Blogs from Hampi, Karnataka, India, Asia - page 23

Many of the places I end up visiting in India are recommended to me by various other travellers I meet along my journey and that is how I heard about Hampi. I arrived right in the middle of a festival where thousands of people filled the streets and main bazaar to celebrate with music and dance among Hampi's temples. Police were here on mass to keep everything running smoothly and helped fill up all available accommodation around the main bazaar. I made my way over to the quiet side of the river via a motor boat crossing and was happy to find plenty of space there. This is definitely the side to be on if your staying more than a few days. Accommodation here is very cheap and there are numerous restaurants providing good food of ... read more

Hampi is a magical place and we were really glad that we bothered with the 9 hour journey from Bangalore to get there. Huge rocky landscapes and thousands of temples and ruins created a mystical setting for exploring, and tourist cafes and colourful guesthouses ensured a relaxing time for travelers. We left Hampi with so many memories. We hope that our photographs do justice to this cool place. ... read more

Hi everyone, trhe entry says Hampi, but i'm actually in Bangalorte at the moment. We took the night train from Hampi and arrived this morning, not hanging around though, we're taking the train again tonight to Cochin (or Kochi, but i dont really like to use the new indian names, because i've been told that very few indians use them , Mumbai for Bombay etc. and they are only in place as a result of a lot of protesting from Shiv Sena a far right hindu nationalist party who dont really sounds like nice guys). Hampi is the old capital of the whole of southern india, the town itself isn't much to see nowadays, just a maze of little streets, but its set amongst the most amazing landscape, and there are ruins or temples and palaces ... read more

It was my first Passover that I had partook. I know the story of the Passover and stuff, but to be part of the seder was a different experience. I had spent the afternoon looking for a "wines" shop that sold wine. In most places in India when you see sign that says "wine shop", it just means that they sell alcohol and SOMETIMES they have wine. Any way, I had to take a few buses around Salem to fine a couple of bottles of wine. It was fun to go from one place to another looking for wine and also looking for things like Parsley and some stuff like Walnuts. Finally I found a place where they sold wine, it wasn't that great, but it was better than nothing. I felt good to be part ... read more

Ok. The longer Hampi post... What was really striking about Hampi was that just a few hours on from the train journey, I find myself in some past life, Quantum Leap style. From Panaji, an Indian town that feels more like somewhere on the Med, to the India you see on travel documentaries - cows by the score, oxen-pulled carts, huge temples, crumbling buildings, and touts, touts, touts and then, for good measure, a few more touts. It is a very, very strange environment. Like stepping back 500 years. Or maybe like going to the Glastonbury Festival three months after its finished. Or, maybe, it's like visiting the former centrepiece of an incredibly wealthy and populous civilisation that has fallen into ruin, and slowly been recolonised by Hindu pilgrims, travellers, and the assorted stalls, travel agents ... read more