6/4/2011

Woke up to barter for a checkout time agreeing 50 yet again! I lost the coin toss so I had the unfortunate task to get a bus to Hospet, walk a couple of kilometres to the train station, buy the tickets walk back and then catch another bus back!

Had lunch but not many places around the area served meat in their meals! So I had to go five without any! Never again! Chris and I then hit a stunning riverside bar called the Mango Tree Restaurant. Leant against stone walls as chairs and sat on mats, the views across and down the river with the locals doing their day-to-day duties on the water and the cattle grazing on the marshland was great. Not to mention the giant mango tree above our heads as we dined.

Chris had trekked up the giant hill to visit the temple on the top whilst I had gone but he was up for doing it again. It was a pretty exhausting rock climb in the heat but not too bad, and it was a bit dangerous with some of the big gaps between the rocks we were jumping over adding to the excitement! Probably wasn't the best idea to do it in flip-flops but in the weather conditions I've had on the trip, there's no point in wearing shoes even when it's wet!

The views at the top of this hill were spectacular, glaring out to the ancient kingdom that it once was, now all just ruins (but some still well preserved). And the greenery and rock boulder hills and lakes around - I'm kind of running out of words to describe how good it was. The temple was interesting too, right at the very top, we sat on rocks and just took in the views for a while before I did my good deed for the day, helping a load of Indians make it to the top, holding hands and making sure kids, oldies and women alike (one pregnant) got across some slippery rock face safely. I'm not that much of a devil afterall.

Gulped the water down when returning to the town, it was thirsty work! Had a nice tea back at the Mango Tree and bumped into Rosie Richards again on the way to catch our bus!

Waited with a Swede and Nepalese pair of hippies whilst various tuctuc drivers tried to con us that we would miss our train as no bus was coming or that it was going to be late. Likely story. So we waited patiently, got our bus and got talking to some Indians who had come to Hampi for religious duties. They were showing me videos on their phone of Yuvraj Singh smashing Stuart Broad for six sixes a few years back and very arrogant about it! Trying to be extra cool showing off their Nokia, they blared out some Britney Spears 'Hit Me Baby One More Time' and Justin Bieber. Couldn't help but laugh and realise how lucky we are back at home. And so what if we sang along to Britney. It was a classic!

On our train journey, Chris battered me at chess and we played some cards.

Looking back on Hampi, it was probably the most enjoyable and my favourite experience in the more 'real' India. Even though it was still littered with mess and smells like the rest of the country I'd been, it wasn't over-populated and the preservation of the temples, ruins and countryside was glorious. Just a shame about the rivers. I'll never forget the image of a guy bathing in the curdled, still, brown and littered water, looking so happy to be cooling down and 'cleaning off'. How lucky are we?