Blogs from Karnataka, India, Asia - page 148

The night bus rides always seem to be a blur between states of consciousness. It is impossible to fall completely asleep because every 15 minutes your body is launched completely in the air from hitting a big bump. Amazingly though, the Indians on the bus sleep like they were in a comfortable bed. The early morning sun revealed an amazing landscape as we approached the small town called Hampi. Boulder ridden hills surrounded us in every direction. It was as if an earthquake rattled the mountains apart ages ago. The small village sat by the river and reminded us a lot of Mamallapuram. We found a small guest house in the alleyways close to the river's edge. The town had a very laid back atmosphere and we could tell that tourism was the soul source for ... read more

In the City Palace, we had met an Indian lady recently returned from the USA. She was an artist, writer and dancer, and gave us a vivid demonstration of classical Indian dance. The advanced dancers are able to translate any sentence into a dance movement, just what Deeptie did for us. Due to the interesting conversation with her, we were a bit late to catch a bus to our next destination, Somnathpur, a famous temple of the Hoysala style. As we absolutely wanted to see this monument, there was no other way than to become decadent westerners again and to hire an auto-rickshaw. When we had bargained a price that seemed reasonable to us - by the way, bargaining here is a must, from the jewellery shop to the fruit vendor, only then you are accepted ... read more

The bus ride from Mysore to Bangalore was much better than our previous one. We got a deluxe bus (more comfortable) and traveled during the day. All of the villages and towns we passed through were packed full of people. I believe the Karnataka election results were being broadcast over loudspeakers on the main streets and everyone was out to hear the results. As soon as we got back to Padmanabh's house we were whisked off visit Mahesh's family. They were very kind and stuffed us full of home cooking. His father is a rice merchant and the rice pancakes we ate were made from the rice that he sells. Both his parents didn't speak English and Bean and I still haven't picked up any Kanada so Padmanabh translated for us. We had an enjoyable evening ... read more

We've spent the past two days in one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to. After leaving the farm in Palahalli we traveled several more hours by car to our current destination. We drove through a wildlife sanctuary where we saw wild peacocks, foxes, deer, and fowl. Prashanth drives extremely fast, like he is in race or something, he finally hit a bump hard enough that his front bumper fell off. We tied it back on with some string and continued on our way through blooming coffee estates. The smell of the coffee flowers filled the air. We arrived at the base of the Irpu Waterfall and Brahmagiri Trek route at about 8 in the morning to meet up with a group of 15 trekkers. Most of them were accountants or business men, ... read more

The Cauvery Fishing Camp, overlooking the River Cauvery consists of just eight luxurious ethnic log-huts on stilts, blending beautifully with the jungle behind. On the riverbank are also nine well-furnished tented cottages (twin-bedded with attached bathrooms) for those who prefer a more closer-to-nature experience The fishing camp in only about a 2 hour drive from Bangalore, most of which is through an interesting landscape that reminded Paul of his time serving in the African continent. Also, very interesting are the Rock formations that look very inviting - Hopefully, next time I will get to combine a fishing holiday with an active rock climbing trip. We reached the camp in the evening. Soon after checking into our hut - we headed out into the river accompanied by an experienced coracle boatsman. Taking in the view of the ... read more