Hampi. How do we describe somewhere like Hampi? We are clueless. We could use movies and easily compare it to either the Flintstones or Indianna Jones. We could also say the landscape looks like the planet Mars. It definitley feels like an ancient lost city. But then it has tropical palm trees and fields of banana plantations surrounding it. Anyway, we absolutely loved it and when you consider they don't serve meat or alcohol anywhere that's quite a compliment!

Officially it is a small village known for its distinct landscape and surrounding temples dating back to the birth of Christ. Most of the temples are hundreds of years old and deserted, though Hampi remains an important Hindu place of worship, especially the largest most central temple, the Virupaksha. As well as the surrounding history and Hindu bits and bobs, the other main draw of this town is the unique landscape. Mountains surround the village and all around them are huge boulders that provide a backdrop that is one of the most unique we have ever seen. The first thing that Claire said as we descended into the Bazaar of the town was that it was like arriving into Bedrock. It seemed fake because it is so surreal.

We arrived in the afternoon and as is now the norm, we had the usual fall out with the tuk tuk driver as he attempted to follow us round for his commission. We took our time but eventually found a nice guesthouse with a roof terrace which had a nice view of the surrounding valley and lots of resident monkeys playing on the rooftops. The village itself had a very nice feel to it, a little touristy but in a nice friendly way. Before we even did any exploring we thanked the monsoon for ruining our quick stop in South Goa which prompted the decision to come here.

We spent our first night walking up the rocky hill which looks over the town and the impressive Virupaksha temple. There are a few ways to explore Hampi's treasures, most backpackers choose either tuk tuk or hire a motorcycle. However as you know we have a budget to consider and so we opted for bicycle. Not just any bicycles but poorly maintained, no breaks, no gears, bold tyres, wheels buckled, non fitting bicycles.

We headed west at first and parked the bikes up to start a long trek to a temple called Achyutaraya. On the way we passed an impressive statue of a bull and a more impressive young boy who carved souvenirs out of the abundant local rocks. Achyutaraya Temple sits isolated at the bottom of a valley and as we were alone we had the feeling we were discovering the ruins for the first time. Imagine Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider...

As we made our way through the temple complex, Claire found a small chamber. We guessed we would be allowed to take a peek in so we got onto our knees and crawled into the small stone room. It was pitch black inside but we managed using the torches on our phones to look around. It was weird. On the walls were paintings similar to hieragliphics. They seemed to depict traps, and the killing of man. As we tried to work out what they could mean a young Chinese boy who we hadn't spotted before leant against the wall, specifically against a brick sticking out of the wall. The brick moved and we heard a click followed by a grating sound coming below us. That's when we noticed that spikes were slowly coming down from the ceiling and the floor of the room had begun to move. It started to separate in the middle creating a hole. The room wasn't very big anyway and this hole was getting bigger. The entrance had now vanished. We started to panic, not knowing what to do. The hole got bigger. Eventually we had no choice but to jump in the hole. As we jumped in we soon realised that it wasn't a free falling hole but actually a slide of sorts. We slid down through cobwebs and passed scary looking paintings on the walls. Claire screamed as we landed in an old mine cart that started hurtling off into an underground maze. That was when we realised we were being followed by tribal men carrying spears and blow guns. The Chinese boy was still with us too. Using our weight to navigate sharp turns and choices of tracks, we narrowly missed a dead end but we were heading for a drop in front of us and there were still warriors following behind. As we got nearer the drop we assumed that this was the end of us. Fortunately as we landed into the cart, we came across a hat and leather whip, which David soon put on. Just above the drop was a protruding piece of stone that David was able to lash out with the whip and grab hold of it. And so holding Claire in his left arm and the whip in his right arm David was able to swing out over the drop which had lava below as the mine cart crashed over and burned. The Chinese lad was unfortunately unable to be saved - David wasn't strong enough to carry 2 people. Anyway, we hung there perilously as the warriors and the Chinese lad went over the drop to their doom. David's hat nearly fell off at this point but fortunately Claire caught it at the last minute. As we hung there the whole room became silent. We kissed and embraced as we knew we were safe. For now. And that's when we heard the footsteps...

Only joking!

Following our look around the Achyutaraya temple we made our way further on our trek. The scenery was beautiful as we walked past the other temples. We were probably the only people in Hampi to not pay to enter one of the most famous temples the Vitalla Temple. But as we said we were on a budget and £2.50 (EACH!) is a lot of money. We saw it from the outside and as we would be seeing several temples that day we didn't want to become templed out. We walked back to the bikes by a lovely river that was flowing just a bit too fast to allow us to cross it or sail the little boats on.

Back on the bikes we cycled over the hills, managing to get up them all without pushing, as we explored the nearby sites. Amongst a lot of others, we saw the Krishna temple which housed bats in the dark rooms that were flying about as we looked round. We explored the ruins of the old kings city that you could make out all the old areas where the market was and some of the old houses. There was a big elephant stable that you could visit but again, at a cost, so we just managed to get a quick view from the outside. We explored underground temples, huge old baths the size of swimming pools and the last stop was actually the old queens bath, which was also huge. It was here that Claire managed to become the target of a well aimed piece of bird **** that topped an enjoyable day off.

Once back at the village we sat on our terrace watching the monkeys cause havoc around the town. David seems a little obsessed with monkeys. There are many times that we will be at a famous site, that we have obviously travelled to the other side of the world to see and when you look for David, he's just staring at a tree taking photos of monkeys.

In the evening we enjoyed the best vegetarian Indian food that we have ever had, even without a beer too! After our meal we went to watch a cultural concert in front of the Virupaksha temple which consisted of kids on a stage dancing to their favourite pop song in a way that could only happen in India. The crowds loved it though as they constantly asked David to move out of the way for being too tall and blocking the view. Everyone in the crowd moved at one point though when a huge bull decided to just wander through the middle of the concert, again in away that could only happen in India.

The next morning we visited the Virupaksha Temple as it is supposedly another one of the main sites to visit. You have to pay to enter this one too, it's only 2pence so even we could stretch to that. It's only worth 2pence too as inside it is booooooorrrrrriiiinng. Just the usual loads of spiritual stuff that we don't seem to be able to take on board. It is unlikely that we will be returning from India as Hindu converts.

Hampi will take some topping. It really is a great place to visit. It's another one of those places that people would visit for different reasons. If you were really into Hinduism or temples then it's perfect. For us it was great because whilst it had the boring stuff it was set in a landscape that was amazing. And most importantly there are monkeys everywhere! It has been a great place to visit as we approach the end of our time in India. We have just one more stop now - North Goa where we hope to spend a week sunbathing and chilling.

Things we have learned
1 We don't need meat and beer to have a good time (This may get forgotten soon).
2 Pumas roam at night around the ruins.
3 If Bedrock was real we would like to move there.


Planes used - 4
Buses used - 24
Trains used - 20 (+1)
Metros/subways used - 28
Cars used - 5
Minivans - 8
Russian Campervans used -1
Horses used - 1
Camels used - 1
Taxis used - 8
Cable cars used - 1
Bicycles used- 2 (+1)
Tuk tuks/autorickshaw used - 29 (+2)
Scooters used - 5
Elephants used - 0
Ferrys used - 4
CycloRickshaw - 1
Bamboo HouseBoat - 1




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