The Wobble

By now you would’ve gathered that the bus journey was dreadfully uncomfortable. I spent the entire night fighting the urge to pee and also frightful force of gravity, time and time again a bump on the road left me hanging indiana jones like on the edge of my bunk which I figured was a better fate than being spooned by my new peruvian friend!! Eventually we landed in Hampi which as you can see from the photos or at least get some idea from them, is a really amazing place. The first thing that strikes you is the landscape, everywhere there are these giant sandstone bolders, twas as if there was a massive shower of them thousands of years ago. We got the now customary indian reception of a fleet of autorickshaws each touting a guesthouse somewhere in Hampi. Luckily enough Marika, a dutch girl we got talking to on the bus had done some research on accomodation in the town. She said that the other side of the river there were some places that were more chilled out and of a decent quality which would do for me. So off I went traipsing after them buckling under the savage heat I just prayed that the place was close. After about an hour we managed to find a place that had 3 single beds. The place was excellent. Hammocks & a bar – what more could you want? I immediately made for my bed though as I was seriously wrecked. Took it easy that night, went for a little walk later on in the evening but nothing major – had a few beers and went to bed!!

We decided to take in the sights the following day but to be honest you could spend weeks here and not see it all. We took a guided tour through the main temples in the middle of the town, there were monkeys, cows, goats, hens, pigs and even an elephant in this place. It was great entertainment. The place was full of weekend day trippers, I lost count the number of times young boys came up and shaked my hand, asked my name ‘That is a strong name sir’ before buggering off as quick as they came. They all used the same line so rather than actually thinking that Phil Gill is a strong name I think its just a default response they get thought at school when encountering men with incredibly white skin!!

From here we walked up Hampi Bazaare where all the local business people came to sell their wares, it was a thriving market but unlike mumbai and goa they were not nearly as insistent on flogging you stuff so that made it alot more enjoyable. On up past the bazarre there is the largest hill in hampi which of course had a temple on top of it. It was crying out to be climbed so that was our modest target for the day before going to find something to eat. The walk up there was spectacular, you should get some idea from the photos what it was like. For the following hour I wrecked heads humming the indiana jones theme tune – thats what it was like for me
We went for food back in the bazaare – it was quite funny, the place we went into was pure local, but they also had just one proper pan to cook food so we got our food one person at a time, I got mine first but poor adoni had to wait till last, he was wilting big time before they got round to him. We then headed for the last boat back to the other side of the river, missing it meant a 40 km taxi ride to get around so it was imperitive that we got there on time. On the way we were accosted by this tiny little girl who immediately attached herself to marika and myself. She was just completely adorable and waited with us until our boat arrived. Its a little crazy the way that children can roam freely without fear. She sat there though and played away, it really does bring it back home that we are no different from each other at least at that age – she reacted in the exact same way that my nieces would when I goof around with them. Its these little encounters that I am enjoying so much so far on this trip.

That night was another mix of some delicious food and a few bottles of beer. after the bar closed we sent one of the local boys off to get some bottles of rum. with these in tow we headed on down to the riverside for a couple of hourse, talking away under the full moon and stars. From there the moonshine on the temples across the river really looked otherworldly. The only downside was that I has put out to harvest for the mosquitos, the annoying little bastards eat me up. They cannot seem to get enough of the prime cavan beef

There were alot of israeli young people staying in hampi – Its a thing that after they have finished their mandatory service with the army that they take some time off to travel and blow off a bit of steam. To be honest they took over the place way too much and treated some of the locals especially the guys who worked in the place where we were staying with what amounted up to just pure distain – it really left a bad taste in your mouth but I guess it also had the effect of galvanising the group I found myself in. Some of them did however tell us about ‘the lake’, which was a good place to visit and relax in, So that was our mission the next day to find the lake!!

I woke up about midday the next morning with a massive urge to get some motion going in the bowel area, got up out of bed and into the ensuite – for some reason I took a quick look at the bowl, I dunno if its something I always do, maybe it is and because I never see something memorable I forget that I do it – this time as I am sure you can guess there was something there. A little mouse threading the water furiosly, he must have been completely knackered. I reckon he was in there all night. I quickly went outside to get one of the attendants to do a job on him as I didn’t have the heart to flush the poor little bugger away, needless to say the attendant had less sentimental issues, flush flush flush and mickey was on his way to a better place.

Soon after we headed off to find the lake, we passed some wonderously balanced boulders, there were plenty of monkeys aswell playing in the trees as we passed. Eventually we spotted what was a wall in the distant, it clicked now. The lake was a resevoir and a beautiful one at that. We picked a spot where we got hassled first by indians, then by goats and finally by a bunch of the aforementioned israeli party crowd with their head melting techno music. We treked a little up the coast where we could swim, sit around and chat away. Some of the views left us speechless. Of all the places I have been in india and all the places I will see I am sure that hampi will rank high when it comes to sheer visual stimulation. If anyone who reads this has the chance to go there, go already!!!

