Entries about hampi

It's very difficult for me to remember what went on if i don't have something scribbled in my notebook. Well we got an train to Bangalore, upon which we met a lovely Indian girl who was studying geography and working in Bangalore, she was very smart and beUTIFUL and seemed delighted to chat to us for a few hours. Her friend was on the top bunk singing along to her headphones. It was pretty funny.
We had a good bit of craic on that train to Bangalore, then we got off in Bangalore for dinner in another hotel rooftop restaurant where the waiters hadn't a clue what they were doing. It was a hilarious farce. No one got their drinks before their dinner and John was delivered his beer, only for it to be taken off him again to be opened, after which it took another 15 mins for it to come back. Hilario.

Then it was onto another overnight train to Hampi. We got to Hampi station about 7.30am, then got tuk tuks for 30 mins down to the riverbank, where we all jumped onto the 'ferry' to get across to our gaf for the night - Shanthi! It was a fab place - really chilled with a lovely restaurant with mirrored lamps blowing in the breeze and a lovely big field full of rice and frogs beside us. We all just plonked ourselves down for breakfast and found it hard to get back up again! I however had signed up to go to the Sloth Bear Sanctuary, which was a ferry ride back, then another excruciatingly hot tuk tuk ride to the sanctuary. My clothes were all stuck to me getting out of the tuk tuk. At the sanctuary, we were warned we might not see any bears. Which instantly meant we weren't going to see the lads. Nevertheless, we headed up to the watch tower and stared at hectares and hectares of rocks for hours in the hope of catching a glimpse of some bears. Two German lads were in the tower and they had spotted a bear about 5 mins before us. DOH.
I had a peek through Alison's binoculars and managed to see a big cat prowling around on the rocks, but when I took the binoculars away from my face, I lost the cat. boobs.

After some time, we gave up and headed back to camp. The whole lot of us rented bicycles and sped off around Hampi marvelling at the super green lush rice fields and the giant boulders just piled up everywhere. It was a scintillating sweaty ride, we stopped to take touristy photos and looked like dweebs. Then we ditched the bikes and trekked up the 600 plus steps to Hanuman temple. On the way up we met lots of monkeys drunk on coca cola, and lots of older barefoot Indians singing and praising gods all the way down the steps.
The view at the top was fantastic. Absolutely gorgeous! We stayed there for sunset which was fantastic. Then realised we were on bikes and had to leggit down the steps as it was getting dark.

Our bike ride home was hairy to say the least. We had no lights on the bikes, no safety gear, my brakes didn't work very well and there were no street lamps or nuffin. It was hilariously thrilling. I got my torch out of my bag at one stage to help those behind me. We were doing quite well, till I shone it on a big cow, who started galloping alongside me and frightened the bejaysus out of me. I swerved, missed Leah and nearly crashed straight into two young fellas on another pushbike. :D!

By the time we got our bikes back to the camp, my knees were shaking like 90 from the steps and the ride. We sent John off to get some sneaky booze as Hampi is a dry state, and we all sat down in the restaurant in the cool night air sipping fruity vodkas and having a right good laugh.

Next day in Hampi was all about the temples. And it was MY BIRTHDAY! 34 eh. sheesh. where does the time go..
Anywho, we saw oodles of temples. We all hired tuk tuks and got brought around to see the giant boulders everywhere, Hampi Bazaar, a musical temple - the pillars of the temple all made different sounds when rapped, it was very cool. There was a huge big area that used to house elephants that was really cool. Generally it was a lot of stunning stone based erections. Ahem.
A few people got all templed out after a while and fecked off for lunch. I stayed til the end and thought it was grand. We had lunch then at the Mango Tree restaurant. I got falafel, but everybody got up and left while I was still eating. The feckin cheek! On me birthday an all. sheesh. So I stuffed a few falafel in my pocket and rolled out.

Spent the afternoon lazing around in the hammock chair and generally staying cool. Just before we left, I was presented with a fabulously delicious birthday cake. I'm not sure but I think the cake said ''18'' on it. HA! Anyway no one believed I was 34 and there were rumours abounding that I looked as young as 26. (I may have started these! ) hahah

Off on another wild jeep journey then to the next overnight train. Charles got us a birthday beer for the jeep, and we played bad music very loud, peed on the side of the road and generally misbehaved. Great craic. 8)