Why break a tradition of a lifetime, off course I wasn't going to sleep well on my last Indian train journey... We arrived into Hospet, and had to travel to Hampi. I was half asleep when we left the station and got in our tuk tuk, then we had the annoyance of changing tuk tuks because the first guys petrol had run out. We hadn't booked anywhere to stay so we were just winging it by turning up at a hotel in the LP book, luckily being end of season they had a 3 bed room and a mattress on the floor. Safe to say I clonked out as soon as I got in there and didn't rise until 1pm. A bit of a wasted morning but I wouldn't have been able to function otherwise. We had a quick walk around the town and found our way to the little river which had a boat crossing to go over to the other side. Hampi is a scenic sensation, and a world heritage site. It's heaps of giant boulders perched precariously over miles of undulated terrain, their rusty hues offset by green palm groves, banana plantations and paddy fields. Or in simple terms, the land of the Flintstones. After catching the mini motor boat over the river we walked and walked to find a restaurant that we read was tasty, turns out it was closed due to the season so we stopped in the only restaurant open on that long road. It was called White Elephant and seemed cool enough, the usual big cushions, good music. Turns out it was a guesthouse too. Once we had eaten, we sat with the staff playing cards and smoking Shisha, we wanted to stay longer but the transfer boats finishes at 6pm so if we missed that, we would be stranded. It was nice to ponder around the little street shops on the other side, I treated myself to a cheapie ring for a £1 - finally I bought something!! Then headed to the Mango Tree restaurant for a curry (off course). That night was spent back in the room, with a cheesy chick flick and a bottle of purple hair dye. Yep, Nelen, Kate and I put a purple streak in our hair again. Little darker then expected but oh well. The sun will change it in a few days.

The next morning we decided to move over to the White Elephant bungalows because they were alot cheaper and offered a better atmosphere to meet people. Our attempt of getting there early failed, arriving at 11am. The rooms were 250rupees per twin so around £1.50 each per night, at first we thought bargain until we properly looked at the rooms. Firstly they hadn't cleaned the rooms before they let us check in so there were cigarette butts, overflowing bins and rubbish everywhere. They told us they would clean while we ate breakfast so we trusted that, turns out that doesn't mean changing the sheets because there were still cigarette ends on the bed (really who smokes in bed, honestly, yuk!). The bathroom carried an interestingly potent smell that had a leaking ceiling so we constantly got dripped on if we were in there and both rooms were crawling with bugs and spider webs. Now we know why it was so cheap. Blergh blergh blergh. It was only one night, it would be fine. There was a different feel to the air that morning, all the locals were very over excited and smiley, turns out they were celebrating the result of an Indian election. As we were sitting eating, everyone (but us) rushed outside to the road, let 100's of fire crackers off and watched decorated tuk tuks filled with people race past. The tv coverage was very different to how we would broadcast it at home too, they cropped their presidents head onto the head of the guy who sings 'Gangnam Style' with the song blaring out. Very very weird. We decided to rent bikes for the afternoon so we could go exploring. Now I don't mean some measly push bikes, no I mean a motorbike, sure it was automatic but it was a motorbike!!! As you can tell I was pretty excited by this, I've never rode a scooter or motorbike by myself before. It was so much fun, gliding down the roads, looking at the scenery and the road ahead off course. Mum, I was wearing a helmet so fear not I was safe and I used my one working wing mirror alot; although my speedometer wasn't working so I couldn't tell how slow (fast) I was going but Livs one worked, apparently 40kph at points, woahhh check us out haha. We stopped off at a temple that was at the top of a steep hill, the bikes were struggling to drive up it plus I was a bit nervous to rev it to much. I had visions of the bike flying off in front of me and me landing my butt on the floor. Kate had a bit of trouble walking her bike up and managed to drop it into the roadside ditch, I couldn't do anything but shout for the other two to help because I was still trying to get mine up the hill and control my laughter. Once we tackled the stairs to the temple top, we took a few snaps and I sat with a little old lady who owned a trinket shop, ended up buying a bracelet each, she was adorable. The sweat was dripping off our chins at this point so we needed to get back on the road to feel the air on our moist skins again. We cruised around, looking at the villages, waving at children as we drove past them; it felt a little bit like the film 'The Railway Children' at points. Liv spotted a group of kids playing cricket in a rice paddie near the road so we parked up and asked to join in. They were really excited about having us involved and was fighting over who would go on which team, we played for over an hour but when it's 40 