Hampi and the Monkey Temple
Trip Start
Feb 27, 2010
1
4
21
Trip End
Sep 12, 2010
Hampi, Karnataka, India
Sunday, March 14, 2010
I am currently in Hampi after taking a 8 hour train from Goa, it was my first experience of a train in India and wasn't too surprising, partly from my train rides in Eastern Europe. The only two things of note were I was given some lovely lamb curry by some guys in my compartment, and Indian trains don't have bins so everything goes out the window.
I met up with a couple of the girls I was with in Goa which took a lot of the hassle out of everything, they had a rick shaw waiting for me to take me to them with a room ready plus plans for the first two days which was great. Hampi is split down the middle by a river with the nearest bridge about a 1.5 hour round trip so you take a tiny little boat to get to the other side, often having to paddle for a few meters to get to it. The main side is alcohol free and very expensive so we are on the quite side where you can get a beer.
The first thing we did was go up this very large hill (I don't think its a mountain) and watch the sun set which was amazing. The geology of this area is fantastic, massive boulders everywhere then flat gaps for paddy fields which I am guessing were created by humans. The next morning we went up another large hill (590 steps) to the 'monkey temple' at 6am to see the sun rise which was again great but the first time you see the view it is always going to be the best. Later on we went for a swim in a lake and then saw some of the old monuments/Ruins.
Im about to declare myself as a philistine to the entire internet but there is a certain point with ruins and temples where I just think 'I couldn't give a dam'. Spending half a day looking at very very similar sorts of ruins does get a bit dull after a while, and although I enjoyed seeing them I did spend a bit too long being 'interested'.
The best thing about Hampi is a restaurant called the mango tree, I will add more photos of it tomorrow but you sit at little tables with a great view at eat the best food i've come across yet. Thats what im in India for, ruin's are cool but Tahli is great! I have also been able to get a new wardrobe, the rainbow trousers in the photo's might be retired as they slightly ripped in an intimate area earlier, and I'm not really wearing pants in india. Luckily I had just picked up two pairs of trousers I had tailored for me, I decided to splash out on them and paid £5 each, you go in pick the style and the fabric then come back tomorrow, like primark but a bit better.
The hostel I'm in is decent enough, filthy uncomfortable bed but free wifi which has an uptime of about 3 hours a day which is always a plus. Electricity is on about 6 hours a day which makes you very grateful when it is on and even more certain being vegetarian while I'm here is a good idea. It did get a little heated earlier when we were paying for the taxi's and food, lesson learnt, always fix a price for a taxi and get separate food bills when they go over several days. The end result was we paid too much and a taxi driver ripping up 600R (£9).
Hampi has a very jungle book feel, that was confirmed when I saw a hostel called Mowgali's down the road. Tomorrow Im going to get blessed by a elephant (its a blessing but costs 10R, so I don't know if blessings which cost money count) and read my new book, Salman Rushdie - Midnights Children, hopefully I don't get stabbed for reading a Rushdie book, I did buy it here. The last boat to my side of the river is at 6pm so you have to get to the quite side in time then often watch a movie in the hostel which is nice.
The Ladies I have been with have moved on down south today which was too soon for me so I'm going to hang on here for a while. For the first real time I am alone which I have actually been quite looking forward to, the stuff going on in my head is often very interesting, I'm sure ill make new friends but I'm in no rush, I may also meet up with Amy again. I'm also suffering with a cough/cold so a bit of isolation never hurt that.
My next stop is going to be Bangalore but I might not even bother stopping there as no one seems to like it and instead move straight onto mysore which is meant to be great. My train ticket is booked for Tuesday evening but I'm on a waiting list so it may fall through, if so ill have to get the buss which is not as nice.
Comments
Nice trousers. NAAAAAAAAT.
But where are the monkeys?????