With enough sun for me and enough of my daz whiter than white skin for my travel buddies we packed up and headed back to the resort. The next day was a well deserved lazy day, I just sat around in my hammock reading my noam chomsky book – ordered food and just about managed to summon enough energy to climb some boulders to get a good view of the sunset. Its a real ritual in hampi to find a place, temples are usually the best and most spectacular and magical so we headed to one of those. It was full of israeli kids, two off them were how should I put it, chemically enhanced. They had a pair of Bongo drums and were beating away on it with the rythym of a drunken uncle at a wedding – I really put so much energy into wishing a monthy pythonesque spontaneous human combustion fate for these two numpties but somehow it didn’t work – we had to put up with the incessant noise trying to block it out while the deepest red sun I have ever laid my eyes on plunged itself into the horizon. For minutes after it disappeared we were left speechless by it – just minutes though, you know I cannot keep myself quiet for that long

The following day was my last day. I decided to go and meet my friend from home in Bangalore. He is working there and had the use of a plush appartment with hot water and laundry – two weeks into the trip I figured it was time for a bit of luxury. So off I went away from my new friends for what I assumed was the last time. I was lucky to come across a wedding type ceremony in Hampi village before I departed for my nighttime bus to bangalore. To be honest I couldn’t even begin to describe the scene, it seemed chaotic at first with drums and dancing, people continuously circling around a happy/bemused couple throwing all sorts of confetti on them. I have some pictures which I will post up soon!!

But that was hampi for me – I loved the place and will come back again some day.

Later,
Phil

The Night Bus From Panji (Goa) to Hampi
It took quite a mental effort to leave Goa behind. I have heard of people spending months on end in that place, time just slips by so easily. By the end of the week I was already in a routine of getting up at 12 to go for a swim, back to the house for a shower etc before heading back down to the beach for food, sit around, read a book before going for a few beers at the shack closest to where I was staying. To be honest Its hard to tell some of the days apart and to be honest I didn’t like that too much. That and the fact that Goa is full it seems of package tourists who are just into themselves so doesn’t really nurture the back packing fraternity the way someone travelling on their own needs, so the decision to leave was made.
Friday morning I grabbed a taxi from Arambol to the state capitol Panji – I even managed to negotiate a fare of 600 rupees down to 400 – very proud of that effort altogether. The trip over was nice, the taxi driver was cricket mad and pointed out a few places of interest. It was a good way to get to see what Goa really is like, its not just beaches and shacks. There is a very strong christian influence in goa that comes from when the portugese settled here and it is still very prevalent in the buildings and the imagery that surrounds the place and as a result (I am told) doesn’t represent true india.
I got the driver to drop me at the bus depot in panji – its was a fairly chaotic scene at first, that coupled with the heat made it a little disorientating but a quick consultation with the lonely planet got me to Pablos Travel agency. Here I booked the sleeper ticket to hampi via bus, they allowed me to store my backpack while I had about 6 hours or so to go off and explore panji and pretty much find out why it is such a hidden gem.
Hidden Gem is definitely not what I would call this town, while it was okay to walk around and the people didn’t hassle you on the scale of mumbai, 6 hours was definitely about 3 too long. I took time out to check up on the internet, grab a coffee and loosely plan the next month of my trip and grab a few extra medication things to keep me going till I got to another major town. I also managed to watch in on a game of cricket. At around 5 o’clock I reckoned it was about time to head back to the bus station but a funny thing happened, the city exploded with people, they seemed to come from nowhere like wasps getting smoked out of a hole – I figured it was the end of the working day and it was some sight. It was also very disoriented, I got lost with a sore pair of feet traipsing around the place
After about 40 minutes I managed to get my bearings once again, oh and I got to nimble on some tasty street food while I was at it. I’m not sure if I mentioned this before but I have decided to go vegetarian for this trip in India, I started off on the meat in everything but had a bit of a toilet episode after some dodgy chicken so touch wood on the veggies it has been fine. Eating lots of paneer food so that will do as a meat substitute until I can constitute the stuff a little better.
I sat outside the bus station for the guts of an hour, started a conversation with a few English chaps who seemed quite sound. Swapped stories about Goa, they were further south than me and had a ‘wicked time’ down there. Sounded like too much like hard work, staying up till 6 or 7 in the morning was not something I had planned to do on my relaxing week at the start of my trip. Next thing we know the bus turned up. Man you should have seen this bus, some effort. It looked like a bigger version of the bus out of scooby doo. Got my bag in first so it was less likely to be nicked and boarded the bus.
After being pointed to my bed/seat I noticed that it was shared with someone else. Can you imagine, a 13 hour trip across some bad excuse for tarmacadam sound corners and up mountains with some strange dude you never met before in the space that was barely bigger than a single bed back at home and about 1/10 as comfortable.

