Manjula’s Mysore, doing good.

Welcome to our new company and its Director’s : Sarvesh and Stephen, originally set up by Manjula’s good friends: Satish and Tanuja

please follow the links for more information

So far …

we organised a funday for 40 visually impaired young women in August 2022.

…including cycle tours on our tandem

… we’ve sited benches and created gardens in Manjula’s Memory

… donated almost 50 bicycles to NGOs, individuals and members of our team.

… fed older people at an ashram and projects supporting people during the pandemic

… sponsored young people’s education

… organised a summer camp and holiday

We’re about celebrating Manjula and continuing her good work.

…

What next?

We will continue to welcome guests to Mysore Bed and Breakfast and provide MyCycle: Mysore Cycle Tours and the income we bring in, after covering costs, will all go to helping our communities.

We’re open to suggestions to work with young people.

….

Manjula died in 2019 but lives on in our hearts and through these gifts.

25/08/2022 0

Celebrating Mysore Art

Mysore storyteller’s Network were in the sensitive hands of R G Singh who guided us through the history of his wonderful private collection of Mysore Art.

One of the hidden gems of Mysore. He’s from a family who arrived over two hundred years ago who celebrate and perpetuate the mysore style art. The museum has special exhibitions and occasionally provides guided tours to the exhibits that cover exactly those 200 hundred years of Mysore Art.

I discovered that one of my paintings is similar to one of R G Singh’s in his collection. It’s the cosmic egg.

04/02/2021 1

Virtually

We’ve all found this time of virus challenging and search new things to do.

How can we survive without travel?

Two wonderful friends have come up with solid solutions.

In my unbiased view they are amongst most innovative, informative and entertaining guides in India, who have set up quality services in Mysore and Delhi and elsewhere.

Check our their online offerings, you’ll not be disappointed.

Vinay’s Gully Tours with a presence in Mysore, Bangalore and Cochin

Check here

Check Here

MYCycle Tours of Srirangapatnam are available on demand and will be relaunched in 2021.

15/10/2020 0

STOP PRESS

The super city of Mysore and its many fantastic attributes are featured in the Guardian.

Yes, and we do get a couple of mentions, too…

Please check their article here….. for much more info on Mysore

12/01/2018 0

Moving on from Mysore

Well if you must move on….. 😉

We’ve received a few recommendations from local friends and previous guests about where to go.

National Parks

We’re often asked which is the best national park to visit (there are so many) our good friend Tanu suggests that Kabini is often considered the best in terms of sighting wild animals. Here’s a selection of places to stay, we’ll provide more info as we receive it from guests. Prices vary widely but it’s not cheap!

Kannur Beach House

We’re just back from there for our fourth visit (so must be good!) we’ll do a posting soon on this great place to stay and local things to do. In the meantime any questions email Stephen tours@mycycle.co

Wayanad, Kerala

Here are two suggestions from Dennis and Katja, originally from Germany and currently living in Bangalore.

Both places are in Kerala. The first is in the countryside of Wayanad

Tranquil Resort

Kuppamudi Estate, District Wayanad, Kolagapara, Kerala 673591, India

“Lovely Homestay thanks to Ajay and Nisha and their wonderful staff. It really feels like home every time we visit, great place for hiking, amazing accommodation even tree houses, cute dogs, our paradise in India 🙂 “

Web site is here

Check where it is here

Kerala coast

and the second is further north and offers a combination of sea, sand and backwaters. It’s away from the hustle and bustle associated with the backwaters further south near Cochin.

Neeleshwar Hermitage

“Excellent place to relax and make the world around you disappear. They have beach and garden cottages, which are very well maintained and equipped. The vegetarian restaurant serves amazing food, there is also a seafood restaurant which we did not try. Staff are very attentive and friendly. It feels like heaven 🙂 “

Kerala 671314, India

+91 467 228 7510

Check it out here

Check where it is here

The Guardian Newspaper an addtional suggestion for cruising the northern backwaters here

Silvia from Germany via the Canaries has now visited India once a year for three years. She’s got the bug! Sylvia’s recommendation in one of the closest national parks is Jungle Retreat. “ every person who likes nature must make this trip at least once in your life “ Sylvia stayed in the tree house.

Check it here

25/09/2017 2

Manjula’s Meals

Manjula’s cooking has become world famous! 😉

We love sharing meals with our guests (it’s the nature of our open house) and often Manjula will provide cookery lessons and demonstrations. After many requests we’ve now started posting recipes and begin here with two simple examples.

Recipe One Ragi Soup

Recipe Two Dhal

Future recipes will include: Roti, Soda Bread, a range of delicious Bhaji, pressure cooker cooking and more…

Do come and join us for dinner.

If you have any questions about any of the recipes or any special requests do write to Manjula and Stephen at tours@mycycle.co

16/05/2017 1

Top Tips

Number One

It always takes longer than you expect!

