The rickshaw driver turned up early so no need to worry. The train to Margao was late so we didn't have to wait long for our connecting train to Hospet.Great views from the train long drops from the railway into valleys and waterfalls, managed to sleep a bit to so felt fine when we got to Hospet. Booked our tickets for Thursday to go back to Margao. One bumpy rickshaw ride later we were in Hampi (Vijayanagar). There were a few temples on the way to the main town which looked good but the Vimpaksha temple in the centre was amazing. Found a nice guest house, went for a walk by the river and dinner at a roof top restaurant.

Wednesday 23rd September

We decided that if we wanted to enjoy the day we weren't going to go out with the rest of the tourists out to the second area of temples and would do our own thing around the river where the first set of temples were and just see what we came across. Headed along the waterfront to the Achyutaraya and Pushkari temples, it's hard to believe these ruins are only one hundred years old there is not much of them left, but still very detailed carvings. There was hardly anyone around and we found the path to walk up Matanga Hill, not a climb I'd like to make before the sun has risen which is what it's famous for. We stopped half way up to cool down in the shade of a huge rock for an hour or so, the views from there were stunning little did we know how good it'd be from the top. Tom climbed higher over some bolders while I did a video of the view. When heading back down we saw a few steps that lead to the building higher up so followed them. It was the highest point on the hill, it was incredible to see the barren landscape, something I'd not expected to see in India. We met an 'eccentric' old lady at the top who pointed us around the abandoned building and the shrines inside, then blessed me and demanded her R10 which always put a bit of a dampener on the kind spirit in them I think. We headed back down towards Hampi stopping to soak our feet in the river which was much needed. We found the perfect roof top restaurant for supper called Durgas. It had a really chilled atmposphere and music with low tables and cusions to sit on, somewhere we could both imagine Jake liking. To top it off the food was lovely and Tom saw his first elephant, while I was off taking photos, apparently I was pointing my camera right at it but I was looking at the temple behind!

Thursday, 24th September

Our trusty richshaw driver arrived on time and after climbing over the owners son asleep in the hall way, we headed back to Hospet. We came to realise later that we were on a waiting list for the train as there wasn't a specific seat for us to sit in, but some lovely Indian guys let us sit with them all the way back. We saw the amazing Western Gnats from the train and the Dudhsagar Falls and then the rain started and poured for over an hour which at points briught the train to a stand still. Once we had been delayed for over an hour we decided to head back to Palolem for the night instead of Gokarna. We met a guy called Liam on the train also heading to Palolem so all stayed at the Guru beach bar, bit sad there was no room at our other place. Had a few games of pool one of which I won, must be getting better!