So I lay back on the bunk with my head on my smaller bag, the bigger one stowed safely away (or so I hoped) in the back of the bus waiting anxiously to see who or what I was to share this trip with. I didn’t have to wait very long. Adonai is the kind of person who you hear before you see, with a full beard and and a faux-hippy sense of style he came bounding on the bus and made a beeline for the berth beside me. We made our introductions, christ he was loud and energetic – a south american taz!! It took quite a while to get a word in edgeways. This might seem like a total nightmare but to tell the truth I was kinda happy. I hadn’t really spoken to anyone in the previous week so it was good to have someone to chat to, we hit it off straight away.

I definitely felt out of my depth to begin with, adonai had been all over the world, could speak 5 languages perfectly and had an armoury of stories that had me green with envy. We stopped for some food after a few hours, the stop was I’m guessing in the middle of nowhere. We ordered some biryani and sat with this english dude who was as dull as dishwater, the waiter came over and started to regale us with stories of conquests past – showing us pictures of girls that had come through the previous weeks, whether what he said was true or not doesn’t really matter – the stories he told and how he told them were funny and eye opening for me, we are all the same no matter where you go. Fellas talk about girls and girls talk about clothes or shopping or whatever girls talk about :)!! It was getting on and we were getting anxious about the bus. The waiter assured us that he would tell us when the bus driver was finished so we could go then, I think he was enjoying the audience too much because all of a sudden we hear a horn blast and a roar of some hindi from outside, he gave us a look and said, ‘sorry sirs, your bus is pulling out’, SHIT!!! We jump up, adonai scarpers right out the door to catch it, I went to pay for the bill… At this point I made a big mistake. I bought 4 bottles of kingfisher strong and brought them out and on into the waiting bus. The last person on I appologised sheepishly and climbed back into the bunk. Adonai with his big manic smile (already he is calling me guinness) laughs at the sight of the beer and welcomes me back up into our abode.

The beers were broken out and we began to injest. Kingfisher is a nasty beer, due to the lack of refrigeration in this country they use a preservative called glycerol in the beer which keeps the beer fresh in warm storage but it also gives you a feeling in your head like someone just scalped you with a cheese grater. With an alcohol content on the side of the bottle detailing between 5 and 8% you don’t really have a clue what you are getting in the dirty old bottle.

We yapped away – we talked about music, books, art (I’m bluffing at this stage) etc etc the hunger pangs kicked in again and I took out my half eaten tube of pringles.  It was my only food source so I had to make it last. Still being the generous giving person that I am I offered some to my peruvian self proclaimed metaphysical poet chum. He took the tube ad launched into it cookie monster style, crumbs permeated his beard, It was an amusing sight. The bladder though was beginning to feel full, very full. We were both in pain and it was obvious. We were not alone either, a couple of russian girls on the bus had asked the bus driver to stop but he was having none of it. Time goes so slow when you have to pee, there is nothing worse. I lie, there is something worse. Adonai in a moment of pure genius excuses himself, Sorry Mate!! He grabs my pringles tube with 1/4 of them left, my breakfast… turns himself around, pops the lid and urinates into the box, opens the window and chucks it out when he is done. The picture of relief I was shocked that someone would be so audacious to do that, the cheek I thought!! The bastard he was! The fool I was not to think of it myself… My suffering continued for what seemed like hours before the driver finally submitted to the growing pleas of the bladder busting masses. I scarpered out and in the middle of some ditch in India relieved myself.  At last I could sleep.

We had another food stop before making it to hampi, dawn had just broken and we arrived at another truckers stop not too dissimilar to the place we had been the previous evening. I grabbed some chai and some chapati for breakfast, reckoned it would be enough to keep me going til we reached our ultimate destination.

We made it to Hampi at about 10 in the morning. Everyone was wrecked from the bumpy ride. A welcoming party of rickshaws and guesthouse wallahs were waiting for us, several miles out the road they rode in their rickshaws passing leaflets in through the window advertising their place, calling you friend, pleading with you to remember them once you got off the bus. These guys are tenacious, I guess when it is your livelihood you really do have to be this way. Sure enough on departing the bus a big cloud of dust was kicked up by the hawkers trying their best to drag you along to their place. Luckily enough a dutch girl sitting below us that we got talking to had a tip for a nice place to stay on the other side of town. She asked myself and adonai along with an italian girl called isabella and an israeli couple called adonai and dana if we wanted to join her. We got two rickshaws for the group and our bags and made our way the short distance down to the rivers edge, from here we took a boat which traverses the holy river that passes through hampi. A short walk up some steps and along a dusty, bumpy road takes you to a grand selection of guesthouses. I took a chance to rest some while looking after the bags so the rest could scope out a place to stay. I grabbed a coke and sat in the shade of a very warm hampi morning, I was happy, content, heck I was enjoying this alot…

The photos of hampi and Goa are all up on the photos site, again Hampi is amazing!!!