Made Some Real Friends!

Paul, Mark and Heather enjoying the view from the top of the Monkey Temple Mountain
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On our train journey to Hampi we met 4 really cool people.  The first were a couple of Israeli's.  One was called Sharon but I can't remember the other's name!  The other 2 were a couple of Australian brothers called Mark and Paul.  Paul was about our age and had a break from uni, in which time his older brother was taking him around India.  Mark had previously worked in India as a guide and had been to Hampi previously.  It was perfect for us because he wanted to take control of things and we were happy to let someone who knew what they were doing lead us and also give us some tips about dealing with things in India.

The elephant being washed. Heather wouldn't join in this picture. She was too excited!
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We only arrived in Hampi at about 5pm on the Wednesday and after a shower we decided to go to sunset hill and watch the sunset.  Unfortunately we arrived a little too late and we saw the sun disappear very quickly over the rocks before we could get any pictures.  What was amazing about Hampi was the landscape.  For as far as the eye could see there were huge boulders all across the landscape.  A lot of them were perched defying gravity.  I thought on numerous occasions that some must be about too fall.  We had no idea how they could have come to be there but they were beautiful.  It was like a scene from a film.  It could easily have been used to film the Flinstones or even the Indiana Jones films.  In fact I wouldn't be surprised if they did film some of it there!

If we hadn't turned up they would have been escorted back to Hampi with the security guards at 8pm

Heather and I posing abover Hampi town just before sunset
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Our first actual day involved us going across the river to the 'other side'.  Because Hampi is full of temples it is considered a sight of religious importance.  This means that alcohol is banned in Hampi town.  However the Israeli's don't take to this very well, so they tend to stay across the river where alcohol is available and there is a little bit more of a party atmosphere.  Anyway on the other side of the river there are three temples, the main one being the Monkey temple.  It is so named for 2 reasons.  Firstly it is actually a temple to the Hindu monkey god Hanuman and secondly there a loads of monkeys that reside on the hillside by the temple.

The man of the house busy cooking our 'Ready-Made' Thali
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On our way to the boat we saw an elephant being bathed.  It was really good for Heather as elephants are her favourite animal and she has a real soft spot for them.  He eyes just lit up when she saw it!

After crossing the river, we were told of how high the monkey temple was and how difficult it was to climb.  We were told that it was 500-600 steps to the top on the mountain but this just wasn't true.  It was maybe 250 at the very most.  It was about a 15 minute hike and it was only so difficult because of the intense heat and the fact there was no breeze.  Once we reached the top Mark told us to make sure we had a hold of all our valuables otherwise the monkeys would take them.  We were pestered by about 10-12 monkeys at various points, but once the King had been scared away the rest seemed to stay away which was good.  After visits to the other two temples, which weren't as impressive we went to a tiny little village to get some food.  There was only one place that sold food and it turned out to be someone's house!  We walked in and to our right was the kitchen area and to our left was the family's sleeping area!!  They made us a fresh thalis and served us chai.  It was really fantastic because they cooked everything from scratch, even making the chapattis in front of our eyes!  The four of us were fed like kings.  We got extra's of everything, I remember having at least 5 chapattis!  They just kept piling all the left overs onto our plates until finally we could eat no more.  The whole thing came to 40 rupees per person!!  I was amazed, I'd eaten enough for two meals!

Some of the stunning scenery around Hampi
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The next day (Friday) we stayed on 'our' side of the river and visited the temples and ruins.  We visited what was known as the Royal Centre.  We had to pay to get in and the prices were a bit of a joke.  The price for a local to enter was 10 rupees, but the price for a foreigner was $5 or 250 rupees!!  I guess it is because we can afford to do it and Indians can't afford 250 rupees.  If it was the same for everyone the only people to visit these places would be foreigners which wouldn't be the best thing.

As we were wandering back to Hampi, we came across some sugar cane plantations.  Mark said that sugar was very tasty and that we should try some.  He said he'd go and cut us some, but as we turned the corner, there were some banana farmers nearby, who dealt with the sugar cane as well.  A little boy ran and got us a cane each, and we then learned how to eat sugar cane.  We couldn't eat it, only chew it and then spit it out afterwards.  It was fantastic though, really sweet but there was lots of juice as well.  It made it really refreshing.  I'll make sure I keep a look out for sugar cane in the future!

Mark and Paul decided to go and visit another temple which was included in the price of the previous places we'd seen.  Heather and I decided to go home for the rest of the afternoon before meeting up with them that evening to see the light and sound show.  It suited both of us as Mark had organised a cab to get to the temple (It is 3kms to walk to but 13 to drive to!) as we wouldn't be able to get there in the dark.

We got in the rickshaw and told the driver we were going to the light and sound show.  He seemed fine with this and started driving.  We soon realised that he wasn't taking us to the temple Mark and Paul were at, but the one that we'd all been to that morning.  We told him we weren't meant to be there but at the Vitalla temple.  The driver told us there was no show at the Vitalla temple, only the temple he was driving us to.  We took his word for it and sure enough there were thousands of Indians watching this show taking place.  It didn't help us in our quest of finding Mark and Paul though.  We decided to go to the Vitalla temple, because even if they weren't there we would have done our best at finding them.  The driver really didn't want to go to the temple but after a lot of discussion he took us in the notion that he would be proved right.

As it turned out he was wrong and our hunch was right and they were at Vitalla temple.  There was no light and sound show, in fact there wasn't any light at all.  The temple close at 6 and there had been a power cut from quarter past!  They were there with the guards that keep watch overnight.  If we hadn't turned up they would have been escorted back to Hampi with the security guards at 8pm, when there shift ended.  They were very glad to see us I can tell you!

They left early the next morning and we were left without any friends again!!  We spent the next couple of days relaxing.  We went back to the Vitalla temple but decided against going into it.  We decided to sit on some of the ruins outside and plan what we were going to do for the next few days.  While we were doing this a few Indian men sat about 5 metres away from us and watched us.  We were doing nothing of any interest just speaking and consulting the book and they were just sat there fascinated by what we were doing.  It was a bit unnerving I can tell you, for Heather especially.  We decided it was best to have a walk to get away from them.

On Sunday evening we had to make our way from Hampi to Hospet so we could get the night bus.  We decided to get the bus to Hospet, 15kms away, as we would save ourselves some money. However as we reached Hospet I realised that I had left my watch at the Guesthouse.  This meant we had a mad dash back to Hampi in a rickshaw to get the watch.

Thankfully it was still at the Guesthouse.  The owner had found it and would have sent it home if I hadn't come to collect it.  We have to give our home address in case something happens while we're staying at any guesthouse.  We collected it and then made our way back to Hospet very relieved.  We then had a nice meal while we waited for the bus to take us to Bangalore.