Mysore, India - Nineteen hours on a plane from Atlanta to Mumbai, then a three-hour wait before boarding a two-hour flight to Bangalore (Bengaluru). Finally, two more hours by hired car to Mysore. With every bit of distance, I felt farther and farther away from life back home. Appropriate, since my two weeks in India were like being in another world.

Mysore, in the province of Karnataka in southern India and once the seat of royal power, comes complete with a magnificent palace. The fresh produce and spice markets are spectacular. But my original reason for making the journey was to visit one of its internationally renowned centers for yoga and also to see one of my dearest friends, Julie Choi, who had already made the journey from her home in Hamburg, Germany.

Omar Vega / ovega@ajc.com (ENLARGE)

Carrots, tomatoes, green onions and bananas are just a few of the vegetables and fruits on sale at a local market, a colorful shopping experience.

Omar Vega / ovega@ajc.com (ENLARGE)

Schoolchildren visit the Tipu Sultan's summer palace, the Daria Daulat Bagh.

Omar Vega / ovega@ajc.com (ENLARGE)

Traffic on Dhananthri Road in Mysore is nothing like the congestion in Atlanta.

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Julie and I stayed at a flat that was rented for the year by a yoga student, then rented to us in his absence. The entire business was overseen by a self-appointed swami, who also rented storage space and scooters and was the go-to guy for just about anything else we needed.

Yoga practice was at dawn at the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute, just down the street from our flat. I woke up nearly every morning to the lovely sounds of chanting from a nearby temple. Our yoga practices were followed by huge, wonderful breakfasts at eateries at the homes of locals who'd turned space on the ground floor into a dining area.

The rest of our days were full of discovery. "Happy hour" was at the coconut stand on a street corner in "downtown" Gokulam, the upper class suburb where we stayed in Mysore. We sat and watched the sunset and sipped from coconuts as a happy and friendly woman herded her goats through the busy streets. In the evenings, we attended chanting classes taught by Hindu scholars.

Much of what I'd read and heard about India was true: the poverty, the pollution, the noise, roaming cows, pushy vendors selling their wares. But much was unexpected, including the come-what-may attitude of the people that seemed rooted in spirituality. They appeared content with what life had dealt them, good or bad.

Here are five other surprises from my visit:

The Maharajah's Palace

The seat of the maharajahs of Mysore lights up the evening for one hour every Sunday. Thousands of light bulbs give the palace and the Hindu temples that make up the complex a festive quality, and thousands of visitors walk about or find a place to sit. Vendors sell food and balloons, and a band plays music at the palace steps.

At one point a young boy ran up to me, trying to sell me a garland of jasmine. I said "no" a number of times, but this boy would not give up. He cut off a piece of the garland and left it in the crook of my arm and quickly ran off. I couldn't help but inhale its beautiful smell. Later, the same boy came running up as I was taking a whiff and smiled mischievously. "See, you smell," he said, and ran off again. Busted! I found him and bought a garland, and he tied it around my wrist.

Odanadi Orphanage

On a more somber note, I helped collect Christmas gifts and was part of a group that presented them to orphans and displaced children of sex trade workers. Odanadi is a nongovernmental organization based in Mysore, working to rescue and rehabilitate victims of commercial sex exploitation.

On scooters piled high with gifts, a caravan mostly of yoga students drove up to the orphanage and school on the outskirts of town. We were greeted like rock stars and ushered into a classroom on the second floor. Soon after, a stream of children ranging from a newborn to teenage girls filed in with beaming smiles. They waited for everyone in the room to receive gifts before tearing into them in a frenzy.

A young boy was beside himself with joy after receiving pencils, pens and notebooks. In English, he asked me to spell my name, took it down on the first page of his new notebook and hurried off with a smile.

Markets

Markets in India I expected, but the sheer size of Devaraja Market took me by surprise.

The very colorful and lively bazaar has been in existence since the 18th century. You'll find stalls selling fruits, vegetables, spices, incense and piles of kumkum (colored powder used for bindi dots and other religious rituals). Walking through is exhausting and exhilarating. If you plan to make a purchase, be prepared to bargain.

The noise in the market and surrounding city was astounding in volume and consistency. Fireworks would go off at all hours, seemingly without reason. When I commented on this, Julie simply said, "They like to make a lot of noise because it's fun."

It kind of made sense.

Shopping

On this meditative visit, I didn't expect to shop, but it was impossible not to be seduced by the vast selection of quality and inexpensive goods.

Julie was interested in fabrics and statues, on the lookout for items to outfit the new yoga studio she was helping to open in Hamburg. A friend told her to look into Suryani Fine Arts (519, Dhanvanthri Road, Mysore). The shop is chock- full of wooden handicrafts and bronze statues, from mass- produced items to one-of-a-kind creations by local artists.

The fabrics are spectacular — silks dyed in colors you never imagined possible: bright, mouthwatering colors of candy. Stacks and stacks of wool and pashmina scarves and wraps were pulled off shelves and dropped in heaps in front of us. We bought pants, shirts and blouses made from bolts and bolts of all kinds of fabrics, and silk duvet covers made to order, all while sipping on chai and eating sweets brought by a shop worker. Be prepared to spend a couple of hours looking over, trying on and being measured for clothes. (Badsha Bazaar, V.C. Complex, Sayyaji Rao Road, Mysore; or Krishna Tailor, Lokesh Creation, No. 186, Shop No. 4, Ninth Cross, third stage, Gokulam, Mysore)

My personal favorite was a bookstore on Dhanwantri Road, just down from Suryani Fine Arts. Ashok Book Centre is a tiny space piled high with books that seemed mostly to appeal to the many students that come to spend time at the yoga institute. (Ashok Book Centre, 396, Devaraja Market Building, Dhanwantri Road, Mysore)

Outside Mysore

Near the end of my two-week stay, I realized I had not traveled outside Mysore, so we made a day trip to Srirangapatnam. This is the site of ruins of a fort built on a long island in the Cauvery River nearly 10 miles from Mysore. Hyder Ali and his son Tipu Sultan ruled here until the British invaded in the 18th century.

We contemplated making the trip by scooter, but hiring a car made more sense. So Julie traipsed across the street from our flat and met with Ganesh, the owner of Anu's Internet Cafe (named after his wife, who prepares amazing early evening meals three or four days a week and serves them on the roof of their home). Julie, Julie's friend Jeffrey Breaux and I were picked up the following day to tour Tipu's summer palace, the Daria Daulat Bagh and the onion-domed Gumbaz (mausoleum), with the remains of Hyder Ali, his wife and Tipu.

Our final stop was the Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary, where the storks, ibises, egrets and spoonbills are best seen in the early morning. A walk through the grounds at sunset would have to suffice.

The lovely golden stalks that surrounded us on our walk and that I praised for their beauty in the sunlight turned out to be fields of rice. Jeffrey chided me for my ignorance and picked open a husk to show me its parts.

As in so many parts of my trip, I stumbled onto something unexpected that won't soon be forgotten.

IF YOU GO

Getting there

Expect to pay from about $1,500 to $2,600 from Atlanta to Mumbai, India. From Mumbai, you'll have to take a domestic flight to Bangalore. Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines are your best choices for a round-trip ticket that will cost between $290 and $490.

To get to Mysore from Bangalore, you can take a train or hire a taxi. The taxi will take two to three hours, depending on traffic, and will cost $40-$50. The train, if on schedule, takes about three hours. A one-way ticket will cost $7-$14 (www.indianrial.gov.in).

Information

For more on Mysore: www.mysoretourism.org or ashtangayogabend.com/mysore.htm