H'amazing Hampi and lovely Mysore

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  Karnataka, India
Thursday, June 11, 2009

Hampi

After arriving in Hospet at 6.45am and following up with a bus to Hampi later, I found myself traveling thro' what looked like a huge scene from a Greek film set! Everywhere you looked, giant granite boulders were scattered thro’out this equally lush countryside, often piled high with amazing looking 'hills’ of boulders! Scattered between these extraordinary lumps are the remains of temples, pillars, walkways and absolutely splendidly complete temples, bathing ghats and pavilions! It was like a scene from Olympus and quite, quite unique.

I arrived into this really tiny little village centre of Hampi Bazaar, with one narrow street and some tiny local shops alongside. There were no garish tourist areas and with it being out of season, was very laid back and quiet. At one end of the street stood the commanding Virupaksha Temple, standing with an incredibly high gopuram, and a few other shops, guesthouses and stalls. Very quiet, it only had a few Indian tourists walking around when I arrived.

Feeling quite sick from lack of sleep, I had some delicious porridge at a local eatery and great chai, having good chats with the locals about their area. The sky was looking a little overcast and the rain seemed to have followed me, as it started to drizzle, so I did my washing, had a little sleep and walked around the town, diving into a local bookshop. I met an Australian guy and we shared a table for a meal, catching up on each other’s travels but mainly marveling at this amazing place! I told him I was getting a bike the next day, as I was looking forward to getting out into the country, having some fresh air and exercise!

It came soon enough and I acquired a shiny, quite new, male mountain bike!! I was like a kid, all excited and raring to get around these awesome ruins of 15th century Vijayanagar city. This WHS spans an incredible distance, needing 15 days to fully cover all the sites in the area. Thanks to 2 Teluga princes who founded the city in 1336, V’gar was to become a huge 650sq km region, where half a million population engaged in all manner of international trade. Altho’ this degree of success can be seen in the ruins today, it’s amazing just how much has survived, considering the notorious antics of the Mughals and their takeover in 1565, with the idol destruction that followed (with the Deccan sultans of central India).

It wasn’t long after starting my 50kms round trip tat the importance of this area could be imagined. Bukka I (one of the princes) cleverly aligned many Hindu kingdoms, so as to counter the ever-increasing power of the Persian Mughals, with most of southern India under its control. The greatest ever Hindu empire and one of the wealthiest appears to be borne out by the 7 layers of fortification, the wealth of the temples, bathing areas, pillared walkways and numbers of carved structures simply everywhere I looked! The road and countryside were a pleasure to cycle around, despite a worrying click in the main chain area of my bike (which never became a problem, thankfully!). The huge boulders towered all around me, while others formed littered landscapes or clumped hillocks. All a light beige hue, they gave a bright, clean look to the landscape, while the rich, green shrubs, bougainvillea, banana plantations and lush paddy fields completed the charm. Add the Greek architecture of yesteryear and the mind-boggling detail of the temples and this becomes an absolutely fabulous experience, as you breezily snake along the narrow, quiet roads and dusty tracks of the surrounding area. Clean, fresh, non-polluted and charming, I was utterly spellbound for the whole day!

I first had to make my way to the Vittala Temple – the furthermost point on the main sightseeing circuit. The sculptured art forms were stunning – all 16th century Hindu art, along with Vijayanagar carvings in beautiful proportions. All the main Hindu gods are featured here, along with suckling calves, limping old men, chariot races, elephant logging, apsara dancing, Hanuman images, army formations………I could go on forever! It’s just incredible how preserved they all are! Reared up horses & riders flank many of the temple entrances and are in perfect condition. If it wasn’t for slight weathering, you’d think they’d been carved last year!!

North-east of the Tungrabhadra River there’s also a world-famous stone chariot in front of a temple in a courtyard, with wheels, once capable of turning , contain further detailed images surrounding their circumference and spokes. During my walking and cycling tours of this northern area, I found huge, deep bathing ghats, long pillar-ed walkways, a Durga Temple and watchtower, a monument called the King’s Balance (he used to weigh himself and dish out coins of the same weight to locals), an octagonal pool, ornate gates and irrigation channels.

