The overnight train journey, our first in India,
was pretty uneventful and we both managed to get some (interrupted) sleep.
About one hour in to the journey, Marc was already fast asleep when the ticket
controller came round and switched on all the lights to wake everyone, Jacquie
sat up to show the ticket but Marc stayed fast asleep with his mouth open
(giggle!). We woke up before dawn just as we arrived in Hospet.
Wandering out of the train station, quite dazed, we went to the
first lodge we could find making our way through a throng of pushy tuc-tuc and
taxi drivers. We had a long hard day ahead. We went to the bus station, met a German
girl from Heidelberg, took the bus and arrived in Hampi, all before 9am.
Arriving in Hampi the landscape was really surreal with huge boulders on the
top of the hills, and temples scattered everywhere, some built in the rock. We
decided to have breakfast, at last, so we had enough energy to explore the vast
ruins (covering approximately 7km). On the way to the Vitaya temple we found
stairs and followed them and ended up at a large Nandi statue (bigger than the
one in Mysore). We saw an amazing collection of well preserved temples and ruins.
In some places we felt like we were in an Indiana Jones movie, entering a small
underground maze without light, using the light from Marc’s camera to see. In
the afternoon we decided to rent bicycles to visit the royal centre which was 4
km from the main bazaar. After half way round, the chain on Marc’s bike broke L We had to continue by foot for the rest of the long hot, sweaty,
afternoon. The Royal Centre was really amazing- it is really well kept and the
garden is very lush. The last thing we saw was the elephant stables, Jacquie
was waiting for that all day. The stable comprised of 11 stalls each one was 10
meters high was as wide as two trucks. Jacquie quite fancied having one in her
garden :P. At the end of the day we tried to get a refund because of the bike,
but the only thing we managed to get out of the guy was some water and soap for
Marc to wash his oily hands. On our return to hospet we had a funny incident
involving the local bus service. The bus was full of passengers and bags as we
left Hampi bus station. Soon after leaving the bus was struggling to make it to
the top of a hill. It went slower and slower and finally it stopped altogether.
Every time he revved the engine to start up the hill again the bus would go
backwards, nearer and nearer the line of cars behind. Everyone on the bus was
told to get out and walk to the top of the hill whilst the bus took a second
run up to the hill. We all climbed in again when the bus finally made it to the
top (third time lucky!).
Exhausted we returned to Hospet and tried to hide from the world for
a while.We bought lots of fruit (and a free fresh jalebi given by a street vendor)
to eat in the room. Unfortunately our presence in the hotel attracted the
attention of the young sons of the hotel owner who were trying to look
underneath the room door and through the window, the mission to hide failed.
The next day we had an early morning train to Goa at 5.15am.
We had great experience wondering around the fabulous ruins of Hampi
imagining days gone by, but we were certainly exhausted and dehydrated by the
end of the day, also starting to tire of the constant questions and harassment.
