Blogs from Hampi, Karnataka, India, Asia - page 4

V noci som sa na komarov zobudil len raz,dalsi raz som sa zobudil na zimu a asi 3x na bordel co tu robili indovia. Totalne nahlas sa medzi sebou rozpravali,uplne kricali. Okolo 4/00 zacali chodit na hajzel,ocul som len same grcanie alebo co to bolo za zvuky. Nabuduce si radsej priplatim a ziadne byvanie s indami. Z postele som vypadol okolo 8/00,zastavil sa na plackove ranajky a siel cca 3,5km po ceste k juznym chramom. Da sa tu pozicat aj motorka resp.vo velkom tu turisti chodia na bicykloch ale to ma nelakalo. Vsetko je to fajn dostupne pesi,teda ak to clovek nechce obehnut za jeden den. Chramy v podstate to iste co vcera,zrucaniny,prach,skaly a jeden plateny areal. Ten som opat nenavstivil,i ked tu uz bolo vidiet indicke jednanie,straznik ma chcel pustit dnu za 100rupii,inak listok 250 ... read more

There's nothing intimate about Indian cities. Surely it's here that that well worn cliche "assault on the senses" was spawned. Urban India is where the concept of a billion people in one nation resonates. The gamy odours of raw filth that overlay the spicy aromas of street cuisine. The incessant rhythmic honking of car horns. Mosque wake up calls (there may only be a 10% Muslim population here but that's still 100 million). Mainlining vegetarian curries. Cows knee deep in street rubbish somehow eking out an alternate food source to grass. It's dank, it's full throttle and maybe it's not the Indian romance of imaginations or from the pages of Rudyard Kipling, but the lurching excitement of Mysore, Bangalore and Hyderabad has left a thousand still-life images entrenched in the memory banks. No more so than ... read more

The end of 2012... It had been such a difficult year in some ways, but so amazing also! I love new years and the start of a fresh calendar. Well, I dislike the last minute party plans and people making a huge deal out of NYE but I think it is important to take a moment to reflect on the past year and what you have accomplished. I remember a piece of paper I wrote with my goals that stared at me every day. If you don't make any goals, you certainly won't reach them. I set absurdly ridiculously huge goals...and guess what? If I had that little piece of paper with me right now, I could draw a line through everything I wrote down. That being said, ok, yes I wanted to travel for a ... read more

I made a promise in my last entry that I would dedicate this entry to ruins and the movie Up, and I have no intention of disappointing (I know you all must be sitting at the edge of your seats, dying to hear about both). First, some ruins, and then I'll move on to this Upbusiness when I get to that part of the story. Our ruins exploration took several different forms over a couple of days: One day, we walked to one end of the Bazaar and wandered around, and the next we went to the other end of the Bazaar, where the Virupaksha Temple is, and Peter and I took a bike tour from there (Ally doesn't bike so well, so Bitsy agreed to walk around with her instead of touring with us). (Before ... read more

Well, this week has certainly been quite the adventure. There is quite a bit that I'd love to tell you all, but I'm getting the feeling that it may take a while for me to sprinkle all of my impressions into my various entries. I certainly can't put it all in one, because it would look a bit like a novella in length. So, I've decided to break certain ideas/observations into specific topic-entries. But I thought it'd be nice to give a general overview of my travels here and in a few subsequent entries. Our adventures began in Bangalore, with a fine mediterranean meal on the roof of a nice, clean mall. It was the most lavish meal I've had in India to date, but I am finding more and more that I don't really crave ... read more