I came halfway back to Kamalapuram and visited the archaeological museum with sculptures from local ruins, with a huge layout of the original Vigar map, determined from excavations. It was such a colossal place!! Then I continued on to the Royal Centre, presumably deemed so because of the delightful Queen’s Bath building and luxurious temples.

Succinctly, I was ecstatic the whole way round. After the above, I must have visited another 16 different sites and temples, with the most amazing details and architecture. (This deservedly warrants further detail and description, but someone dropped liquid on my diary and all the detail has merged into a blue blob of mystery!! I’ll update this on my return to the UK as I’ve already sent the books and maps back to the UK!!)

I absolutely loved this place as, I believe, do so many others. It’s got to be one of my favourite places in India – ranking in the top 3 at least. I left Hampi that same evening on a bus to Hospet and then an overnight bus to Bangalore (yes – the IT nerve centre of India and the bane of English telephone users!). The bus was only half full, for a change but as I’d been assigned a single seat at the front, there was little room for manoevre, altho’ the seat did recline slightly. Luckily for locals sitting further back, they took unclaimed sleeper beds and enjoyed a full night’s sleep, but I only managed a couple of hours!

Bangalore was absolutely huge and went on and on forever and seemed to be totally congested with buildings and cars – few trees and open spaces! My next bus to Mysore was a surprise. The seats were plush (for India), altho’ the cost was markedly more, but 2.5hrs later I’d arrived.

Mysore

I walked across Mysore to the City Bus Stand and was quite impressed by what I saw. This was a very clean and modern town, with bright, high buildings housing shops and offices. There weren't the number of stalls usually present in most towns and everywhere looked quite presentable. There were a number of monuments scattered all around and appeared to be a degree of order about the place.

I found the bus to the Mysore Youth Hostel, which was some 4kms out of town, and then had a considerable walk to the digs, as I'd been told to get on the wrong bus! The place was so much nicer than the one I found at Aurangabad. It was quite a cheerful looking place, with friendly staff and a computer system of bookings etc. I was to take the last bed in a female dorm, as the other 29 beds were either upper bunks that no-one wanted, or were full of students, all busily studying for exams. It seems that Mysore has a university and also a number of colleges, so many students take either Open University or distance/learning courses that mean they just come and stay in the town for a couple of weeks in the summer to take their exams and pick up further course work. Altho' many were younger, there were also some mature students, plus other older ladies taking different courses (ie here to visit their head offices or factory etc) or undergoing training schemes. The place was a hive of industry, with books neatly stacked by beds and students with their heads buried deep into revision mode. I remembered it well and felt really sorry for them!!

I was the fascination of all the locals, while they looked on in amazement as I did my washing and had a shower myself. Just everything about me was different for these ladies. Women of my age do not travel and do not have the level of fitness (eg speed of actions, carrying a heavy backpack) that I have, so they're used to slower, ailing ladies here (the morbidity rate is so much lower here), who are content to be the matriarch of an extended family group, helping to look after the children, but essentially, being looked after by their families! I also wore very different clothes and had totally different underwear, so quite a number were giggling and staring. I struck up conversations with a number of them and several wanted to have photos with me and discuss my life (divorce, children etc). It was a fun time and they were lovely.

I took a local bus back into town that afternoon, to look around the town and to see if I could get the best route for Allepey in Kerala. After buying my rail ticket, I went on to arrange a city tour for the following day and to Airtel (my local SIM card provider) to discuss my non-working card. A government emporium visit followed (specializing here in ivory-inlay woodwork and pictures made up with various wood inlays), with a follow-on visit to a local eatery where I had a local puri dish with a lovely curry sauce with curd swirled on top, with plenty of chai, of course!! The Indra Cafe Paris also sold great Indian sweets, so I had a few specially picked out varieties before heading back to the youth hostel. I took the bus to Bagadi and walked back along an unlit street to a dorm full of giggly females!

