5/4/2011

Rented a scooter for the day for about 2.50 each and explored many of Hampi's illustrious temples, ruins, rock faces, boulders, sculptures and breathtaking scenery.

Chris drove us straight to the first big area of temples and ruins right in the centre of the town (town pretty much being a long road, riverside and bazaar) where we climbed around observing all of the ancient ruins. It looked like something out of Predator with all the banana and palm trees surrounding this flat area littered with long stone walls and buildings. Near this was a scenic lake and huge hills of rock boulders. It's amazing how they have formed and how high they rise.

Along this was a big group of religious (I think it was Buddhists) people who were feeding all the large amount of monkeys that shared the ground they were all living on. One of the monkeys I saw was messed up. It had a face that looked like a zombie. It's face was missing a nose and half of it's mouth and all you could see was bone!

After that I had a go at riding a scooter but was a bit of a retard in the really compact bazaar area and wobbled all over the shop! We then headed out of town to some more ruins including Mohammed's Viewing Point where we climbed a spiral staircase to observe the nearby ruins, and then an underground temple where there was actually just water in one of the rooms.

From there we ended up driving further out of town, stopping amongst locals eating on some random roadside, herding the cattle and washing in the river. Ate some mouthwatering watermelon and then continued on to the city of Hospet to check train times. Gutted to discover that we needed passports to book them a day in advance! A lot of locals were laughing at us, presumably because two lads were sharing a bike and topless!

I then drove back but some bus squeezed me out to the edge of the road where I nearly toppled the bike going over the ground where the tarmac ends and becomes rubble! Luckily we stayed on the bike and I put my foot down just in time to avoid going down a small hill! Apart from that, it was good fun riding down big, open roads appreciating the scenery.

Back in Hampi, I was sure I bumped into Rosie Richards, a girl from my uni course, but we were in a rush to see the sunset behind the temples. It was beautiful, especially over the river, temples and banana tree plantations.

Clambering across, up and down all the temples to get good photos of the sunset, there were so many monkeys inhabiting the area. I even watched some of them playing with dogs!

For lunch today we had some crappy meal that took an eternity to be served (and god knows how for a cheese sandwich and chips) but it was worth it for the scenery looking across the river. Chris had a dip but I wasn't up for that as the water was so brown and filthy despite it flowing. We witnessed locals fishing, doing their washing and even cleaning in some of the most polluted waters I've seen!

The countryside was phenomenal with all the ruins and rock boulders spread amongst marshes and banana tree plantations. Unlike anything I've ever seen before.

I'm completely addicted to soft drinks, I miss squash but it's not available anywhere! So coke, fanta, sprite, mountain dew and mango juices have fit the bill!

Saw an elephant on the way for food. Turned out that Chris had been to see it and witnessed the locals giving money and being patted on the head by the trunk of the animal! But for Chris wanting to do the same he didn't get a pat as the owner of the elephant wanted 10. So nelly refused to touch him! Clever!

Bed at 10.30 but back up at 1.30 to try and get a bar to open to watch Spurs but nobody got up. Good job I missed it because I think I'd have pulled my hair out watching us lose 4-0.