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Published: March 17th 2009
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A look from inside
It was definately not the cleanest of the trains we've been on. And ironically enough, before the train departed the station we were asked to fill out a survey about the cleanliness of the coach. The three musketeers set forth unto a new adventure.
Well, sort of new, for some of us.
In our absence, Jasmine had visited a few places and decided that she liked it so much that she wanted to go back to Hampi with us. Were were really happy to hear that since it was definately on the top of our list of things to do and weren't sure how we were going to convince her to go back there with us.
Things just work out sometimes.
The train ride from Goa to Hospet is beautiful. With rice paddies and palm trees lining the rail road tracks.
Hampi is jaw droppingly gorgeous. That's what I want to say, firstly.
Its absolutely amazing and very unique, Guillaume and I have never seen a place quite like that before.
There are GIGANTIC piles of GIGANTIC boulders strewn about every which way. Its truly amazing to see how they are balanced ever-so graciously ontop of another pile of boulders, seeming like they would just fall off with a strong enough breeze.
Lucky for the boulders, and unlucky for us, Hampi was STIFLING hot, with not even the slightest of faintest of breezes to help
us out.
Our days spent there went something like this:
Maybe we would make the effort to scramble up the boulders to catch a view of the glowing green rice paddies below and the and the ancient Hindu temples, burning in the sunset in the distance. Maybe we would just pass the entire day, lazing about on the hanging bed outside our bungalow door, with a great book, bothering only to get up for meals and perhaps a deliciously frozen Lemonana (blended drink of ice, lemon juice, sugar and mint!).
It is incredibly touristy in Hampi and there are always drawbacks that come with that. The locals are not very friendly or very genuine and you can sort of feel them sneering at you as you turn your back. Also, the complete lack of local restaurants.
Guillaume was in a total food nightmare!
Stuck in tourist restaurants where you have choices of Israeli plates (which are not so bad actually) and pizzas (which you shouldnt even ponder to order).
But of course, Hampi is so beautiful that we could definately bear with that for a week or so. Easily.
The pace of life in Hampi is very,
Another one
from the train very slow, and I was very, very happy about that. Its always nice to take it down a notch, especially in this country where things are usually quite intense.
I do HAVE to mention the exception to the "locals are not friendly" statement. There is, in every restaurant, a full army of Nepalese chefs and waiters, working hard to please us difficult tourists. And I commend them for doing it all with a smile.
They are ALWAYS smiling and happy to talk to you, whether its genuine or not, they have a good way of making you feel welcome.
Of course there are some upsides to being in a tourist-ridden area as well.
There are many services being offered to cater to backpackers needs and desires.
For instance, many restaurants have invested in large-screen televisions and, at night-time during dinner, play movies for us to enjoy. This is so wonderful since during such a long trip its nice to just kick back and watch a movie, sometimes.
Unfortunately, Jasmine and I made the dire mistake of requesting to watch "The Day the Earth Stood Still" and were forced to stare into Keanu Reeves' alien eyes for 90 minutes,
Tending to the...
SPECTACULAR, dazzling green rice paddies. trying not to burst into laughter and disturb all the other people trying to watch it.
On one ambitious day we woke up early and rented bicycles and cycled around to check out the stunning 16th century temple complexes. It was so strange to find that alot of the time we were all on our own, in these places that were so beautiful we couldn't even fathom to exist. It was so special to be there.
But so hot.
By the middle of the day we found that we were turning into raisins (and I'm not talking about the cool Californian type, it was NOT a pretty sight) and needed a refuel...QUICKLY!
Lucky for us, there is ONE amazing restaurant, on the OTHER side of the river (unfortunately, you have to deal with and cross with the cocky boatmen who have a most disgusting monopoly on river crossings in the whole town!).
The restaurant is called Mango Tree and they serve really delicious thali meals right on a banana leaf and its AMAZINGLY tasty. Really well worth having to face those slimy boatmen.
After one week in Hampi of hanging out, sweating it out, reading out, eating out,
talking out, electricity out...we realized that we had had our fill of the place. And actually we didn't have much of a choice. Jasmines time in India was coming to an end quicker than we thought and so we needed to move it along and see other things.
We hopped on another train and headed to Mysore.
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jassipoo
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don't we rock!?
We just wanted to stop paying for that stupid boat... lets start a petition to get that bridge up and running!