Travel Week: Days 3 & 4

After a seamless train ride to Hospet, we clambered into our van for Hampi - roughly 30 minutes away. As we got closer to this city of ancient ruins the landscape became more and more astounding. With giant boulder mountains on every side, I spotted temples and structures built into the precariously perched rocks. Our drop off point was about a ten minute walk to our home stay. In the town of Hampi, only auto rickshaws and motorcycles/mopeds are allowed the the primarily dirt roads. It was such a nice change of noise from Bangalore - no incessant beeping horns or screeching tires!

Once rooms were decided, we had a delicious breakfast on the upper deck of Vicky's Home Stay. Yet again, no rest for the weary. After quickly showering and changing clothes, our group was up and out for a day of exploring. We walked on foot to a variety of sites before breaking for lunch some hours later. What's truly amazing is Hampi used to be the most prosperous city in the world second only to Rome. Now all that remains are memories in the form of remnants of palaces, temples, and structures throughout the landscape. Hampi used to be famous for its bazaars, as well. In several places one can see pillar after pillar where vendors used to sell their products. The final bazaar was unfortunately shut down two years ago to prevent nearby monuments.

Hampi is an adventurer's paradise. When you are unsure where to go, keep walking or climbing in any direction - you will surely find a ruin. Just when I thought we'd arrived at our final abandoned temple, I turned left and saw a former bazaar as long as a football field! The bazaar further off from the roads are eerie because few tourists want to walk the distance to see them. Monkeys have taken over many of the bazaar sites and now call them home.

This was one of the first rock "mountains" we climbed.

The view of boulder "mountains" and various temples below.

With monsoons each year, I found myself wondering how
such structures have survived 600 or more years.

One example of many, many, many structures like this temple.

Monkey bazaar!

And just to demonstrate how you truly cannot run out of sites to see, our guide continued past the bazaar only to find a river and more boulder mountains! The specialty of this location is carvings on the rocks. We more or less rock climbed (in flip flops) to the water's edge. Perhaps the coolest aspect was an abandoned temple along the water. Unless you are in the water or climb to the exact location, it is hidden from sight. We even got to go inside and look at the intricate carvings!

Carvings like these were all over the boulders near the river. It was like a game to find them!

Photo credit: Miranda Fadden

Photo credit: Erica Cross

While admiring the water and surging boulder mountains, a peculiar boat came around the river bend. I quickly learned this "coracle" is found around the world but is better known in Southern India. Bowl shaped and simply awesome, we bribed the driver (with his single paddle) to give a ride to shore. Without hesitation the ten of us piled in and then perched like statues. With all of the extra weight, the boat's upper lip hovered uncomfortably close to the water. It was such an awesome experience! Being so much lower made the rock formations that much more incredible and giant than I imagined possible. Once we made landfall, we called it a day and walked back to Vicky's.

Little did he know how many foreigners were about to bombard his coracle (10)!

Credit: Alexandra France

With two to three hours to burn, that meant one thing: shopping! The time we visited Hampi is the very beginning of tourist season, so all vendors we eagerly trying for our attention. For example, they insisted 700 Rs. ($14) was a very good price for a mass-produced wall hanging the size of two sheets of paper (it's really an awful price). Needless to say, I bought very little during my stay here.

The Mango Tree is probably on my list of "Top 5 Coolest Restaurants I've Ever Been To". Had it not rained, we could have eaten outside at a table under the stars. Tables were set in to the hillside in a stadium seating fashion. Trees gently arced over the seats and oil lamps was the single light source. To top it off, the food was incredible! The occasion for dinner was for Alexandra's twentieth birthday - and no birthday is complete without dessert! Since they had no cake, employees carefully created a giant crepe with banana, Nutella, flowers, and a candle. It was a sight to see. After a rainy walk back to Vicky's, most of us went straight to bed - it was our first train-free night since Friday!

The next morning it was awfully hard to get out of bed. Since Hampi has a very hot and humid climate, and we were going on a bicycle tour, our day started out early. By 8:30am we had showered, eaten, and seen our bikes. I probably should have expected it, but these bicycles were one-geared, rusty, had gunk-covered chains, faulty brakes, and I'm fairly certain my back wheel was close to falling off. On the bright side, only two of us got flat tires! My rear tire was a close call but thankfully it held out like a trooper.

Credit: Moira Dhaliwal

The "Princess Castle"; Photo credit: Erica Cross

Rachel and I! Photo credit: Meg Reid

The Queen's Bath; Photo credit: Meg Reid

Looking for elephants in the elephants stable; Photo credit: Moira Dhaliwal

Throughout the course of our five hour bike ride, we had the chance to visit many varieties of structures. One of the most famous sites Hampi is known for is the "Chariot". I was so pleased to see it in person! Other ruins and inner room we visited were incredible. The only problem was guano, (bat poop). It has the most pungent and repulsive smell I have ever experienced. Unfortunately, bats take refuge in most of the darker rooms of ancient ruins.

We had to take a ferry to reach the final portion of our bike trip. I certainly came to the river with an altered image of what this so-called ferry would look like. Rather than a boat massive enough for cars to board, this was a tiny 15 person boat with a tin roof and enough room in the middle for motorcycles or bicycles. Here, Moira and I are squished behind the stack of bikes.

Photo credit: Moira Dhaliwal

After another 3-4 miles of biking, a brief stop at two handicraft shops, and the second flat tire, we FINALLY arrived at our lunch destination. Good thing, because all were either rationing water or already out. The food was definitely worth the sweat and exhaustion! Following our feast, we struggled on our bikes for a five minute ride to the second ferry. This time the trip was much less pack. We hauled the bicycles out, pulled them up the hill, and victoriously dropped off our bikes. In a few hours was another night train. Next stop: Ooty!