After booking cheap flights to the southern India city of Tiruchirappali (or Trichy for short), we were disappointed that we didn't have quite enough time to visit Kochi. However, I realised that with our spare day, we could visit one of the temples comprising the recently inscribed Sacred Ensembles of the Hoysala, just outside of Mysore.

Keshava Temple is located in the village of Somanathapura, a 45 minute drive outside of Mysore. It was quite easy to get there - we asked at the taxi stand opposite the main bus station and close to our hotel, and were immediately offered 1500 rupees for the afternoon trip (only slightly more than the 1200 rupees listed in the 2023 Lonely Planet). Lonely Planet also lists the option of taking a bus to Bannur and then a tuktuk to the temple. 

Arriving at the temple, the hardest part of our visit was buying a ticket. Only online tickets are available, requiring a local SIM for the OTP (one-time pin). The security guards help out, but of course my credit card wanted to send me a security SMS, which was delayed by 5 minutes. Luckily an expat visitor helped us out and we gave him cash for our tickets, then entered the site through the well-maintained garden. 

After having just visited the Chola Temple in Thanjavur and and the carvings at Mahabalipuram, we weren't expecting to be impressed by this small temple. But be prepared to be overwhelmed by the exquisite intricate carvings, both inside and outside of the temple. In particular, on the exterior are carved many scenes from Hindu texts - if you employ one of the guides at the entrance I'm sure you could spend hours finding out more about them. As it was, we spent an hour at the site, and I was happy to find one of the camels amongst the row of mounted horsemen.

We found Mysore a pleasant city, especially with its compact size in comparison to Chennai or even Coimbatore. Don't also miss visiting Mysore Palace in the centre of the city. Our Lonely Planet claimed it was World Heritage listed (!!), but I believe their claim that it's the 2nd most visited monument in India after the Taj Mahal - it's a shoeless shuffle amongst throngs of selfie-takers along the set route through a palace I dubbed the Versailles of India. Allow about 45 minutes. Unfortunately, after our 5:50am express train from Chennai, we skipped the light and sound show.