Out this week in New Zealand’s leading travel magazine Let’s Travel is part one in my new three-part series about my southern India adventure in June. This first article takes in what I saw in the cities of Bangalore and Mysore, including the palaces, temples, gardens, alleyways and cow-dotted roads of these rapidly changing cities.

I’m very happy to say I had a rip-roaring (and gut-happy) couple of weeks in India with Bangalore – one of the fastest growing cities in Asia – being a great place to start. It was fascinating to be in such a massive city (11 million and counting) that is really only now just starting to shoot upward. Though as I explain in the article, one of the joys for a cricket fanatic like me was stumbling across a cricket academy right in the chaotic heart of the city that has blessedly been left untouched.

As for Mysore, it may be most famous for its grand palace, but that doesn’t mean that’s the only palace in town. In the article I recount just how much fun there is to be had for fans of classic, historic hotels by staying in the Lalitha Mahal Palace Hotel – built by the Maharaja in the 1920s for visiting dignitaries. It may be a little faded and crumbling around the edges, but with a four-poster bed and claw-footed bath in my suite, not to mention the marble grand staircase and the spectacular ballrooms, this is one of my favourite hotels in the world.

Mysore also happens to be home to arguably India’s finest zoo and you’ll see a couple of photos from there below.

For subscription details please visit LetsTravelMag.com where you can order physical copies of the magazine or download digital versions. Thanks again to the wonderful folks at World Journeys who organised the trip as well as Singapore Airlines and their regional carrier Silk Air. Here are my top 50 Bangalore to Mysore photos – hope you like them! Keep a look out for the couple who I snapped just as the bloke was proposing. Hopefully she said yes.