Hampi
Trip Start
Oct 27, 2007
1
26
30
Trip End
Apr 01, 2008
Hampi,
India
Friday, February 29, 2008
The Paulo bus arrived looking like it had just come from a bus banger racing tournament, dented and scratched down both sides, and also pretty grotty inside. After being shown to our coffin sized compartment we would (try to) sleep in for the night, our bags were shoved on the floor along the gang way with everyone else's so as more people boarded they had to climb and step over and on them to get to there equally small bed space. After realising that this whole thing was quiet claustraphobic, head hanging out of the window to try and feel a little openness and get some air, we were off, break neck speed as usual, in hysterics at our predicament.... We arrived at Hampi around 9am after a few hours sleep here and there, to be greeted by a huge group of autorickshaw drivers, fighting (literally a bit of a scuffle between two of them), to get your attention and business. After fighting our way off of the bus and finding a driver, we arrived at 'Rocky's Guesthouse'. The central Bizzarre is the market part of the town and is very pretty, lots of little narrow allies and streets, with the back drop of the temple ruins and huge boulders. The place had a nice chilled atmosphere with lots of cafes, and restaurants with comfy cushions where you can relax and escape the midday sun.
Hampi is a small town in a valley surrounded by both disused and active temples and ruins of a once powerful and wealthy Indian era. There are huge boulders, at times that defiy gravity, resting all over the valley, mythologically said to have been thrown down by the monkey gods in a show of power and strength. Some of the temple ruins have been quite badly damaged over many years of invasions and power struggles, leaving a mixture of still intact and barely standing structures. They are spread over a large area, so after a convincing sales patter from our driver, decided to take his 'tour' for an afternoon and a morning. He was actually pretty good, and although he wasn't an offical guide, gave us some intresting snippets of historical information.
We met a group travelling together (Boo, Dan, Nick and Joana) at a riverside resaurant and together went to see a local wedding that was in full swing outside the central and active temple in the town bizzarre. There were hundreds of guests sat in chairs facing the bride and groom who were sat throwns on a stage in front of the temple. The bride did not look happy at all, if fact she looked pretty sour faced, and the groom, spent alot of time on his mobile phone, while the male guests and children danced crazily at the front of the stage. There was kareoke and an impressive but seriously dangerous fire work display which seemed to come from the middle of the crowd. The huge explosions drew obligatory 'oohs' and 'aahs', but also rained embers down onto the crowd below, and of course the children were given the spent fireworks to play with, banging them on the ground just to make sure there wasn't a trace of gunpower left in them!!! Our group were pretty concerned, but the parents seemed to think these were appropriate play things....
The following day we met up for lunch at the lovely Mango Tree restaurant, that is reached by walking through a banana plantation along the river, a beautiful spot, with delicious Thaili's for lunch. That afternoon, as it was a celebration of Shiva, bang lassi was the drink of the day, needless to say we didn't make it out for dinner that night...!
The following day we headed again via Paulo to Goa and Palelom Beach.
Roll on Beach Life!!
Love from
Shelley and Mike
xx
