A very soggy Hampi

Hi Everyone,

So this is the last post about Jane and Dennis' visit, and then I'm nearly up to date. And just in time for the next guests!

So, after a few days back at home recovering from a busy trip to Kerala (or working, poor Ben) we headed off to Hampi on an overnight bus. A sleeper coach, which was an experience! The bus of course, kept IST (Indian Standard Time), which is about an hour late. I'm not really sure what I was expecting from the bus, I knew it had flat beds, but I somehow wasn't expecting it to be quite like it was. If you look at the picture of Jane and Dennis on the left hand side there are double bunks, and on the right are single ones. I don't think I'd like to get a double bunk with someone I didn't know, even if there was a curtain you could pull across!

Ready for bed on the coach!

It was certainly a strange experience, and not the most comfortable night I've ever had. I think it actually would have been easier to sleep in a chair. The general bumpiness of Indian roads is a really strange feeling when lying down!

We arrived in Hospet at about 8am and had a quick chai and a much needed loo break and caught an auto to Hampi. Having agreed to a tour with the auto drivers in the afternoon, we sorted ourselves out at our hotel, had an excellent breakfast across the road, and then headed out for an explore!

Hampi was the capital of the Vijayanagara empire from the 14th to 17th Century and the ruins, spread over 25sqkm, include a huge number of temples, palaces etc. Made rather beautiful as it is surrounded by a landscape of hills and boulders.

A great view of the main temple - just before the rain

The tour with our auto drivers in the afternoon turned out to be a bit of a disaster really. It soon became quite apparent that they really didn't know anything about the ruins and when they hired a guide for us I was the only one who understood any of what he said. Added to that half way through the first sight it started raining, really raining! We waited a while and it pretty much stopped, so we pushed on. On the way to the next stop it started really pouring again and there was a good dose of thunder and lightening added to the mix. Ben and I ended up waiting for about 30mins, wondering where on earth Jane and Dennis' auto had got to.

It turned out their auto had broken down en route. After we had gone to rescue them we decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel. Which, of course, had no power!

                                                Goats in the rain, but where                        To the rescue! We pushed
                                                have Jane & Dennis got to?!                         them all the way home! 

The next day was much more successful! We joined a bicycle tour run but the government tourist office. The guide was much easier to understand and it was nice to have company. It was also much cheaper, we most certainly got ripped off the day before!

One of the temples from above

In the afternoon we used the auto rickshaw that Jane and Dennis had for the morning tour (they weren't so sure about the cycling) and headed to the Vittala temple complex which is a little far from the centre for cycling. This is where the musical pillars, which we had heard a lot about are, and the stone chariot which is the symbol of Karnataka tourism.

Dennis and the stone chariot

Apparently when you hit different pillars in the temple, each one makes the noise of a different musical instrument. Unfortunately, it seems they are no longer letting people hit the columns :-( they were also doing some work on the temple. Still, they looked quite impressive.

I think the nice thing about Hampi was that you could get some idea of how big it was. To be honest, you get a bit of temple fatigue after a while, but in between the temples there are lots of covered walkways that used to be bazaars and tanks (reservoirs). There were also a couple of palaces for good measure and (possibly the coolest thing!) some elephant stables. 

So then it was time to head back to the village for some dinner and then back into Hospet for the overnight bus back to Bangalore. Funnily enough, we had a fairly lazy day on Sunday when we got back. But we pulled ourselves together enough to go out for dinner in the evening. Ben and I had been looking forward to this one and it didn't disappoint. We went to a small restaurant called Caperberry at UB (standing for United Breweries) City (it's the kind of Mall you never buy anything in, full of designer shops etc.). Anyway, the chef takes his inspiration from Heston Blumenthal and does a tasting menu with similar ideas such as sous vide cooking and use of liquid nitrogen. Needless to say, after a 6 course tasting menu and a matching flight of wine, we were very full and a touch squiffy! It was excellent though, and about a 10th of the price of the Fat Duck! 

Some very satisfied customers! 

An excellent send off for Jane and Dennis who left for Delhi the following afternoon and from there back home.