Hampi

I arrived in Bangalore at around 0600 having slept only a little; although the sleeper bus was fairly comfortable, Indian roads seem to be designed to prevent people from resting; there are constant holes in the road and most of the towns you pass through have three large speed bumps as you enter and leave, meaning that you are constantly jolted around which makes staying asleep for any length of time almost impossible. Having said that, I had managed a little shuteye so was relatively conscious and alert when we docked in Bangalore.

Upon arrival back in the city, I got myself a rickshaw to a seedy neighborhood close to the bus and train stations where there were numerous cheap hotels clustered along the streets. I had a few places on my list of preferred hotels but unfortunately all the better looking places were fully booked. As I was walking along the street looking at places I was constantly hounded by touts asking if I wanted a place to stay, 'good place, cheap place, you want?' which I did my best to avoid. Yes, I'm looking for a nice cheap place, but not from you. The reason touts are to be avoided is that they will insist on walking you up the stairs to their advertised hotel desk where the people will charge you an elevated fee in order to pay the tout his commission. Far from ideal. After 30 minutes of looking around though I found a pleasant place with a nice room and a fairly reasonable price. Like Bombay, Bangalore is more expensive than most of India so I was glad that I would only be staying for the one day.

After catching up on the previous night's sleep I spent the day having a walk round and then waiting around for my train in the evening. Although I'll admit that Bangalore is nicer as you move away from the busy transport center, it's still not a city that I particularly like so I was looking forward to getting away. In the early evening I met a British geneticist while eating dinner and ended up talking to him for the remaining three hours before I had to leave for my train. He was the first British person I'd met in over a month so it was nice to have a chat, and our long conversation ranged from global warming, overpopulation, the state of India and finally to a consensus that a man with a troupe of trained monkeys could pretty much do anything. With that wonderful realization made, I packed up and made my way to the train station where after a short wait I boarded the Hampi Express which would take me to Hospet from where I could take a 45 minute bus to Hampi.

The train journey was a lot more comfortable than the previous night's bus journey had been, and due to the smoother ride I got a decent night's kip. We were scheduled to arrive at Hospet Junction at 0730 but I was woken about an hour earlier by the daylight and increased traffic on the train. Although initially grumpy at being roused, after glancing out of the window I was immediately pacified upon glancing out of the window and seeing the beautiful surrounding landscape, which was impressive enough to quickly wake me up. Whereas most of the rest of India that I'd seen had generally been very flat, the area of Karnataka (the region in which Hampi is located) was littered with small brown hills in between green fields and shrubs. As we got closer, the view quickly got more impressive as the brown hills gave way to larger hills made up of huge boulders, while the land surrounding the hills got still more and more green. Descriptions or photographs simply can't do the area justice as there's something irresistibly seductive about the landscape.

After arriving in Hospet only 15 minutes late, I quickly got a rickshaw to the bus station and, ignoring all the rickshaw drivers assuring me that they could take me to Hampi for 'only' 100 rupees, I found the bus I wanted and got to Hampi for the low low price of Rs12. I found myself a pleasant (and much cheaper than Bangalore) Hotel nestled in the backstreets near the center of Hampi Bazaar, and after sleeping for a couple of hours, went out to have a look round. The natural beauty of the landscape at Hampi is simply staggering. As much I'd like to I can't convey just how magical the place is, all I can say is that Hampi has become easily one of my favorite places in the world. In addition to the wonderful aesthetics, the small town is amazingly quiet; right in the center of town there are a few engines going and very occasionally a horn goes off, but it's still refreshingly tranquil, especially in contrast to the horribly noisy Bangalore and Tamil Nadu from whence I'd come.

On the first day I was pretty tired and so didn't want to do a whole lot of exploring, but in the end I was out for a long while as I just couldn't resist. That day I walked around for a few hours but what I think really made me fall in love with Hampi was when I took a trip up Matanga Hill, a large boulder strewn hill with a temple at the top. The hike up was pleasant (there was a nice path of stone steps all the way up) and towards the top I was courted by a family of wonderfully cute langur monkeys, but the really incredible part was the peak; not the temple itself (although it was also impressive) but the absolutely unbelievable view from the top. With unobstructed three hundred and sixty degree visability of miles and miles of the mesmerizing landscape, I stayed at the top for over an hour just looking round grinning uncontrollably and the sheer majesty of the place. To placate the neurotic folks back home I snapped a few photos on my phone, but they won't do it any justice; Hampi has something indescribably special.

My tacked-together itinerary that I'd thought up in Pondicherry gave me four days in Hampi, but within seconds of that first spectacular view I knew it clearly wasn't going to be enough, so I quickly came up with an alternate plan which would extend my stay to a crown total of ten days. I would have made it longer but with limited time in India I didn't want to cut off too many places; by extending my stay I was already having to ditch plans to visit Varanasi and Khajuraho (not that I was too sour about it really; both would have been nice but Varanasi in particular would have been one hell of a hassle). After studying up on trains, I took a bus back to Hospet train station, cancelled three of the trains I'd booked (fortunately the cancellation fees are very small in India assuming you cancel in advance) and booked a further six trains that would cover all my remaining bookings in India, as the other journeys I would be taking were of relatively shorter distances and thus shouldn't require booking. With all the complicated planning business taken care of, I rushed back to my beloved Hampi and settled in for a nice relaxing week.

