Our Quest to Make Sunset at Hampi

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Hampi is a village in northern Karnataka state of Southern India. It is located within the ruins of Vijayanagara, the former capital of the Vijayanagara Empire. It continues to be an important religious centre, housing the Virupaksha Temple, as well as several other monuments belonging to the old city and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Sarah and I were on a tight schedule to make it from where we were in Mysore to Hampi on an overnight , and continue to Goa to meet our friend. The adventure started at around 5pm on Wednesday, November 17th....

Pushing time, we made the train station just before departure. The train was going to Bangalore where we were connecting to Hampi via Hospet (For more info on transport see "Planes, Trains and Auto Rickshaws!"...coming soon😉. We made the train to Bangalore and just about got the overnight bus to Hospet, where we got a Rickshaw to Hampi. All together it was almost 12 hours of travel, so not too bad!

It was 5am when we payed the Rickshaw driver and found ourselves just outside the village of Hampi. Our goal was to make it to the top of Matunga Hill, Hampi's highest viewpoint and home of the Veerabhadra Temple. The howling of wild dogs (which can be easily and funnily perceived as the howls of wolves!) was all that we could hear. They seemed to be coming from our right. So we walked to our left! As you can see from the video "Make it to Sunrise Part 1" we managed to maneuver past the wild dogs without harm and begin our ascent up Matunga Hill! Next we had to get past the crazy monkeys.

With backpacks and all, we started to walk up the mound of boulders that was Matunga Hill. We had about 25 minutes to sunrise, so we had to keep moving. After a few minutes we heard the sound of mischievous monkeys and soon we saw then clambering around in front of us. I rolled camera ("Make it to Sunrise Part II"), we payed our respects to the primates and kept on moving up. Not long until Sunrise...

After about a half hour we made it to the top. It was a decent hike especially with all our luggage, but we enjoyed it. You can also enjoy seeing our triumphant ascension to the top in the final video "Make it to Sunrise Part III" which can be seen here...

The view from up top was incredible. We could see for miles. From Hampi Bazaar across the river, along the Colonnade to the Krishna temple and it's beautiful sculptures. It was breathtaking, even though it was slightly cloudy at the time.

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Photos

Sarah sees
View for miles around Hampi

Packed Train
Crammed as it was, we had fun and met some nice people on the train.

Hampi early morn
On our way to Matunga Hill

Cheeky Monkey!
He nabbed our bananas

Comments

[helen]

clothes
where are your clothes and what is that on your belly - hmm

[Beth Schramm]

Awesome!
Hi guys! Hope you're enjoying your trip. Looks like you're having an incredible adventure. Jack and I just got back from celebrating our 10th anniversary in Mexico. We love ruins, too, so we went to Chichen Itza. Your pics of Hampi remind me a bit of Angkor Wat. May have to add it to our travel list:) Much respect to you both for making the climb with backpacks--I know how hard that must have been! Keep living the dream, and have a Merry Christmas in Brazil!!

[Bref Sarah]

Hi Beth & jack
Hi Beth and jack, Great to hear from you - congrats on your anniversary. Mexico sounds like it was amazing! Yes - we really are making an adjustment, but loving every minute of it! Merry Xmas to you and jack!