Hampi aka Bedrock

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Waking in Gokarna town at 6am we checked out and headed to the bus station. Once chris had scrambled onto the bus rooftop to securely fix our backpacks (much to the amusement of the locals), we boarded the bus and embarked upon a 9 hour journey to Hospet en route to Hampi. Departing the bus we took a rickshaw 12km to Hampi Bazaar where the rickshaw driver recommended Archana Guesthouse. Taking a look inside we decided to stay and so bargained hard over room prices, eventually agreeing on 200 rupees/night. With accomodation sorted we then headed out for dinner before heading back to bed ready to explore the next day.

The only real way to describe Hampi is Siem Reap (Cambodia - Angkor Wat) meets Rome meets the flinstones - a playground for historical and ancient architect enthusiasts. Given that Hampi was rich in sights and scenery, the next 3 days were spent hiring a motorcycle and setting about exploring the amazing ruins by ourselves, not to forget meeting Lakshmi (the resident elephant) at the main temple complex, who would perform blessings in return for a bunch of bananas and a few rupees.

Come thursday, feeling rather templed out and having seen almost everything there was to see, we decided it was time to move on and head via an all-night sleeper bus to Goa - India's kiss-me-quick capital - home to all-night raves, cheap, tax-free alchohol and pristine sands.

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