degrees outside, it's pretty unbearable to stay in the direct sunlight. When the game was done, Kate and Nelen went to the sweet shop and bought bits for them all to say thank you for letting us played. They were really chuffed. It was so nice playing with them, i cant explain how buzzing we all were after we left them. Next on our adventure trail was a lake about 10km away, we put our hot helmets on our sweaty heads and made our way into the sunset... Well the early stages of sunset. We drove past the lake but there were only local men swimming so we decided against the idea of us going in, so we carried on driving until we reached a pile of rocks that looked climb able. Kate instantly scurried off ahead, being Dora the explorer that she is, and left us trailing behind. I stupidly left my key in my bike so I was climbing the rocks being half worried that someone was going to rob my baby Betty bike. It was so incredibly peaceful up there, could see for miles, green tall trees towering over harvested paddy fields with mountains of boulder rocks stacked in peculiar shapes in the distance. We all sat on separate rocks and just looked out in silence, actually that's a lie Kate and Nelen were on the same rock, taking funny pictures together, giggling away haha - I'm going to miss our India gang when we all go our separate ways. We were due to go to another temple to watch the sunset but we were all shattered from the heat so headed back to camp (the hostel). I had a brilliant day, loved renting the bikes, one of the best things I've don't since I've been away I think, I understand why people at home have them now. The rest of that night was a bit strange, nothing major just odd things happened. In between those parts, we had Thali, played cards, listened to music and had a drink. Well thinking of it, I did only have one drink. After our slumber party sponsored by dark rum in Varkala, I didn't want another hangover like that in this heat. There was another terrible storm that evening, power cuts and torrential downpours flooding the pathways, while the sky lite up every few seconds with huge bolts of lightening. It got rid of the mosquitoes but meant all the frogs came out so we had to dodge 100's of them as we walked, they even came into the lounge area and were jumping around our legs. Nelen and I were sharing a room this time, she was a little tipsy so ended up bending my ear while we were in bed, talking about the 10th wonders of the world, and the differences between Hampi, Angkor Wat and Stone Henge. The night ended with a clear, Nelen shut up dear and go to sleep.

The next day Liv and Kate wanted to go to a nearby town to go jewellery shopping again but I couldn't hack another jewellery shop; I'm more of an in and out shopper, rather than a ponderer. Nelen had a bad head so she stayed in bed too. We finally crawled out of our bungalow at 11.30am, headed for the sofas and didn't move all day but I did get my jobs done. Caught up on email replies, looked at a few jobs, even updated my CV. Tres productive. We were due to go on a rock climbing lesson that afternoon but turns out booking means nothing in Hampi because the instructor decided to up and leave to go to Bangalore for a few days that morning. Nice of him to tell us, considering we were all sitting together the previous night. Anyway that just resulted in us continuing to lay on our behinds for the rest of the day. The manager of the hostel asked his brothers wife to help teach us how to wrap our Saree's for my friends wedding thats in a few days, so we had a crash course lesson with her, which was great, hopefully we remember. If not; we'll have to rope in a cleaner or receptionist at our hotel in Hyderabad to help us on the day!! After grabbing a snack for dinner and watching a little bit of the film, Life of Pi, it was time for us to leave for our overnight bus to Hyderabad. It was quite a challenging tuk tuk journey, holding onto our rucksacks, day packs and trying to hold onto the metal bar in front of us for safety. All the while being weaved in and out of the potholes in the dirt tracks, and needing to pull into the roadside ditches to allow persistent bus drivers pass by. Our first impressions of the bus were that it looked pretty swish, reclining seats, blankets, clean. Kate and I watched the 90 minutes finale of The Wire, both sad to say goodbye to our beloved television show. I then slept on and off for about an hour but the driving was so bad I couldn't sleep, the swaying, the sharp corners; I constantly had my stomach in my throat from terror. The horrors of the Vietnam buses were flooding back. Not to mention their version of speed bumps, it felt like they'd put grid ridges in the road, so we'd shudder over them every kilometre or so but the drivers were always going at such a speed that he had to screech on the breaks before each one, making me feel like I was coming out my chair. Sorry that was alot of detail on the bus journey but I'm on the bus as I'm write this so you can imagine I feel pretty vocal about it right now - especially because everyone else is sleeping. Fingers crossed I sleep soon, down to 17% on my iPad battery and I need the music it to last the journey to try to block out the activity of the man behinds nasal passages. No one likes a snorer. 4.30am. No one likes a snorer. Hyderabad please rescue me.