We took a train from Margao to Hospet where we were met by a Rickshaw driver and taken to Vicky's Guest house. I had no idea what to expect and the best thing is not to expect much. It was a neat little town or village with old ruins in the town and at either end of the main street. The streets were mostly dirt which would get watered down so that the dust did not rise up during the day. The area is filled with bolders and is very different then from any other part of India that we have seen so far. There is a river that runs beside the town and during the monsoon time it is about 5 times wider and fuller then it was when we were there. Every morning many of the village people would head down to the river for a daily swim or to clean themselves. Man would get down to their undies but women remained in their full clothing. Does not seem fair but that is the way it is here in all of India.

We took a rickshaw for half a day to see some of the ruins that were around town. You can do it on your own but you would need a scooter or bike to get to the sites. Many of the pictures have been downloaded on to this web site of what we saw that day. After a few hours a looking Rene got ruin'd out and that was the end of it for that day.

Walked to the Mango Tree after asking a few poeple where it was. Ran into a couple that we met in the train station who helped us with catching our first Indian train and the 2nd time we went we ran into Nicole and her boyfriend that we met on the train. The are Canadian and live in Calgary. Food was good and the veiw was lovely.

The next day we were leaving on the night bus but had the full day to spend in Hampi seeing the Temple in town and hanging out. We wanted to see the Elephant have it bath in the river but we either missed it or she did not get it that day. We did get to see her later in the temple, I gave her 10 rps and she blessed me by putting her trunk on my head. We walked around the temple and checked out what was there to be seen.

Back at the guest house we ran in to a fellow that use to work for the Province News Paper many years ago. He is now retired and spends about 4 weeks in Hampi working with the elephant. Has been doing this for a few years now. Greg told us many stories about people he had met in the past.

Then off we heading to Hospet to catch our first night bus. These night buses have beds (if you call them that) on them. With the stopping and the going you slide a bit to the front of the bus. And if you know how they drive here there is a lot of honking. We arrived at a hotel in Ankola around 4:00 am and had to wait for a mini bus to come and pick up the group that have been dumped off there. Waited about an hour or at least it seemed like it before our very old mini bus arrived.