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Published: January 12th 2012
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Anna and I spent one last night in Goa in the city on Panjim, a former Portuguese colony that is now an amalgam of Indian culture and Portuguese influence; Panjim feels very different from other Indian cities with it's cobblestone alleys, Baroque-style architecture and ornate Catholic cathedrals. Walking the streets was almost a nostalgic experience that reminded me of the romantic charm of Buenos Aires. The street food is also a blend of Portuguese products (more meat than I usually see) and Indian spices, we indulged in a strange dish of lentil stew, cabbage, topped with deep-fried bread, and then topped with corn and spices...good! Also lots of bakeries with beautiful baked-goods (see photo) so it's probably a good thing we only had one day here! It was nice to visit Panjim but I didn't mind not staying long, again to me this wasn't "real India" so I was ready to get back on the road.
As usual the train situation was not looking good (i.e. we couldn't get a confirmed ticket) so we said "ok fine" to the 8 hour bus journey to Hampi...ugh every time I take a bus here I swear to myself "never again!" The whole
trip felt like we were "off-roading" in a school bus, we rarely had an actual paved road for the whole journey...mostly dirt roads with potholes and rocks. To top it off Anna pointed out that our bus driver had a small bottle of whiskey in his front pocket...we assured each other that maybe he just has it for when his shift ends, hmm. The drive was quite beautiful and we passed a lot of stunning country side; spice plantations, rice paddies, and small villages. The bus only stops twice briefly during the journey so again I practically dehydrated myself so that I wouldn't have to pee. When we arrived in Hampi I had a killer headache but was soon elated as we found our hotel and climbed to the roof to check out the view; miles of ruins, massive boulders, temples, banana plantations, lakes, and rice paddies. Hampi is by far one of the most incredible and spiritual places I have been and of course pictures do not do it justice. We spent only 2 days in Hampi but they were action-packed. The first day we started by just exploring the village, and just walking the streets alone can be
an adventure, especially with all the animal life. Monkeys are all over the streets and buildings and they are actually quite troublesome and pesky; they steal food/belongings from people and often ravage the kitchens of restaurants during the night so they are a huge nuisance to many restaurant owners. The cows are also a problem because they will just walk into a restaurant like they own the place and hangout until they get forced out. Also sometimes they will get feisty and run around causing trouble.(see video of Anna almost taken out by a cow!)
Because the temples are so spread out we rented some bicycles and took a tour of some nearby, there are many fascinating temple but we probably spent more time watching the monkeys "monkey around." When we walked back to our bikes there was a monkey on each of our bikes so we had to shoo them away, it was quite a sight to see. The other big nuisance is the kids, I'm sorry to say it but it's true! We took a wrong turn on our bikes and ended up in the village and were accosted by children asking for pens and wanting a
ride on our bikes. Suddenly I had 4 kids on my bike shouting "ride!!" and they wouldn't get off! I actually had to get mean and yell at them, it was like a 20 minute ordeal before I could travel on!
Anna is in love with elephants so we went to visit Lakshmi the temple elephant many times. He was pretty cute, we also received a blessing from him where you give him bananas or rupees and he will give you a kiss, sweet but weird and slimy (see photo) sometimes we would walk down to the river in time to see him getting a bath (see photo)
The second day in Hampi we got ambitious and decided to rent a scooter (we both agreed our parents would kill us...driving on Indian roads without helmets!) but the journey to Monkey Temple was a bit far and uphill and a scooter is a much faster method than a bicycle. We stopped a place that was renting them but they said they were out of scooters and that they only had motorcycles and that we should try one of those cause it's almost the same thing...no
joke! I had a 12 year old trying to convince me that a motorcycle would be easy to learn even if I had never driven one...he said "look, just start and then change gear here...easy!" I said "no, in my country we actually need to take a lengthy course on motorcycles, but thanks anyway." It ended up good cause his Dad found us a scooter that looked like a motorcycle, so we rented our motorbike scooter (now known as the Om Shanti chick mobile, see photo) and felt like total badasses all day on our "wanna-be Harley", I'm not gonna lie, it was hard to learn to drive at first but then it was really really fun, and the most breathtaking journey to Monkey Temple (from what I could see cause I was trying to get the hang of driving the dang thing and not take my eyes off the road). Once you arrive at Monkey Temple you have to climb 572 steps to reach the top but the view( see photo) and atmosphere, is worth the climb, even in the midday heat. It is called Monkey Temple because the temple contains a statue of Hanuman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanuman), a warrior god
of Lord Rama whose avatar resembles a monkey, and there are many monkeys at the top guarding the temple. They are known to be more aggressive than most monkeys in Hampi. This was obvious when one of the friends we were with had a monkey try and steal his water bottle, he resisted letting the monkey have it and it hissed and screamed at him! Pretty scary acutally...I spent most of my time at the top avoiding the monkeys.
I could've stayed in Hampi for a few more days.. even though it is a small town, the surrounding area is vast and one can get lost exploring and finding solitude in ruins and temples all day. The people living in Hampi are all so warm and hospitable. Sadly the people who currently live and work in the Hampi Bazaar area are now being faced with an upcoming eviction by the Indian government. It is somewhat complicated to explain but you can read more about it on the "Save Hampi People" facebook page. (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Save-Hampi-People/304773552877809)
It was really sad and touching talking to local people and hearing how their lives may soon completely change if they are forced to leave
and re-establish their businesses and households elsewhere. I think some of the charm of Hampi comes from the people living amongst the "holy sites" and ruins, if the people are forced to leave I feel the whole character of the town will change. I hope this doesn't happen but if it does I will always feel fortunate to have been able to visit Hampi prior to the renovation.
Next stop...Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu!
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