You’ve decided to visit India, maybe for the first time. Although regular travellers, including myself, make exactly the same mistake, of not accounting for the fact that everything takes longer. Its all part of the challenge.

To have decided to come here you’ve already been on a sort of journey. You’ve had to reject some of the lurid tales, the negative publicity, the lack of decent information coming from the authorities.

We know its going to be challenging in one way or another but we also know its going to be immensely rewarding.

Its going to cost a fair amount just to get to India. If we’re lucky we’ve managed to get plenty of time to be here but its such a big, varied, fascinating place, there is the tendency to try and fit in too much, however much time you have!

The one thing we sometimes forget in our enthusiasm is it always takes longer to do ANYTHING in India! Whether its travelling from A to B, getting a SIM card, ordering a meal (sorry sir we don’t have that), booking things when they don’t accept a foreign debit card, reserving a train journey (online) when you have to register with your passport details and sometimes a local phone number. It can all seem both complex and transient.

You’re now on shifting sand.

Its always useful to remember that these things are part of your experience, but it must be said, that it mostly takes longer than you expect because there is just so much to do, to take in and to absorb as it’s such a wonderfully diverse, idiosyncratic, bonkers place.

So please remember, our number one tip is that when you’re planning your India itinerary:

allow plenty of flexibility as you’ll wish to stay longer in some places,

assume it takes a day to travel between places

you might get tired travelling and it can feel FULL ON, so build in relaxing places where you can get a bit of respite and find the switch off button

its a fascinating place and most people love to get ‘under its skin’ and that means allowing for depth and not just breadth

Because EVERYTHING Takes LONGER than you EXPECT..

Bio note

Stephen is from the UK and has now lived in Mysore for seven years. He continues to visit London to deliver training workshops for business. He knows very very little about lots of things.

Manjula tolerates Stephen

Lucy is sweet.

More details of our life here in Mysore can be found here.

29/11/2016 2

Mysore Weather

I’m British and we like to talk about the weather (we’re usually complaining). Here, in Mysore, I’m denied that dubious honour as the weather is pretty good throughout the year.

Even in the main Monsoon period of June, July and August, we mostly receive just limited rain, maybe one shower per day.

After Monsoon and throughout winter is the best weather. It’s in the 20’s and sometimes might reach the 30’s with a cooler evening and night.

It can get quite hot, into the 30’s and sometimes at the top end of the 30’s, that’s in Summer which is April, May and June.

Whatever, the heat is quite dry so we escape the humidity that’s often found elsewhere in South India and especially on the coast in the summer months.

Having said all that, India is anything but predictable so it can change. Over the last few years we have experienced earlier summers, even less rain and cooler nights, but it’s still really good.

So, Mysore actually is a great all-year-round destination.

Our roof top sit-out is available to enjoy it!

26/08/2016 0

So, what is there to do in Mysore?

How long to stay?
We are asked so often that we thought we’d show what visitors have experienced and thought after staying here.
Our current guests are an English family living in France with mum and dad and two pre teen children. It goes without saying they are a lovely group, gang, team….. They ARE staying here 😉 ALL our guests are great.

They have been here three nights and have covered the following:

Walk up Chamundi Hill followed by dinner in one of our favourite roof-top restaurants Hotel Roopa.

Next day after breakfast at our place, Vasanth in his auto rickshaw took them to the Silk Mill, followed by the Maharaja’s Palace and then the idiosyncratic art gallery at Jaganmohan Palace. Royal Mysore Walks provided a walking tour to introduce the city, market and street food. Dinner was veg Indian feast prepared by Manjula.

On the third day, it was equally packed. Pancakes for breakfast. A MYcycle tour of Srirangapatmam that lasted most of the day followed by late lunch at the riverside restaurant. Vasanth then helped them sort out their bus tickets to travel on to north Kerala on the fourth day.

Their verdict? We’ll let them speak for themselves.

To us, it has reinforced one key fact. They’ve had a wonderful time and managed to fit a lot in during their stay. As with most of our guests they wish to stay longer. Once people spend time here and realise it’s a lovely easy-going accessible city with year-round great weather and much more to do than they first thought, they all feel that. If it was possible to stay (it isn’t) our family might fit in another trip to the island, see some of the local artisans, art museum, sand sculptures, more of the countryside and even do a bit of shopping.

Please note: you can find more details of the highlights listed above in our page of ‘things to do in and around Mysore.’

25/08/2016 0

fond farewells

We absolutely love having our wonderful and diverse range of guests. There’s no continent which hasn’t visited us many times over, except perhaps the Eskimos and Penguins, and their neighbours.

I’m often heard declaring how it’s one of my best jobs ever (except it’s not really a job) because it’s providing great opportunities to engage and communicate with people and one’s input has perceivable impact which we can feel, real results. so it’s Fab.

As a consequence, we make good friends, our family extends and the BnB community grows, and when we say goodbye, so much, it’s sometimes sad.

Yet, you know, we wouldn’t change it.
So thank you to all our wonderful friends.