Welcome to Hampi… the valley of ruins and rocks.
I hadn’t even heard of the place. A nice colleague of mine just happened to ask if I would like to join and I just happened to say ‘yes’. It is one of the most unplanned trips I’ve been on… but one that I’ll cherish for the many people I met and the new experiences that I had.
Did I say new experiences?! Well, maybe I should say weird experiences as well. The start of the journey for instance:
Irony 1: You miss a bus despite being early to the bus stop.
Irony 2: A bus in India leaves 10 mins ahead of time – hence you didnt realize it was yours! And you let it slip by right in front of your eyes.
And thus started our journey… two Germans and two Indians chasing a bus in an auto.
Gazing at a full moon while trying to fall asleep on the bus, rocked to and fro over the last stretches of bad road… we arrived at Hospet. A ride in a big share auto as the day dawned and the cock crowed, and we reached the ferry point from where we had to cross the river to search for ‘Manju’s Place’ – the most famous hostel in Hampi.
But wait… Manju says “No Room to stay”.
But good old Manju offers that we could sleep outdoors in his garden or in the little shacks that serve as the restaurant. We happily agree… dreaming of sleeping in the open… under a star-lit sky… But soon Manju returns and fixes us a couple of cottages.
Meet new friends over breakfast… an American, a global Indian, Spanish-Indian couple…
Bikes to hire… all set to explore. Onward journey… the boys ride. Return journey… it is the girls turn. All goes well till I have to maneuver a slope and Chris & I have our great fall! Damage Summary: A few bruises… a broken brake cable and dented bike… INR 600 fine after negotiation with the rentals.
Destination: UNESCO World Heritage Site
Water to cool!
Cooling off… legs in water… splashing water on each other…
Indians pay INR 10… Foreigners… INR 250. So while the Indians look around inside, the others find a vantage point behind the temples and enjoy the aerial view.
More temples on the way back…
Exhausted from the bike fall… Chris is in slumberland…
Everybody wanted to know what his name was and where he came from…
While our friend, on a 6 month holiday from America to figure out the secrets of life, did some thinking…
I don’t know why the rocks motivated Naveen to be the ‘Laughing Buddha’
At Tipi’s… had never seen a bigger confluence of different nationalities before… Iranians, Germans, Spaniards, Indians, Americans… the list goes on. Some play board games, some others bring out their musical instruments of their own countries and jam together… differences blending into one…
Post dinner we go for a night walk through hills and valleys, Manisha leading the way, in search of a reservoir. When we still don’t seem to be reaching our destination, we try to flag down vehicles on the way and ask for directions. Finally a pick up truck stops, helps us with the directions and also offers us a hitch-hike till the crossroad where we have to diverge. A short walk further, we hit upon the reservoir sleeping silent under the near-full-moon. We sit on the banks of the reservoir, watching the brightly star-lit sky, shooting stars (unfortunately I miss seeing them) and exchanging notes on ‘who you are, where you’re from, what you do’… and the like.
We see an approaching vehicle. Suddenly somebody gets an idea – let us go hide behind the boulders. Still trying to figure why we were hiding, the rest of us scamper behind and find our hiding positions. Giggling, talking in hushed tones, like little children, we wait for the vehicle to approach. As it whizzes by, we shoot a few hoots and then still try to figure out why we did it.
Soon the night gets cold… it is past midnight and we long for our warm beds again. A long walk and we hit the cozy comforts of Manju’s cottage.
A lazy morning… leisurely breakfast. Time to explore Hampi on bicycles… and so to the rentals!
At the Hanuman temple… after a long bicycle ride and a long climb…
As always a long line of people forms next to Chris… each one would come and sit beside him… ‘What is your name? Where do you come from?…’ and he would be off, only to be replaced by the next in queue. One group asks Chris to click a picture for them, shoves two bananas into his hands in gratitude (or maybe because they found it too hard to save them from the monkeys) and they are off.
Monkey trouble at the monkey temple…
At the monkey temple… an aerial view of Hampi. The terrain is different – little hillocks composed of huge boulders.
Fun on the bicycle…
Among the ruins on a bicycle… blue skies, whistling breeze and grazing cattle…
My dearest German friends… Chris and Trulla…
‘So long… Farewell…’ to the new found friends, and the hero of the place… Manju.
And the ferry again…
Dinner at ‘Mango Tree’ – the eatery beside the river, beneath the mango tree… we sit in the candlelight, blissfully munching away on good food, gazing down at the river, soothed in the light breeze…
Our desperate hunt for an auto to Hospet begins as they all claim triple the actual charges, exploiting the fact that there are no other modes of transport to Hospet. We finally engage the most reasonable of them all.
I think that it will be a peaceful ride back to Bangalore, but was I wrong! A crazy conductor kept waking me up in the middle of the night, asking me to shift seats for the benefit of his boss who was to board soon. I thought his boss should be more bothered about service to his customers! But we reached Bangalore alright… safe and sound from a trip to remember!
Scribblings from Hampi!
Thanks for your blog, nice to read. Do not stop.
Lizzy!
Reading all that I was back there… Sitting at the lake at night, with the moonlight shining up to us from the water… Shouting our echos across to the rocks.
An amazing trip! And I agree with Chris – more have to follow!!!
Ups, that is a ‘HI’ not an ‘I’ in the beginning 😉
I little Indian girl 🙂 thanks for that lovely memory of Hampi, oh my god, i really really mis India. And even if i most likely won’t be there in the next months and years, I really hope to come back and make some other trips with you 🙂
Ps: IoT rules 😉
Sure thing, Chris… and maybe earlier in Germany… 😀
Hi Lisa,
I have never been to hampi..but your description has really inspired me to visit this wonderful place. Sounds like you guys had a ball of a time there. I will remember ” ‘Manju’s Place’ – the most famous hostel in Hampi”, Tipi’s and the Mango tree :)!
Well written buddy!!
Ha ha… What would I do without you!
We were supposed to have visited Hampi already… but what to do, change of plans required.
But we shall, nevertheless… someday… soon. 🙂