15th January 2005 – Mysore to Hampi 13 ½ hours

This goes down as the most hideous bus journey in my short existence. It took 12 ½ hours to travel 350km. For about 4 hours there was hardly any road and the whole journey was to bumpy to either read or sleep. Worse things can happen, I was just pleased that the clapped out rust bucket of a bus with the psycho bus driver made it. I will stop moaning about the busses once I reach Thailand probably.
Once in Hampi we decided to get accommodation in Vivuupapur Gaddi or the ‘Island’ as the locals know it or ‘Little Israel’ as I know it. To get there you need to cross the river in an oversized basket called a coracle, which is your luxury transport.
Waking up the next morning we were faced with Hampi’s magical landscape. It is the most fascinating but bizarre view I have ever come across. The landscape is formed of rocks and boulders that look unnaturally shaped and placed which change colors throughout the day depending on the sun’s position. It was like walking through a film set. We spent much of the following couple of days walking and exploring. We stared by visiting the Vittala Temple, the building work started at the beginning of the 16th century. Ruins of other temples just sitting amongst the boulders also surrounded this. We then trekked across Hampi to the Royal Center to more ruins but this was less rustic then the Vittala ruins. The following day we hiked up a hill to the Hanuman Temple, more for the views then the temple itself. Hanuman is king of the monkeys in the Hindu religion and funny enough we were surrounded by monkeys at the top of the hill.
India still has the ability to surprise and shock me. As we were standing outside the Virupaksha Temple in the main bizarre area a cow decided to take a wee, a local woman then cupped her hands to collect it and rubbed it into the woman’s head next to her. After going back for a second helping she washed her own face with it and rubbed it on her lips, YUK! Cows are worshipped in the Hindu religion and represent fertility and nurturing. They are allowed to roam free in India but worshipped or not washing in their wee was something that shocked me slightly. India is rather like an open zoo a lot of the time as well as cows roaming free it is common to see monkeys, dogs, cats, pigs, bulls, buffaloes and hens.
I loved Hampi it was a great adventure.