I didn’t’t need an alarm the next day -I was kindly woken up at 4am by one of the girls who was putting on the main lights in the dorm!! I wasn’t sure if it was because I assumed some of them to be Muslims or whether they just simply prayed at an unbelievable hour in the morning, but I know that they were still all awake when I went to bed at 11pm the previous night!! I managed to get back off for a little longer, but was up myself at 6.30am to get ready, pack up all my bags and be out of the hostel by 7.45am, Soon, I was back in the city and starting a tour of the city.

We first took a trip to Mysore Zoo - a lovely, lovely place, well set out, beautifully landscaped and housing every conceivable type of animal you could imagine: tigers (incl white), lions, elephants, giraffes, orang-utan, hippo, zebra. The circuit was excellently laid out, allowing you to see all the animals without missing anything out along the way. We were just able to complete it in the time allowed and everyone was really pleased with the amount of land given over to the individuals and how healthy they all looked.

From here we went up Chamundi Hill - a 1.062m hill with Sri Chamundeswami Temple and small Nandi (Shiva’s bull vehicle) carved out of solid rock in 1659. Then we hit the culture trail, with a visit to the Jayachamarajandra Art Gallery, located within Jaganmohan Palace. This was filled with many portraits and items from the Wodeyar dynasty of Maharas and a beautiful 3rd floor ornate room full of musical instruments and many oil paintings of Raja Ravi Harma. The upper room’s decoration was lovely and other rooms also showed snatches of yesteryear opulence.

Afterwards, there was a naughty, non-advertised 40 mins stop to a government shop. As a non shopper and having paid for what I thought was a tour simply of Mysore’s best sights, I was angry, but used this to fuel a quick walk back to the local village, for a walk about town and a chat with the locals over a glass of chai.

After a lunch stop, Maharajah’s Palace was our next port of call. A replacement to the original, which was burnt down, Henry Irwin designed this stunner in 1912 for 4.5m rupees. With an incredible interior of ornately designed ceilings,, there was stained glass, mosaics, tiled walls, mirrored rooms, massive floors and lavish wall paintings - really amazing! In the grounds themselves, Sri Shweta Varohaswamy Temple stands discreetly in one corner.

From here, we drove some distance out to Srirangapatnam, where huge fort remains can be seen, along with Sri Ranganahaswamy Temple with Daria Daulat bagh summer palace. There were superb interior decoration and exceptional floor to ceiling 7-tiered murals of the different lifestyles within court life, thro’ the ages.

Our final stop (there were a few others with smaller temple visits, in between) was to Brindavan Gardens. They were huge gardens on 3 levels with many water fountains, hibiscus bushes, palmed walkways with a peacock-headed gateways located at the top of the higher building. I walked on across a long, narrow bridge to another part of the gardens, where there was a musical fountain and a light and sound show that started at 7pm. The fountains on this side of the waterways were pretty, with many more varied lighting displays etc. I watched a few and then started to make my way back over the bridge to our waiting bus.

I took a very long walk back over town with my backpack, taking a night train to Ernakulum. The bus was slightly better than the last one, without rain, with lay-back seats and a steady driver. But I was also pooped because of the interrupted sleep last night, so I was looking forward to my bed!! This time, I actually got a few hours, which might partly be to do with the Catholic nun sat before me, who I allowed to take my window seat and have the whole seat to herself. Thankfully, I was out for the count quickly and had a few more hours than previously!

I arrived in Ernakulum at 6.30am - a really big, bustling travel hub serving an extensive number of connections thro'out central and southern India. I took a rickshaw to the East-Souyth railway station and was eventually winging my way into a south-eastern direction to

Allepey, in Kerala. Just like the state of Goa, this is another lush, green area of India and clearly gets significant rainfall. After arriving at a very small and quaint railway station (not quite the norm here!) I found accommodation at Dream Nest Heritage Home and started my quest for a houseboat tour of the area.

