Writing about travel is always a bitter-sweet feeling....Here am I , at work, just about wading through the piles of backlog work, recovering from a high of a recently-concluded vacation, while also feeling sad that it's over, being back to work on a dreary Monday...
Call it lack of time or other resources or my "one big vacation per year" rule, Hampi last weekend is the closest to a vacation I've had in the longest time and this was just a perfect getaway for the weeknd, if a little mis-timed wrt the weather...
So FYI, Hampi is a temple town that houses the ruins of the Vijayanagar empire , about 365 away by road from Hyderabad and almost as far from bangalore, even though it's in Karnataka state ..
My travel partner was my good friend ( and now favourite travel-mate!)Andrew from the states, who's just finished an anthropology course in HCU and obviously like all good foreigners in the country, is into travelling and exploring India, whenever possible... We planned to ride all the way to Hampi, but overrode it ( pun uninteded) giving our asses a rest for the journey and boarded a KSRCTC bus (from the "Imli bum" station in Hyderabad! trust this city to have weird names!), which according to me, is one of the best buses I've even ridden in my life and a total bang for your buck at Rs 550 a ticket.
After an 8 hour smooth ride to Hospet, waking up to fresh and cool air, we took an auto to the villagetown of Hampi, about 12 kms away and checked into a hotel immediately, for 400 a night!
However the site of Hampi would depress you right now, as there's demolition everywhere and houses are being felled as I type. On asking a few locals, we learnt that the govt. does not want this side of the historical/holi side of Hampi to be ruinined by commercialization. ( basically they don't want it to become the next Goa!). Now here's an interesting fact. Hampi is divided into 2 parts by a river. The one side of rivers is where most of the temple ruins are while on the other side , as we would discover on the 2nd day, is the 'chilled out' goan corner with your shack-like atmosphere ...
Back to the other side of the town, we started the day with a breakfast at the very friendly "prince restaurant" that very adoringly almost spelled everything on the menu wrong, being a source of much amusement . ( Care for some inchilada? Or continatal food?). ha. We bumped into an old californian ( 60ish) who's been on the road for 4 yrs now , travelling by himself, who managed to get himself prety bruised up in the course of his travels but still refuses to hang up his travelling boots! Now that's some fodder for travel inspiration.
Next up, was the first visit to the temple hampi is famous for! Aong walk/trek up the temple ( dunno name. Most temples in Hampi follow a similar pattern.) A row of roofless walkways of monolithic pillars going towards a central courtyard and continuing up to some smaller temples and finally opening up the view to a large one. See pics.
Also Here , Andrew got a pair of "crazy pants" stitched for 200 a pop here!
Next up, we wanted to take a swim in the lake, so we hired a bike and went riding through a narrow passage along the river and stopped at what a looked like a foliage of banana trees .Tripping on red ants, snake-skins and almost getting lot in the just before a large of rocks loomed large in front of. This lake is kinda on/through.under the rocks and getting there can be a bit tricky. But once there, you'd thank your decision and feet to have carried you up all the way.
Here was a neat little lagoon, surrounded by rocks, with a clean stream hgushing shouthwards and we had this little piece of nature all to ourselves to enjoy a little dip and banter.
After getting back out of the Banana field into the bike, we had the lamost awesome Chai money can provdie while Andrew chatted up the "Chai gaiz" much to his amusement.
To take care of the munchies warranted by that trek up the hills and across the rocks, we hit up the famous 'Mango tree'restaurant, which was a brilliant call . The place is set on many levels on the stone , in the form of an amphiteathre, nature being the live performance in front of your eyes.
From hummus and "peeta", to " Special Hampi pasta", this place has it all , but heaven save you if you got some alcohol inside as we were to discover the next day!
Anyway so after a much cherished meal, we set out to for the town of "Kamalapuram" to fill some gas, buy some alclohol, ( Hampi is strictly a non alcohol town, at least the side of the river we were at) and buy a me pair of shoes as mine breathed their last in the trek.
And with that, and another candle-lit, mosquitoes for company dinner, we were back to the guesthouse. Next day we set out early to do breakfast and visit the famous "Stone Chariat" ( chariot) temple. This was a long, and hot 6ish km ride up north of Hampi but it was well worth it. Here are the pics :)
Much monkeying was done on the temples here. Also traveling with a foreigner will always ensure eyeballs and cause of much curiosity wherever you go."Saar one photu plis"
We picked up some more beer from town and hit the 'mango tree; only to be given a telling-to by the serve for bringing alcohol, landing us to get kicked out when despite the earning, we sneaked drinking some by ouring it in the glass! talk about drinking under the table!
With an aocohl-less, and dejected minds, we decided to check out the other side of the river, to go to which , a boat must be ridden. ( for a freking 5 metres of shalow waters) ha but get on a boat and we did. Te other side is Goa minus a beach with a rocky background and tri[ocal palms lining up the vuew.
This side is the cool side. You have alleys line dup with cheap guesthouses and restaurants .We chilled here with a freshly procured supply of some greens and some beer and a couple of travellers here. So. much recommended.
We missed our boat! Quite literally. It was 7, the river-side was pitch dark and we had a bus to catch in ess than an hour with no more boats to take us across the river. At one point, the only resort out was to wade through the chest-high water, endangering the electronicss on us, but as luck and greed for some money would have it, we found a boatsman who took us on the other side , well in time for us to catch the bus.
