Dear All,
I hope everyone had a very merry merry Christmas. Goa has a large catholic population however a couple of days before Christmas there was still no sign of the Christmas spirit. However on Christmas suddenly Christmas tree decorations, lights and santa hats popped up everywhere. Each house displayed a large decorated paper star that was lit inside with a light bulb and some houses had nativity scenes. One very pretty house had sprouted grass in flat trays to line their very detailed nativity scene. Our day was very relaxed, we had late breakfast and went into Arambol to use the internet to skype home. We were lucky and the net cafes were mostly empty because all the Europeans and Americans were still waiting for Christmas to arrive at home. We relaxed on the beach for the arvo, dan played beach volleyball (daily game with some local boys and the losing team had to buy the pepsis) and then had lobster, prawns and calamari for dinner. Finished the night off with a few beers and then we bought some fireworks. Dan was very excited and at the little milk bar type shop asked for the firework with “big bang and pow”. We ended up buying two big fireworks and 5 little rocket things. Walked to a relatively empty part of the beach and set them off, there was a crazy dog that hung around the fireworks as we were lighting them, but apart from that we enjoyed our own little show without injury.
After two weeks it was time to leave Arambol. It had been a perfect break from India. Goa sometimes didn’t even feel like India, there was no wandering pooping cows, streets were clean, no beggars..it was all very civilised and tourist friendly compared to the rest of India. So although it was a nice break it was time to get back.
The train to Hampi was a 8 hour journey over the western ghats and then into the plains. We sat with Jamie and his daughter Shannon from Scotland and chatted. Soon we were joined by an Indian Pastor and his family, we shared coconut pastries and then they started singing “Jesus loves me” and then the discussions began about what happens when we die. Overall an enjoyable train ride.
Hampi is a 23 acre area filled with stone temple ruins that were built between the 13th and 15th century by the ruling family. For a time Hampi was the capital of the area so there seems to be ruins at every corner. The ruins are all mostly temples as they were the only buildings built in stone, the rest were in wood and have not survived. The town of Hampi is small, a few guesthouses, quiet windy roads, few restuarants and souvenir shops. The entire town and the ruins are a World Heritage site. I’m not sure if it is because it is a world heritage site but there is no alcohol or meat available in town. Back to being vegetarians and juice drinkers for us! Its not just the temples that are stunning though, the town is surrounded by huge orange coloured boulders that are stacked into mountains with some balancing impossibly on each other, its all very dramatic.
The ruins range from pillars and simple temples to massive elephant and cow statues and huge ornately carved temples. There’s a few different areas surrounding the town so dan and I are taking our time wandering. The school groups make it interesting, they all want to wave and shake hands and then someone wants a photo…we could be stuck all day!
There a few monkey troops that go banging on the rooves however I’m a little nervous of the monkeys since I saw one huge monkey big enough to carry a small child running down the street. He had big fangs and the Indians are all smart enough to stay away…me too.
One of the temples is still a working Hindu temple. Shoes off we entered and queued to see the deity which was of the god Shiva. Money, coconuts, incence, fruit and flowers were all offered to the Deity and worshippers received a spoon of holy water and dipped their finger in a white powder that they then dotted their foreheads like the red tikka dots. It was interesting to visit a real working temple instead of just the ruins.
The temples most spoiled occupant is 23yr Lakshmi the Indian Elephant. She was rescued from a cruel handler and given to the temple. For a small donation she offers blessings which are when she rests her trunk on your head. She’s huge and well loved, the kids love her and everyone buys a few bananas at the temple entrance to give her. Every morning her handlers walk her down to the river where she is bathed and scrubbed. Shannon and I scrubbed away with brushes while Lakshmi laid there blissfully enjoying her daily bath. She was a beautiful elephant and they are hoping after her date with another local male elephant that she may be pregnant.
The no alcohol rule has put a stop to our new year plans so were planning just a quiet one with a fruit juice. Happy New Year everyone!!!!…see you soon in 2010!!
Love always, jess xox
