Hampi Bellary and Bangalore

Hampi

Historic tower in need of repairs!

We left Goa on a sleeper bus, it was an hour late! The cabin space was great for people under 180 cm tall and the journey was bumpy as hell!! But we arrived safely if a little tired and me my friend Vikram, whom I had never met in person before and did not recognise we he was waving at me, sorry my bad!

We checked into a hotel in Hosped which serves as a trading town near the ancient city of Hampi.  Vikram then took us to Hampi and hired a guide to show us round an ancient and fascinating city with many buildings of significant history scattered around a landscape of boulders that provided the location with a natural defensive barrier.  The town also has a lovely river running through it which seemed to have a spiritual significance to the people with them bathing and giving blessings.

Royal Elephant stables

Queens summer house with air conditioning! System of water pipes.

Each pillar was able to produce a different sound and played like an instrument.

The stone chariot crew, originally pulled by a stone elephant.

The main tower about 500 years old.

Little and large

Hampi is in the state of Karnatika and has elephants, lili first came into contact with an elephant in the temple, he was a kindly soul exchanging blessings for4 cash! Lili was terrified of such a large creature! First time i had seen her scared of an animal, it did not last long, now she loves them. Hampi also has a large dam with plenty of fish.

elephant giving a blessing!

River blessing!

Main temple site

Some of the sites around Hampi were also worth noting with a very rural lifestyle for many people and a very colourful modern temple known as the lotus temple.

After 2 days in Hampi we took to Bellary an hours drive south of Hampi, it is a town surrounded by the mines of iron ore and the surrounding area is very industrial.  The only touristy thing in bellary is the old fort which sites high on the hill surrounding the town affording great views for miles around. Here we spent time with Vikram his family and friends being fed very well by his gran, thanks. Our next stop was Bangalore, unfortuantly the stop was dominated by myself being ill with a fever and severe migraine which meant me being hospitalised for two nights, but released just in time for us to catch our train down to kerala.

Mumbai and Goa

Spider after a night on the beach of Goa!!

Whose a star?

After nearly 3 weeks in Bikaner it was time to leave... but how? Buying a train ticket was pretty difficult and involved several trips to the train station before finally getting a ticket to Mumbai.  Arriving in Mumbai we soon realised it was a big city full of modern buildings mixes with the older Indian slums, a city of contrasts for sure with the worlds most expensive house in one part of the city and one of the worlds biggest slums in the other part.

We were fortunate to stay with Sid who we had found through couch surfing his flat was situated on top of the building his family had owned, with the sea in front and the Mumbai test cricket pavilion in the back.  We were only in the city for 18 hours having a train leaving at 5am, in fact we just sat up having a drink with Sid on his roof terrace, during the day we had been able to have lunch in Leopolds and then walk around the Indian gate area.  India gate was full of Indian tourists having their photos taken by professional photographers they almost all wanted to have the girls in the picture as well especially Lili... again you get the sensation of what it must be like for celebrities in their lives, with people stopping, staring and asking for your photo... that's the life of a white tourist in India.

India Gate Mumbai

Mumbai traffic

Leopolds!

Random Indian family!

We then caught a day train to Goa, by leaving at 5 am we were on the beach by around 3pm which gave us plenty of time to find a beach hut and negotiate the best rates. We stayed on the Palolem beach for the first two nights then swapped for a house on the quieter beach of Patnem where we stayed in a compound which was home to three other families with their kids all from Israel.

I managed to rent a scooter and had fun buzzing around the roads avoiding cows and other road users.. it was great to have the freedom of the bike, so we could go to different beaches and to the market once a day to buy fresh products, Lili made friends with the fish wives at the market and did a great job of collecting free fish from many of the ladies.

Lili and the fish wives

Goa did not feel like India, it had a distinct European feel to it...   You could easily stay here, with great weather open beaches and cheap restaurants ... Party for those who wanted it or just relaxed beach life for others..