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Published: December 21st 2006
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train platform
Huge trains pulled by one enormous diesel Now camped out in Soofia's home-town Bangalore, but first Hampi...
Hopped on the day train to Hospet for Hampi from Margao in Goa and met a nice couple on the train.. Very nice ride; first up through the mountains and jungle, past waterfalls. Then across a fertile plain with huge fields of sunflower, red peppers, corn, and other crops we couldn't identify. I hopped of the train to get some small bills at one stop and semi-accidentally bought almost 2 bunches of bananas; at least the price was good.
At Hospet we disembarked into the typical group of rickshaw touts and used the rude, but most effective tactic of politely saying 'no thanks' once, then ferociously ignoring. We decided to book our tickets onward to Bangalore right then, since we were at the station. Booking tickets is not that difficult; the people at the tourist window speak good English and will help you fill out the form. As well, the trains haven't been full more than a day or two following. Love the train.
Back in the parking lot, we chose one rickshaw guy to take us to Hampi; another one went crazy and started yelling at that
guy figuring he'd somehow stolen us away from him. On the way back the guy took the scenic route so that despite leaving well in advance we were worried about missing the train, and then on arrival he demanded more than we'd agreed on at the outset! HA! Forget it. (We always settle a price or insist on the meter before setting foot in a cab). I could go on, but so far Hampi has the most horrible rickshaw guys we've encountered. This part of India we're still figuring out, but our rule of thumb is that the first guy you meet setting foot off the train is the most trouble, followed by the second guy and so on in descending order. Sometimes there is a fixed-price taxi stand which even Indians use, but not often. One strategy is to walk some distance from the train station if you can and find a major road and then pick up a plain-old honest rickshaw driver, but it's really hard to escape (they chase you) and they tend to scare away the regular rickshaw guys. Another more practical strategy may be to just pay double for the ride, since you're often dealing
with $1.50 vs. $0.75! Human nature, we hate to be taken advantage of for any sum of course, even when it's a pittance to us and dinner for a poor family - sounds terrible to say in print, but automatic behaviour in practice.
So... Hampi. Banana plantations begin, and then suddenly, huge reddish boulders! Awesome landscape. You pass sections of wall, small temples, more boulders and then find the main Hampi boulevard with the excellent and imposing southern-style temple at one end, and rows of low pillars lining the other. These pillars would have housed the vendor stalls back in the day. Our pals from the train helped us find a place to stay and we spent some more time with them the next day, nice folks, and she was from near Darjeeling as a child and spoke Hindi!
A moderate-sized river runs through Hampi, but there is only an aluminum boat that acts as a ferry across. In the morning, many Indians run down the steps to bathe in the river, and also wash off the village elephant!
Next day we did a tour of the ruins by rickshaw. The main temple was many stories high,
Vishnu
I believe this is the locally popular Vishnu avatar (forgetting the specific name), note the coiled multiheaded snake that he sits on is also forming a sort of canopy to shade him. with each level somewhat smaller so that it tapered to the top. There was a wedding going on that day with some lively traditional music that stuck us as nearly Dixieland in a strange way. There were many, many lesser temples. One of which had stone pillars incorporating small side columns (about the length and diameter of your forearm) that were tuned and could be played musically! I wouldn't have thought stone would behave that way. A couple of huge expressive sculptures were our favourites, one excellent Ganesh and one goggle-eyed southern avatar of Vishnu. The mortarless masonry is impressive - very large rocks fitted tightly together. Unfortunately, many of the structures were rubble, reduced to just a base where it would have stood. It's an enomous and extremely impressive site, but I think we would give Mandu the edge over Hampi somehow. The boulder terrain has a strange effect also, possibly making the entire scene more incredible, but perhaps reducing the impact of the buildings themselves.
At one point, our rickshaw driver revealed that he had this rickshaw stereo! There was a huge custom bass cabinet mounted behind the back seat, and it was surreal to cruise through
Boulders
Spot me in the shady part all of this ancient scenery with this modern dance music blasting!
Took the ferry the next day and saw the other side of the river - quite a number of places to stay and eat there and more relaxed somehow without the sales kiosks all over. Rented bikes and rode a few kilometers out to the Hanuman temple, the birthplace of the God Hanuman. It's sited on a huge boulder peak, and there are hundreds of winding stairs leading up to it. Excellent view, though the temple itself was less impressive than we'd expected. Though getting building materials up there would be no picnic. We were mobbed by Indian scouts on a field trip and had to work our way to the stairs and escape back down to our bikes. There were some monkeys living among the boulders, but we hear they can be dangerous so we keep our distance!
(Pictures and Bangalore to come - no USB port here)
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Aaron and Debra
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Happy Holidays!!
Hey guys, hope you're having a most wonderful time in your travels. Such incredible pictures and marvelous narrative. Just wanted to drop you a line wishing you both a happy new year and safe journeys. We can't believe there's really only six weeks to go? Dig the beard too John! Cheers, Aaron and Debra