Temples, partying and cooking in Hampi

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On the sleeper bus to Hampi I have the pleasure to share the rear top bed with another traveller. It's narrow, short (always keep your knees tucked in) and the potholes make you take off from your bed and approaching the low ceiling. Only two metal posts prevent me from falling.... but I should not complain, after all I was lucky to get a place on this bus to start with...

Hampi used to be the capital of the South Indian Vijayanagar empire in the 16th century. Then Muslim invaders destroyed most of the temples and left the place deserted. Only in the 20th century the place was rediscovered and the monuments restored. There are only a few active temples because Hindus stop worshipping in a temple where the divine statue has been destroyed.

The area is amazing with temples and attached bazars scattered in the rocky landscape. Heaps of balancing boulders are everywhere and it seems hard to believe why they have not moved for so many years. The whole place used to be under the sea in ancient times. Between the boulder formations there are endless forests of banana and palm trees. All in all a very chilled and holy place (no alcohol is sold in Hampi) and travellers appreciate the laid back atmosphere.

You get beautiful food here, I really loved the Masala dosas, Indian style pancakes made with chickpeas and all sorts of delicious fillings.

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Photos

Hampi Old Bazar
This bazar used to be a trading place for textiles, spices and gold. Virupaksha temple in the background.

Balancing stones...
...don't touch otherwise they will fall over!

Kamasutra carving
And that's just one of them!

Sunrise from Shiva temple...
...with great views over Virupaksha temple, Old Bazar and endless horizon of banana trees and boulder formations.

Indian cooking with Lakshmi....
....and two nice Austrians Georg and Maria. Georg, a professional chef and double Lakshmi's size, contemplates his first naan bread.

Stag's night the Indian way
There is no alcohol involved but people have other ways to have a good time...

Lotus Mahal
The Queen's Lotus palace - apparently the Muslim invaders did not destroy it because it reminds of arabic architecture.

Gardening work
An Indian work force planting grass on the arid soil.

Military tactics
This relief shows the military tactics used by the South Indian kingdom of Vijayanagar: first they would send the elephants, then the cavalry and infantry. If that does not work they would send dancing girls and poison girls. These girls have been brought up with poison and when they seduce the enemy's king he would pass away...

Basket boat
This boat carried five of us and potentially even more Indians.

Ganesha the Elephant god
Ganesha is my favourite Hindu god. He got his elephant head when his father Shiva chopped his head off by accident and replaced it with an elephant head to fix the problem. Ganesha is the remover of obstacles.

Sounding pillars Vittala temple
These pillars where used to make music in the dancing hall of this temple. They are even tuned with varying pressure and length. We will never find out if they really sound because it's forbidden to touch them...