The ancient ruins surrounding Hampi are extensive and varied, but all have the same seductive majesty that permeates throughout the area. It took me several days of hard walking to see most of the major sites, and still more days to see the minor ones. I did all of the exploring on foot as there were constant opportunities for rock climbing to reach otherwise inaccessible shrines high up in the rocky hills. One of my favorite moments was during one of these climbing sessions, I'd spotted a small ruin that required climbing to reach and after throwing my flip-flops in my bag and making the ascent I decided I'd go a little higher and see if there was anything else above me. There certainly was. After another few minutes of climbing I came across a large cave populated by around twenty langur monkeys, with several adorable babies looking up at me wide eyed as I watched. I took a little rest outside while watching them and it wasn't long before a few of them came over to me looking very curious.

The monkeys are considered sacred by the locals (in fact the area is known as the land of the monkey gods, and I can certainly see why) so they're not at all shy. As it turned out the monkeys were more interested in trying to steal my bag than in me, so after a brief tug of war I decided to move on upwards. I hadn't got very far when I looked back to see that five or six of the impish monkeys had decided to join me in the climb. I can't tell you how incredible it felt to go rock climbing with monkeys, but as I climbed with the monkeys flanking me I couldn't stop smiling. In the end I did find another small shrine at the very top of the rocks, but by the time I got there I really didn't care. I sat at the top with my monkeys for five minutes before climbing back down, saying goodbye to my new friends on the way down. What an experience.

The ruins themselves were very interesting to explore. Part of the fun was venturing down into the pitch black basement area where I couldn't see anything at all but could hear the numerous bats I was disturbing flying all around me. Fortunately I'm not afraid of bats but it was definitely unnerving going down there alone in the dark. Then again, it's fun to scare yourself every once in a while. After the first time though it occurred to me that there might be snakes lurking around, so I brought my little torch to secure the ground. Incidentally the invasion of light just provoked more movement from the bats so if anything it was even more frightening, better safe than sorry though I guess.

Although I spent most of my time exploring alone as I like the freedom to go wherever the mood takes me, I did spend a couple of days going round with two American guys I met who were a relatively decent sort, although unbelievably American and at times I had to fight hard to suppress laughter at how much they fit the bill of the stereotypical tourist. Then after that pathetic display of football from the England side in South Africa I was forced to listen to them blabber on about 'soccer'... Bleh. The nicest people I met were a 17 year old Indian kid named Krishna and his friend who I met while exploring, well off the beaten track. He showed me around some of the nearby temples and then when we got pinned down inside by a rampant shower of rain we had a long talk which was very pleasant, and I got a nice insider's take on life in India. Krishna was a farmer and told me with wonderful pride about his ten cows and his life, while I at the same time told him about life in the west. It was really nice to see authentic Indian friendliness. I was also invited to lunch with his family; another pleasant affair where I was subjected to open curiosity, apparently as a result of my fair hair and pristine forearms.

The weather during my stay varied considerably, on certain days it was incredibly hot and sunny, while on others there was cloud and occasional rain. Both had advantages and disadvantages; the sun was unbelievably beautiful with gorgeous blue skies with fluffy white clouds but at the same time the heat and humidity was exhausting and very draining. The cloud, while less aesthetically pleasing, was far more comfortable with a greatly reduced temperature.

The rain was actually not bad at all, in fact most of the time it was a pleasant relief and usually didn't last too long. Another of my favorite moments was during a particularly impressive thunderstorm; as soon as it started I threw on my raincoat and made my way back up Matanga hill, ignoring the strange glances from the people I passed. It was well worth the slippery climb though as the feeling at the top was just... Well, there isn't really a word to describe how it feels to stand high up in the center of a thunderstorm with the rain hammering down, the relentless winds trying to batter you off the edge, and the magical landscape of Hampi spread out below you, while the lightning lit up the carbon skies... Ah I could burst into song. In my raincoat I was dry and cosy, so I once again stayed up for a good hour until the rains died down and the rays of sun penetrated through the drenched clouds.

The length of this post probably illustrates just how much I like this place; I could easily go on for pages about everything I've seen and done here, but everything must come to an end and much too soon I was packing up, taking a last walk around and preparing for around 24 hours of travel northbound: first an overnight journey to Hyderabad (which I would be enjoying in the more expensive air conditioned second class compartments as regular sleeper had been fully booked), then a couple of hours waiting around after transferring to Secunderabad before spending the rest of the day on the way to Aurangabad where I would be arriving at around midnight.

My time spent in Hampi is something that I'll never forget, and in a way I'd like to stay longer, but at the same time I'm looking forward to what I'm sure will be an incredible last month in India.