(What's also very interesting about this state is that it has a freely elected communist party here (the first in the world, allegedly) and seems to be a huge success. There have been notable improvements in land reform and its infrastructure, while free education (they have to pay in the rest of India) and good health policies abound. The highest anywhere in India, they also have a 91% litereracy rate and their infant mortality is one-fifth of the national average and with life expectancy ten years higher than the rest of India, it's no wonder the party remains at the helm. Unfortunately it's not all a bed of roses tho', as the aspiring, educated classes grapple for jobs that don't exist, Keralans have a high rate of suicide and liquor consumption. With a lack of foreign investment or industrial development, there are huge aspirations for the tourism trade here, which has seen big leaps in visitor numbers in the past few years.)

Within an hour, it was all booked and I was out, walking in the very small, quaint town. It was just like a little chunk of Venice, as there are a host of canals here that run into a vast network of backwaters in the Kerala region. The waters looked unspoilt and didn't reek of the usual polluted smells with which you become so familiar. It was very, very cute and while I was meandering, I cam across the local, public ferry service - an excellent state water transport service between Allepey & Kottayam (a town between the backwaters and the Western Ghats). I decided to get a feel for the waterways and the people who used them and took the 2.5hr each way journey for 12 rupees (73 to the pound).

Sitting in a large boat for approximately 80 people, my boat's passengers included a lot of school children. Crossing the Vembanad Lake, it made a multitude of stops at small little jettys, criss-crossing the lake to both drop and pick up passengers. The whole area of the waterways was incredibly neat, tidy and very quiet (other than the ferry!). Many locals live directly near the edge of the canals and lake and were relatively unobtrusive, discreetly going about their businesses with the minimal of noise and movement. It was quite incredible and nothing like I'd witnessed in India elsewhere. Women looked no different, with the majority wearing saris and others in salwar kameez, so it was more noticeable to see the men wearing lunghis here (a wrap around waist sarong), as well as a minor number in trousers. Lunghis are cool and unrestricting, so they're a very popular item of clothing.

The landscape was utterly amazing, with small homes lyging between palm-fringed peninusulas of narrow land. The ferry boat was too big for many of the smaller canals, but this area is a real beauty. No litter in the water and with all the canalsides kept spotlessly clean, shrubs flower by doorways and ripe coconuts hang in copious numbers from surrounding palms. There were endless varieties of lush trees, with a whole mixed bag of flowering shrubs, as Kerala has an near perfect climate (no extreme temperatures), with families very clearly proud of their homes and surroundings.

I saw schools, temples, churches, small stores, boathouses, fishermen, women washing cooling utensils, men having a 'bath', children having a quick dip after school and busy people walking between their homes and work, along tiny, narrow walkways. The sun began to set over these beautiful rippling waters, while palm trees provided silhouettes in front of its fading rays. Homes became busy with meal preparation, as fathers and children returned to bring their news, while older children waited at jettys to escort their little ones back to their modest, small houses. These lovely, proud and respectable families were friendly and kind (ie those on the ferry and waving passers-by) and the time passed quickly. The return trip was 15 mins shorter and involved a darker journey, where subtle lighting from tiny homes occasionally peeped between the shrubbery.

On the ferry, I battled with a million types of flying nightlife that battled for prime position around the ferry's bright lights. Ducking, swooping and diving, my Everest scarf once again came to the fore, providing a very necessary shield against the blighters! I dived into a darker corner to escape the attention of those keen to investigate my blonde hair (almost as popular as the lights), while my covered arms hopefully avoided becoming a feast for many! Men on the boat quickly fell into deep sleeps, lying prostrate on benches, or bowing their heads and nodding, as the rigours of their days took hold. Different, but in every way just as appealing, this reminded me of my trip on the mail boat in Queen Charlotte's Sound, in Picton, NZ. It was great to get the experience of everyday life (and at everyday prices, for a

change!). My trip finally ended at 8.30pm.

After a snack of omelette and paratha (flaky bread), washed down with a lot of excellent Indian chai (far superior than any English tea!), I returned to my digs at 10pm, giving me loads of time to sort out my bags, ready for my exciting trip tomorrow!