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Published: December 21st 2008
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One thing I love about India is that there is always a festival going on somewhere. We arrived in Hampi without knowing anything about the Puska festival but it was in full swing. It is a Hindu festival that is held every year and rotated among the twelve holy rivers of India. We were very lucky to catch it as it is only held in Hampi once every twelve years. The river was packed with people washing away their sins and generally having fun. It was crazy busy but quite fun and we got to see a proper old fashioned snake charmer with two cobras.
Neither of us knew much about Hampi before we came here but it seemed to be on everyones list so we thought we would give it a go. The overnight bus from Goa was relatively comfortable and we arrived in the heart of the town in what I can only describe as the setting for Jason And The Argonauts or Clash Of The Titans.
Hampi was once the capital of the Vijayanagara empire and there are plenty of ruins of the old town and temples set around what is now a small town. The
Crazy
In England if you stick a knife through your cheek because you're a 'holy' man and then ask for money you would get locked up - not in India! thing that makes the place really interesting is the landscape of weirdly balanced boulders and the contrasts of lush rice fields and banana plantations. It really does feel like you have arrived on another planet. I have no idea how the area was formed but the boulders are in such strange positions, balancing huge ones on top of tiny ones, looking like they are going to topple at any minute. They look like a giant toy set.
We spent the first day at the main temple in the centre of town which houses an elephant called Laxmi who gives blessings. You give him a two rupee coin which he takes in his trunk, gives to his keeper and then pats you on the head. As the festival was on the temple was jam packed with people receiving blessings and giving offerings of coconuts which are smashed on the temple walls and then thrown into the river.
The people here are very friendly and a lot of people wanted to stop to have their photo taken with us which was cute to start with but started to get annoying after a few days. One family gave me their baby
to hold so they could take pictures of me with him. Very wierd. And he didn't seem too happy about it either. We did meet a really nice family who wanted to share their food with us so we had a nice snack of fresh coconut and a warm sweet type thing made of semolina and raisins.
Alcohol is illegal in Hampi but some places will still sell in in an under the table kind of way. We took it as a chance to have a break after the excesses of Goa and just chilled out for a few days, which was nice.
The next day we hired bikes and made our way to the temple of the monkey god Hanuman. This temple sits on top of a big pile of boulders and is 572 steps to the top. No I didn't count them someone told me. In the blazing sun this felt like hard work. We were entertained by a group of monkeys on the way up, one of which successfully got my bottle of water out of my bag. The temple itself is not very impressive but the views from the top are stunning.
The
next one was the Vittala temple which had the coolest little secret room. You have to walk through a pitch black tunnel but it opens into a small room with an altar in the middle and a hole in the roof gives a shaft of light which lands directly on it. Its very Indiana Jones. There are also pillars around the temple which make musical notes when you tap them. Loads of fun.
We visited a few more ruins before we were templed out and spent our last day with a walk to the nearby lake. This was gorgeous to swim in, pretty cold but refreshing after the hot dusty walk. There was a mention of crocodiles so both of us were a little bit nervous but we were convinced that these were just rumours. Still put us on edge a bit. Steve had fun jumping in and even came back with his glasses!
All in all we have really enjoyed Hampi. It has a very chilled out vibe and the people are great. The food is all really good as well, everything tastes fresh as there are so many farms around the town. I would recommend the
masala dosa which is a sort of savoury filled pancake made of rice flour. We have had them elsewhere in India but here they are particulrly good and very light and crispy.
Back to Goa now for a beachy Christmas.
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