We made it- to Tenerife

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Hi guys

Ok here goes. After my last update we had our trip to Hampi, in which the whole trip just seemed to be a big effort.

We met at 5.0 got rickshaws to the bus station and then jumped on the bus. At this point we then got shouted at by the driver because our bags were taking up to much room. After some friendly words we tried to pile the bags as high as we could. It was meant to take 3 hours to get to the Bangalore, but ended up taking nearly 4 to get to the wrong bus station in Bangalore. It was then just a short task of realising that autorickshaws were too expensive in Bangalore so we had to get the bus, waiting for one bus to push start another bus and then getting on ours and by 9.30 we were at the train station. We then managed a quick bite to eat and got on our overnight train which for the first hour had no AC or fan working.

We pulled into Hospet only 30 minutes late and jumped in autorickshaws to Hampi. After ours broke down halfway and we waved down another we made it to Hampi only to discover that Carmon, Carly and my bag had not. After a while of waiting Michael went for a search and found them ahead of us in the journey. It was then a short walk, an even shorter boat ride and a rickshaw to the hotel.

Now the positive, Hampi is an absolutley gorgeous place. It look likes (and according to some rumours is) where Indiana Jones Temple of Doom was filmed. So its rocks and mountains and rivers and it all just looks amazing and did make the journey worthwhile. There is also a small bazar, a temple and a lot of ancient ruins. The hotel overlooked a rice paddy and had a lovely resturant where we all sat on the floor on matrresses, and the rooms had hammocks outside.

That afternoon me, Jess, Kate, Sharlene and Joseph went round the bazar and they did some shopping. Then for sunset we and Charley went up to Hanumen temple which is on top of hill. We cycled there on possibly the worst bikes ever where the peddles were not properly lined up. We met a guy called Ken on the way. Then it was lots of steps and seeing many monkeys on the way up. We climbed all over rocks having to jump down and climb up at some points to get a good view on the sunset. The sunset itself was stunning. After that we found the easy path back to the steps and climbed down and cycled back.

That night Alex managed to have quite a few drinks, broke a chair and slept for quite a while outside till me managed to walk him back to his room.

The next day I headed accross the river to the bazar. Then had a quick look round the temple and went up a small hill to see some ruins, which were the most impressive ruins in the city I think. I then had a lazy afternoon and just read and lazed about.

Now we the next day we thought we would try and beat the last journey for epicness. We met at 5am (yes when it was still dark). Got a jeep to the train station (one struggled to get in gear). Then discovered that only 4 carriages of possibly a normal 20+ carriage train were turning up. The rest of the train we were told was delayed (the length of the delay was going to be disclosed in 3 hours). We thought we would try to get on the train anyway but turned out to be impossible. One area was jammed back and people were hanging out the door and the other area they wouldnt let people on. So we had to jump in rickshaws to the bus station, jump on a bus for 5 hours, go accross the town we were in in another bus, to get another bus for about another 5 hours then a short taxi ride and we were meant to be in our hotel in Goa though I'm pretty convinced we are in Tenerife (it basicly seems like package holiday style with a slight indian twist)/ We arrived at the hotel at 8.30pm (when it was dark) had diner then a couple of drinks and called it an early night as we were shattered.

So that brings me to yesterday. We all met for breakfast then headed down to the beach. We got pestered by an unbelivable number of touts and 3 of us went to do jet skis. (Price started at 3600rupees we ended up baying 1530rupees) Alex on one and me and Carly on the other. I can now tell you the top speed of the jet ski (and I know because I did it) is the actual speed of light. It was great fun a little choppy which just adds to the fun because it meant we got some good jumps. Half way through our time me and Carly managed to swap who was driving in the middle of the sea without falling in which I thought was impressive.

That afternoon me, Carly, Alex and Chris headed to old Goa, saw some impressive old churchs and some amazing structures inside the churchs. We then stopped at Panji on the way back which was not quite so impressive. But all in all it was a really good day. Wehad our last dinner all together (-Kate and Sharlene who had already left) .

We havent done much the morning yet apart from bye to a few people who are moving beaches and walking to a closed post office, but hopefully should be a goodf afternoon relaxing.

Byez

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