200 species of birds.  BR Hills is named from Lord Biligiri Ranga. Bili means white and giri means hills