Temple-tastic Hampi

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We (Dee, Holly and Ben) got an early morning train from Margoa (main town in South Goa) to Hospet (a little town, in nextdoor Karnatika state). We got the cheap tickets (poor person sleeper class unfortunately, it was hot, we got stared at but we survived) and it took about 7.5 hours.

Hospet is nothing to speak of. The streets are full of litter, people sleeping on the pavements and going for a poo in public and we saw a dead dog (boo). The train station was very busy and in the chaos Holly experienced her first boob grope of the trip (one of the crap things you have to put up with if you are a Western female travelling in India). Having survived, just, the 3 of us squeezed ourselves, 6 huge rucksacks and 2 drivers into a tiny tuktuk and headed off to Hampi....the reason we had come all this way!

We found a nice guesthouse in the village Hampi Bazaar (Suresh Guesthouse) and spent a couple of days exploring the hundreds and hundreds of Hindu temples and the rocky landscape Hampi has to offer. Hampi is a lovely sleepy little place and everything closes at 10pm. It is also seen as a very holy place because of all the temples so you can't get meat or beer here. It was Diwali festival of light while we were in Hampi and it was nice to see the locals decorate thelr shops and houses with marigold and chrysanthemum flowers, oil lamps, inscence and banana leaves. Not as nice to be there when they set off thousands of firecrackers at night (we can only imagine it's like being in a war zone!), but all good fun. It was the excited children setting the fireworks alight.......I'm certain I was never allowed to light rockets when I was 4 years old. Safety isn't a word used often in India it seems.

We really loved it in Hampi, but we couldn't linger.......no beer! So then another hot train back to the Goan coast (we stayed in Colva, Benidorm for Indians!) and started of our journey to Kerela in the South.

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Photos

Hampi
View.

Hampi
Dee & Temple

Hampi
Gateway to temples

Hampi
Holy Cow!

Hampi
Street in Hampi Bazaar

Hampi
God

Hampi
Ganesh Elephant God temple

Hampi
Virupaksha Temple

Hampi
Thousands of these rocks everywhere

Hampi
Virupaksha temple complex in the centre of Hampi Bazaar

Hampi
The long main street in Hampi

Hampi
Shops and tuktuk

Hampi
The river in Hampi, still very high after the recent rains and flooding

Hampi
Bathtime

Hampi
Us and a banana plantation on the way to the lovely Mango Tree cafe

Hampi
Us and a hyperactive India family on holiday from Mumbai who wanted their photo taken with us!

Hampi
Holly and Ben writing postcards at the Mango Tree

Hampi
Got trapped by these gurus who insisted we had photos with them, nice people.......cost us 150 rupees for the pleasure!

Hampi
Beautiful Lotus temple, part of the Royal Palace complex

Hampi
Royal Elephant stable block

Hampi
Elephant stables, no elephants though