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Published: October 22nd 2006
Hindu Temple
A God riding his peacock with his wives by his side.After a relatively pleasant 8 hour train ride in the heat of the day we hadn't even stepped off the train and we were being accosted by rickshaw drivers willing to take us the 15km to Hampi for as little as 20 rupees ($0.50CND). Getting off the train is always an experience. We've found in the smaller tourist towns, you can get a ride very cheap, sometimes free, from the train station because the rickshaw driver is hoping to get some other business like a commission from the hotel you stay at, or a city tour by rickshaw, or an illegal substance purchase. We try and avoid the relentless rickshaw drivers because you end up paying through the teeth for a room. Out of the swarm of drivers we choose a honest looking young man and upon arrival to Hampi his friend jumps in the rickshaw as well and we go to "his" hotel. You never win. However, the hotel he chose was brand new and the cleanest place we have yet to stay at in India. The white tiled floor was actually white.
After the hotel check in we had to check in with the local police station where
they took down our information and our camera type. Apparently there used to be quite a bit of crime in Hampi but things have cleaned up. There were interesting photos of convicted criminals on the wall. Unfortuntaly included in those were some drug possession charges against an Israili and French tourist from 1998 and they're probably still sitting in an Indian jail.
The shops and restaurants in Hampi are quaint and fun to have a look around. Fresh fruit juices were divine - especially black grape juice (much better than Welches) and the pineapple banana. A very chatty, slighly crazy, gypsie woman selling jewelry got my attention and adorned me with almost everything she had. Within three minutes I had on two toe rings, two anklets, three armbands and a necklace. She was going to add a belt with flashy mirrors on it until I had to stop her. But she had a good sales strategy: after some hard bargaining I ended up leaving with the toe rings and anklets. I'm becoming quite the Indian fashion diva!
Amidst the boulders of balancing rocks there is quite a bit of religious history with many Hindu temples and stone statues
of gods. Our first day we rented a scooter (becoming a common theme with us) to explore the area on our own and soon realized tha to appreciate all the temples and ruins we would need a better explanation than the LP provided.
We've read the book "Holy Cow" (a best seller amoung tourists here) which gave a small taste about Hinduism but with so many Gods it's hard to keep track of it all. We met a genuine fellow named Shiva (used to be a tour guide, now runs family restaurant) and we got on well and he spoke good english so we hired him for the day to take us around and explain all the temples and statues and important historical places.
The stories behind all the sites were all very informative and interesting, but I'd be damned if I can remember them all. My favorite is the story of the good-luck god, Ganesh, an elephant headed man with a fetish for sweets who gets around riding a rat. Hopefully for Hampi a picture says a thousand words....
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Tahna
non-member comment
Dude get a haircut! haha. Look at those locks flowing in the wind.... Looks like you're both having a fabulous time. Take care!