Hampi

Today we arrived back in Hyderabad after a two day visit to Hampi, about 500km southwest of Hyderabad in Karnataka. We took overnight trains (AC/2 class) in both directions; this is a great way to travel! I'll try to do a more thorough write-up eventually, but for now, a selection of the photos can be found in this album:

Hampi - October 2007

We made a list of phrases/places/events to help us remember the trip; here they are, in no particular order.

• seeing an Enfield Bullet 350 up close
• the Mango Tree restaurant: Raju, lassi (banana and lemon/ginger), the swing, birds (parrots, kingfishers, egrets), "omelets" for breakfast
• the banana woman
• walking back from Vittala Temple along the river and seeing the "child stones" in the trees, a huge herd of goats, and a gorgeous sunset
• meandering in the back streets after dark
• being blessed by the priest at Virapaksha Temple: holy water, banana goo, and the pinhole camera image
• the puppy at the Hospet train station
• the scary first breakfast in Hampi - idli, dosa, chai and flies
• the nice rickshaw driver who gave us the ride into Hampi and then hunted us down as we waited for the train back to Hyderabad to return our camera battery - a tout, but decent.
• the crazy rickshaw driver who took us from Hampi back to Hospet - a scary ride if ever there was one
  
• monkeys humping in the enclosure of Virapaksha Temple
• seeing the same trainman on the return train as on the train down - and him smiling as he recognized us on the platform
• "come this way" - being led behind Virapaksha temple to look at the small tank, the cave temple, and more monkeys
• Rama Guest House - overpriced (Rs. 350/night), noisy (bad fan and much street noise), but clean, with a decent owner. (Try Shanthi instead...)
• a bath for the temple elephant, and her blessing
• cycles being ferried on a coracle
• Ganesha everywhere, but especially the monolithic Ganesha and the one carved into the rock
• "Indian clothing - very good!"
  We got a lot of approving comments on Katy's salwar Kemeez and my kurta.
• scootering about - an interlude of sanctioned cuddling
• Bhima's gate
• a call from Srinivas while waiting for the train in Hospet
• having my beard trimmed
• flutes
• the snake
• the wicked-yet-kind bell merchant, and his birthyear coin gifts. (His birthyear is 1952.)
• fish-covered walls and the afternoon around them: monkeys playing, other monkeys bounding over the rocks, views of rice paddy and banana plantation, and the blessing from the crippled priest
• "You want smoke?"
• Seeing the temple ruins behind the monolithic Nandi statue and beginning to realize just how big this place is
• children playing by the water with a scarf
• "chai tea!"
• the "Disney characters" in orange
• "Are we in India?" no dosa for lunch, strange "tourist" clothes