Headed to Hampi

On Monday evening we caught the bus from Mapusa to Hampi. It was a 12hour sleeper bus, which to be honest i was dreading, but it was good. We had a double bed in a little wooden compartment, there were two levels of these. It cost 700 rupees, and we must have stopped for toilet stops about 5 times and once for food. 

We arrived at 6am in Hampi Bazaar which despite the hour was full of men forcing their way onto the bus to get us into the rickshaw/ shop/ tour (delete as applicable). After some equal forceful no'ing and leave us alone, and Craig telling them he was loosing his rag, made them go away. We then just had to pretend that we knew where we going, otherwise we would have got acosted by more, so we just walked. We knew that we wanted to stay in Virapapur Gaddi on the other side of the river and we knew that it was round the side of the big temple, so we headed for that. We found the river and a very helpful young man selling Chai who filled us in on where to get the boat (i use that term loosely) and where to use the toilet. When i came out from the bathroom Craig was surrounded by about 25-30 teenage Indian boys, whilst edging closer and closer to the edge of a cliff. It all sounds very dramatic but they just wanted a closer look at his tattoos and earrings.

blackfaced and whitefaced monkeys, but i am sure once i have uploaded some photos my brother Jack will be able to tell us. Somewhat worrying is that when the big black ones stand up they probably come up to about my chest which is slightly disconcerting so i will be keeping my eye on them.

We waited for about half an hour on a designated rock for the boat with an ever increasing line of backpackers, when it finally arrived they managed to jam in about 25 backpackers with backpacks. We walked up the hill at the other side and went into the first guesthouse to ask for a price for a room. It was 400 rupees for a little bamboo hut with flushing toilet and a mosquito net, total luxury. We were hot and wanted to put our bags down so we took it.

The landscape here is totally out of this world, its like an Indiana Jones movie with palm trees and temples and boulders everywhere, its like nothing i have ever seen before. So really we spend the rest of the day in a bit of a daze, its (even though i have tried to describe it) indescribable really. 

We had a long breakfast whilst we waited for our room to be ready, and we saw an elephant having a bath, whilst eating breakfast, which was lovely (i do love an elephant).  Apparently he is the temple elephant and gets taken for a bath at the same time every morning, i cant think of a much better entertainment over breakfast!

For the rest of the day we hired a bike for a couple of hours, had a long lunch with views of the river. Right now we are sitting on our veranda, and have just seen a couple of geckos, and some little things we think might be chipmunks, but we will check.

All in all our first day in Hampi has been amazing, total mouth open stuff. Although the scenery is so dramatic the places oozes tranquillity. Before we came a friend told me it was the only place she had been that she could see herself meditating. Although i can never see myself meditating (although a year is a long time so watch this space), i can see where she is coming from, i think this place can have a profound effect on people, its sooo calming.

The plan is to hire a bike and go out to see the temples over the next few days, so watch this space.