Advertisement
Published: December 24th 2008
We arrived in Mysore in the early afternoon. After a quick bite to eat we headed to Mysore’s main attraction, the Maharaja’s palace. It was amazing, completely over the top in every way possible. The attention to detail inside was incredible and the whole palace was an almost foolish display of wealth. From the kaleidoscope of colours in the stained glass windows (I stole that line from the lonely planet, it just fits so perfectly), to intricately carved doors inlaid with ivory or gold, to roof to floor paintings, to mosaic floors, it was absolutely amazing. Shame photos were prohibited inside though, as it was truly breathtaking.
While in Mysore we also checked out the Devaraja Markets. The markets were a colourful display of fruit, vegetables, spices, flowers, kumkum (colours) and interesting characters. This was exactly what I had been hoping to see during my time in India.
After the markets we climbed up Chamundi Hill. I use the word climbed very loosely as what we actually did was pay a rickshaw driver 100 rupees to take us up the top - 1000 steps, no thank you. After taking in the surrounding views, we made our way down, this
time actually walking down the 1000 steps. About a third of the way down was one of the largest statues of Nandi (Shiva’s vehicle) in India, so after a quick look at that and being harassed by some ‘priests’ wanting to bless us (for a small price of course) we continued on down. Wearing thongs to climb down 1000 slippery uneven steps was not a good idea, and there were many close calls. Thankfully however we emerged unscathed.
After only a little over 24 hours in Mysore we were back in a 4 hour bus to Bangalore then on an overnight train to Hospet, before an hour’s rickshaw ride to Hampi.
Hampi was amazing and so, so beautiful. It was almost everyone in the group’s highlight of Southern India. As if the landscape of huge granite boulders, green rice paddies and palm trees wasn’t enough it was also incredibly chilled out and home to the fantastic ruins of the city of Vijayanager. One night we climbed up Anjanadri Hill to watch sunset from the Hanuman Temple (Monkey Temple). Monkey Temple was definitely the right name as the 300 steps up to the top were literally crawling with (possibly rabid?)
monkeys.
Whilst in Hampi we also checked out the nearby ruins. There is nothing to describe the ruins, their grandeur was completely unexpected especially after hearing nothing about them until I started researching my trip to India, and that compounded with the landscape made it feel like we were on a completely different planet. The highlight was the Vittala temple, but the Royal Centere (containing the Lotus Mahal and the Elephant stables) as well as the Achyutaraya Temple and Sule Bazaar were equally as fascinating. Whilst checking out the ruins we also took a basket boat down the river. It was a very interesting experience, especially considering a basket boat is exactly what it sounds like. Surprisingly, considering the lack of global knowledge of the area, Hampi is the second biggest archaeological site behind Rome! Words cannot do the place justice, so please just look at the photos.
Aside from this, the rest of our time in Hampi was spent shopping, relaxing at our awesome guest house overlooking the boulders and rice paddies and avoiding offers of every kind of illicit substance available from shady Indian men. At the time we were staying in Hampi there was also a
1 in every 12 years festival were thousands of pilgrims come to bathe in the river. The colours were amazing as all the women bathe in their saris, then change clothes and leave the sari’s to dry over the hills. Check out the photos, it was brilliant.
I should also make note of my near death experience in Hampi. As I was peacefully wandering around the Hampi boulders, minding my own business I was approached by a large Brahman bull (the kind with the hump on the back and massive 40cm horns), this is normal in India, cows are absolutely everywhere (on the streets, in the country, on the beach...) however, this bull seemed particularly agitated and decided to charge, horns first at me. After being briefly chased through the boulders, I evaded the bull and all was well again.
With our time in Hampi up, the next stop was some more fun in the sun in Goa. In order to catch our 6:28 AM train from Hospet, we had to get up and leave Hampi at 4:15 AM. On arrival at the train station after a white knuckle jeep ride, we were delighted to hear that our
train was on time (the train had been traveling for 30 hours prior, therefore usually becomes delayed by an hour or so). However 15 minutes later our guide informed us that the train was in fact 20 minutes late. No problem we thought, what’s 20 minutes?, that’s great for India anyway. A further 10 minutes later our guide informs us that our train is now 4 hours late!!! How a train goes from being 20 minutes to 4 hours late is anyone’s guess. As you can imagine this left us all rather disgruntled, especially after a 4:15 AM rise. Anyway 4 hours turned into 5 hours which was when the rest of the group decided to get a jeep at 1000 rupees a head to Goa... however, being poor backpackers at the beginning of a 5 month holiday, we decided to stick it out. After 7 and a half hours of waiting we finally boarded the train to Goa, which is where we are now.
I probably should mention some more interesting observations I have noted about India, and Indians. Firstly, they are absolutely OBSESSED with phones... all of them. You will be walking though the streets and see
what looks like a poor street vendor or watching a tractor driver plough through the fields only to see them whip out a mobile phone seconds later. Overnight trains can be a nightmare, with everyone talking on their phones or playing the latest Bollywood soundtracks off their phones... all the time. Another phenomenon is the head wobble. The head wobble is part side to side nod and part, well, wobble. It means yes, no and I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about... usually the latter.
Anyway, hope you all have a great Christmas and Happy New Year if I don’t update before then.
Xx Kate
Advertisement
Tot: 0.047s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 11; qc: 19; dbt: 0.0236s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
James Waller
non-member comment
Breathtaking
Some of the scenery you've had the privilege of seeing is literally taking my breath away, from the other side of the World behind a computer screen. The Achyutaraya Temple and Sule Bazaar look like particular highlights, as you pointed out in your blog. I want to hear more about this bull attack though! Nearly died?! Yikes! Given I plan on doing the bull run in Spain perhaps I should heed your warning. Are you just uploading the best photos? If so, I can't wait to see the extended collection upon return. Goa promises to be awesome. Let us know how you celebrate Christmas and New Year. Not missing you too much... yet, haha, Waller