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Published: September 16th 2008
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Hello from soggy India,
I thought I'd write about my weekend trip to a place called Hampi. Three of us went Friday night to the next state to Goa which in Indian terms is pretty far. It really is not that far but the speed of the trains and the reliability of the buses means you need to be patient and just realise you get there when you get there..
We set off (only an hour and a half late) from Margao on a bus. We had booked sleeper places but on entering the bus and not getting our allocated seats we were just told to get up on the beds we found. Chaos definitely reigns on the buses! I'll just say I was glad I was sharing with someone I knew as I'm not sure I would of wanted to be as up close and personal with a stranger. After spooning the night with the girl I was traveling with we arrived in Hampi around seven in the morning.
Getting off the bus, tired and a bit travel sick we then had to push our way through the crowds of men wanting to show you this guest
house or their brothers guest house our get you to take their rickshaw into the town. Thankfully we didn't as the town, which is the size of a small village, was spitting distance from the bus stop. So we walked around for a bit with a posse of guest house owners and after viewing a few decided on one that cost us the equivalent of two pounds each for the night!!
After some breakfast we went for a wander and a got a guide to walk around with for the afternoon. We weren't going to do this but were told it was the safer option as some tourists had been targeted and robbed up in the hills. Chillie powder in the eyes is the first step of their attack, nice.
Anyway the guide was worth every penny and I'd recommend anyone going to do the same as that way you understand what you are looking at. The area is huge and once was all buried under the sea. Now fully excavated it is a vast area of temples market places and statues dating from the thirteenth century.
The landscape with huge boulders and hills is awesome and
at times hard to believe you are not on some film set as it all looks pretty surreal. The afternoon was spent in the main area with the main Hindu temple where there is also a twenty year old elephant who is the protector of the temple. We took a long walk up into the hills and finished the afternoon with a walk up to a viewing point where we sat and watched the sun setting over the beautiful scenery.
The following morning we rose early to meet the guide once again and walked up a hill so that we were in a prime position for the sunrise. This was quite magical as it was silent on the hill top and we shared the experience with a family of monkeys just enjoying the first rays of sunshine themselves. Then just after sunrise we turned around and behind us was a rainbow which just added to the perfect moment...beautiful.
We spent the rest of the day taking it easy and doing some haggling with the stall holders, which I'm getting quite use to now. Although I do miss price tags and am a bit fed up of when you
say how much you only ever get "how much do you want to pay?" then you have to go through with the farce of giving some low figure and them telling you you're robbing them and so it goes on, until you have got down to a price that is double what you should pay but cheap enough for you to feel pleased with yourself that you've got a bargain. I have to say both parties are happy at the end of it so I guess it's just a necessary ritual you have to go along with and as we have taken to say, "this is India."
I felt this weekend, unfortunately for the first time in India, like I saw some of what India truly has to offer. It's a shame it's taken me three weeks to find it but at least it's given me a taster of what else I'd like to see if I returned.
The work I chose to do back in Colva was working in an old peoples home. I have enjoyed the project and the old folk at the home have been adorable but I have had a jaded view of Goa,
probably partly due to it being out of season and constantly getting soaked in yet another down pour hasn't helped. However I have been really lucky with the other guys on the project who have been great and we have made the most of it and had two great weekends to remember.
The weekend before last we went to Palolem which was a really lovely beach resort. However the Saturday we couldn't swim as there were loads of jelly fish around and the Sunday it rained. It was a really good weekend though, the highlight being the fish meal we had out on the beach front. We chose our catch of the day and then it was cooked to perfection with India spices and was the best meal we've had since we've been here, so tasty.
This weekend we return to Mumbai and hope to see a little of it before I'm off for my next leg of my journey. The week has been a bit weird here, hearing bits of news and lots of rumour. Just for those who are concerned; the bombings are further north, the tsunami is just a rumour, I've had my rabies shots
and I'm wearing lots of repellent against getting bitten to avoid dengue fever!! If you got scared by everything you read or hear you'd never travel anywhere but I feel very safe here in Goa it's all fine.
I'm signing off for now and hope to try to add some pics this time, it's a little hard but there is a way around the photo thing so here goes...Karen x
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keith
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goa girl !
well thats nice to read a good catch up on the area, paloem is pretty much where we stayed back in jan, did you see the hotel with its own golf course , top notch, yea best weather is nov-march. never rains then. good luck for the journey down to sri lanka, more familiar terratory for the both of us, let me know where your staying. love ya ; yo bro xx