India - Hampi and Kerela

---

Leaving Goa
We finallt dragged ourselves away from Goa and the beach and headed through the state of Karnataka to Hampi on the train with a carriage full of other westeners! You could say that it wasn't exactly off the beaten track but, with the scenic journey churning out waterfalls and lush valleys for its length and what you saw when you arrived, you could understand why!





Hampi
Hampi is a lovely little place where huge gravity defying granite boulders and temples litter the green landscape of paddy fields and palm trees. The locals are friendly and excited to see you and unlike some other places that are on the backpacker trail little Hampi seems to absorb the influx of tourists without compromising its local feel. Indeed, on our trips around the temples and villages we saw very few western tourists.

We stayed in a lovely guest house across the river from the main bazar where they brought you ypur breakfast and beers (not normally at the same time) to the patio (complete with bed swing) of your thatched rondoval. The village was nestled among the paddy fields and archetypal boulders and a young kid provided a boat service to to-and-fro you to the main town for 10 Rupees (about 12.5p). We spent the days exploring the many temples on a combination of foot and by moped and snapping away at the locals who all seemed keen to have their photo taken and even more keen to see it afterwards!




From Hampi it was a long trip south through Karnataka to Bangalore on that misnoma: A 'sleeper' bus that felt like it was going over a mogul field for a majority of the way. I spent the day in Bangalore which, seemed to be a pleasant, clean, modern and even quite green Indian town and then took the a pleasingly spotless sleeper carriage down into Kerela.

Kerela - Vakala
The first stop was Vakala, a pleasant sandy cove enclosed by high cliffs lined with discreet-ish lodgings, restaurants and bars. It was a good little spot to chill out for a few days and cool yourself in the ocean after strenuous day of lazing on the beach and eating the delicious tandoori fish. We did take advantage of the bars on one particular occasion when we managed to get somewhat ruined on cocktails that we wangled for 90p all night! Fuelled by Long island iced teas we succeeded in extending the evening by providing additional music couretesy of an ipod, for no other reeason than to watch one of the locals throw some pretty interesting shapes on the dance floor! I finally stumbled home at about 2am to find myself locked out of my guesthouse! Bugg@r.




Alleppy
From Vakala I headed back North to Alleppy where we headed into the famous network of kerelan backwaters on a traditional house boat. For something that was so touristy the whole trip felt, dare I say it, very authentic. We bearly saw any other house boats on most of the waterways we were on, villagers went about their every day routine, washing themselves, their laundry and their pots in the river. The women smiled, the children waved and the men laughed when we lost a sarong over board and our lovely boat guy dove in after it! We cruised around all day stopping for lunch and dinner by the paddy fields, feasting on some of the best food I'd had in India and supping on red wine and cold beers. We took a bit of a swim in the lagoon and dried off in the sun in time for mooring up for the night. It was a great way to spend my last proper day in India.




The subsequent days were spent travelling via Fort Cochin (which, I thought was lovely) back up to Delhi (where they finally decided they would give me a boarding pass 25mins before take off) and onto London for my return to Blighty. Another year of travelling had come to end and as I sit at my computer writing this entry at 6am (I'm still jet lagged) seeing the grey November morning emerge the trip feels a long way away already...

Recommendations
Shanti Guest House in Hampi on the other side of the river to Hampi Bazar and opposite to the place where you can get bouldering maps for the area
Joy and Shiva on their boat Olive to do the backwaters from Alleppy. Not a luxurious boat but, it is perfect for people on a budget. Its perfectly comfortable with one bedroom, a sitting area, a bathroom and a kitchen, awesome food and thwe crew are not at all overbearing.

Full pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/dabilster/HampiIndia2008# and http://picasaweb.google.com/dabilster/KeralaIndia2008#

---