Hampi

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Well,
I had originally planned to publish a photo update several days ago with many older pictures, but the computer I was using at the time would not allow me to upload photos. So I will combine the photo update with a quick description of Hampi, the last city I visited.

Hampi is a tiny town located on the Deccan Plateau of Southern India. It is situated in a river valley and surrounded by some of the largest boulder fields I have ever seen. Most of the surrounding area is arid, but the river valley provides a green oasis where coconuts, bananas, rice, and pineapples are grown. Hampi today is a shadow of its former self. This tiny town was once located at the center of the powerful Vijayanagar Kingdom, which dominated southern India in the 15th and 16th centuries. Today hundreds of ruined palaces, courtyards, mosques, and watch towers are scattered across the surrounding countryside. Most of the ruins have not been restored, so in order to see them you simply rent a bike or motorcycle, cruise around the countryside and stop to explore. Basically the ruins of Hampi are one gigantic open air museum where you can cruise between exhibits by motorbike. Caroline and I spent 4 days doing this and still only saw a fraction of the ruins in the valley, which covered an area much larger than most modern cities.

While in Hampi we also made a visit to a nearby bear sanctuary to observe sloth bears in the wild. Although the sanctuary itself was nice, the real adventure was in getting there. Located only 20 kilometers from Hampi we foolishly assumed it would be an easy cruise using the bike we had hired, a small but sturdy dirtbike that was built for difficult roads. The bike handled potholes and bumps well, but it lacked in power when carrying Caroline as a passenger. As we got closer to the sanctuary the road became progressively worse. The potholes went from being ordinary in size to being large enough to swallow a small vehicle. Soon the pavement stopped and we were cruising down an uneven dirt road with craters rather than potholes. The last few kilometers to the sanctuary were by far the most difficult I have ever driven on any vehicle in my life. At every hairpin curve the bike would lose traction and the tires would spin out. Miraculously we made it there without doing a face plant in the gravel only to realize we still faced the arduous journey back. An hour later, as we started to get on the bike to leave, a local farmer on a tractor ran over and started shouting at us in Kannada, the local language. Apparently the back tire was completely flat. I had driven several kilometers with a passenger on some of the worst roads Ive ever seen on a tire that had no air whatsoever. Luckily the farmer called over some of his friends who repaired the tire, and we were soon on our way on a much much easier ride back to town.

I left Hampi a couple days ago and took a two day train ride up north to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal. I will write a short blog about Agra in a few days. On another note, while everyone back home is probably enjoying the first signs of spring, the hot season is starting here in India. It has been well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit the last few days, though it is much more tolerable here up north where the humidity is lower. To be honest though I have been here long enough now where I dont really notice it being hot anymore. Tomorrow I am heading to Rajasthan where I will spend the next few weeks.
Bye bye for now

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Photos

Boulder Landscape
The really cool Hampi photos will be posted in a forthcoming blog.

Street Performers
Hampi

Monkeys
all over Hampi