And thus ended our 2 days making for a well-deserved and rather well- spent microvation....
Call it lack of time or other resources or my "one big vacation per year" rule, Hampi last weekend is the closest to a vacation I've had in the longest time and this was just a perfect getaway for the weeknd, if a little mis-timed wrt the weather...
So FYI, Hampi is a temple town that houses the ruins of the Vijayanagar empire , about 365 away by road from Hyderabad and almost as far from bangalore, even though it's in Karnataka state ..
My travel partner was my good friend ( and now favourite travel-mate!)Andrew from the states, who's just finished an anthropology course in HCU and obviously like all good foreigners in the country, is into travelling and exploring India, whenever possible... We planned to ride all the way to Hampi, but overrode it ( pun uninteded) giving our asses a rest for the journey and boarded a KSRCTC bus (from the "Imli bum" station in Hyderabad! trust this city to have weird names!), which according to me, is one of the best buses I've even ridden in my life and a total bang for your buck at Rs 550 a ticket.
After an 8 hour smooth ride to Hospet, waking up to fresh and cool air, we took an auto to the villagetown of Hampi, about 12 kms away and checked into a hotel immediately, for 400 a night!
However the site of Hampi would depress you right now, as there's demolition everywhere and houses are being felled as I type. On asking a few locals, we learnt that the govt. does not want this side of the historical/holi side of Hampi to be ruinined by commercialization. ( basically they don't want it to become the next Goa!). Now here's an interesting fact. Hampi is divided into 2 parts by a river. The one side of rivers is where most of the temple ruins are while on the other side , as we would discover on the 2nd day, is the 'chilled out' goan corner with your shack-like atmosphere ...
Back to the other side of the town, we started the day with a breakfast at the very friendly "prince restaurant" that very adoringly almost spelled everything on the menu wrong, being a source of much amusement . ( Care for some inchilada? Or continatal food?). ha. We bumped into an old californian ( 60ish) who's been on the road for 4 yrs now , travelling by himself, who managed to get himself prety bruised up in the course of his travels but still refuses to hang up his travelling boots! Now that's some fodder for travel inspiration.
Next up, was the first visit to the temple hampi is famous for! Aong walk/trek up the temple ( dunno name. Most temples in Hampi follow a similar pattern.) A row of roofless walkways of monolithic pillars going towards a central courtyard and continuing up to some smaller temples and finally opening up the view to a large one. See pics.
Also Here , Andrew got a pair of "crazy pants" stitched for 200 a pop here!
Next up, we wanted to take a swim in the lake, so we hired a bike and went riding through a narrow passage along the river and stopped at what a looked like a foliage of banana trees .Tripping on red ants, snake-skins and almost getting lot in the just before a large of rocks loomed large in front of. This lake is kinda on/through.under the rocks and getting there can be a bit tricky. But once there, you'd thank your decision and feet to have carried you up all the way.
Here was a neat little lagoon, surrounded by rocks, with a clean stream hgushing shouthwards and we had this little piece of nature all to ourselves to enjoy a little dip and banter.
After getting back out of the Banana field into the bike, we had the lamost awesome Chai money can provdie while Andrew chatted up the "Chai gaiz" much to his amusement.
To take care of the munchies warranted by that trek up the hills and across the rocks, we hit up the famous 'Mango tree'restaurant, which was a brilliant call . The place is set on many levels on the stone , in the form of an amphiteathre, nature being the live performance in front of your eyes.
From hummus and "peeta", to " Special Hampi pasta", this place has it all , but heaven save you if you got some alcohol inside as we were to discover the next day!
Anyway so after a much cherished meal, we set out to for the town of "Kamalapuram" to fill some gas, buy some alclohol, ( Hampi is strictly a non alcohol town, at least the side of the river we were at) and buy a me pair of shoes as mine breathed their last in the trek.
And with that, and another candle-lit, mosquitoes for company dinner, we were back to the guesthouse. Next day we set out early to do breakfast and visit the famous "Stone Chariat" ( chariot) temple. This was a long, and hot 6ish km ride up north of Hampi but it was well worth it. Here are the pics :)
Much monkeying was done on the temples here. Also traveling with a foreigner will always ensure eyeballs and cause of much curiosity wherever you go."Saar one photu plis"
We picked up some more beer from town and hit the 'mango tree; only to be given a telling-to by the serve for bringing alcohol, landing us to get kicked out when despite the earning, we sneaked drinking some by ouring it in the glass! talk about drinking under the table!
With an aocohl-less, and dejected minds, we decided to check out the other side of the river, to go to which , a boat must be ridden. ( for a freking 5 metres of shalow waters) ha but get on a boat and we did. Te other side is Goa minus a beach with a rocky background and tri[ocal palms lining up the vuew.
This side is the cool side. You have alleys line dup with cheap guesthouses and restaurants .We chilled here with a freshly procured supply of some greens and some beer and a couple of travellers here. So. much recommended.
We missed our boat! Quite literally. It was 7, the river-side was pitch dark and we had a bus to catch in ess than an hour with no more boats to take us across the river. At one point, the only resort out was to wade through the chest-high water, endangering the electronicss on us, but as luck and greed for some money would have it, we found a boatsman who took us on the other side , well in time for us to catch the bus.
And thus ended our 2 days making for a well-deserved and rather well- spent microvation....
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