“At Hampi, the past comes alive. Whispering winds, magnificient ruins, traces and scents of a bygone era all linger fresh here. And they virtually transport you to a world of kings, battles and long forgotten marvels. “
http://www.bellary.nic.in/Hampi.htm
We arrived at Hospet train station to a sea of touts and colourful rickshaws. Here are two of our favourites rickshaws.
It was about half an hour to Hampi and we immediately loved having a new location to explore.
Virupaksha Temple
The temple had its very own elephant!
And cow.
On our second morning we crossed the river and soent half a day exploring the other side.
We picked up a local boy who offered to be our guide. His English was practically non-existent but he showed us three temples we may not of found by ourselves. Nick got the job of transporting him between the temples.
We climbed the many stairs to reach the monkey temple.
We saw a lot of monkeys.
This one was particularly hairy!
The beautiful views from the top.
This tourist looked familiar!
It was an interesting ride between the temples.
In Hampi foreigners are the subject of a lot of attention. We had so many people taking photos of us and asking to be in photos with us. Whole groups would run over to shake our hands. Many of these people were tourists themselves, from small villages where they have only ever seen foreigners on television.
Check out the paparatzi as we entered this temple.
Nick and his fans
They just couldn't get enough of him.
Must be the hair!
Nick was not the only one they wanted. This lady clearly had good taste in foreigners!
Couples hang rocks in colourful bags on this particular type of tree. They believe the number of rocks they hang will equal the number of children they will be blessed with.
Everybody was so friendly and always willing to have their photo taken. Check out how impressed the guy in the orange shirt is!
On our third day we took a full day bicycle tour to get the most out of our Hampi experience.
Many statues were damaged by the muslims as once they are broken, Hindus consider them bad luck. This one lost his trunk and his belly.
Again the hand is missing.
These were the worker's houses.
The elephants had very flash stables!
The Queen's summer palace.
The Queen's bath
Vittala temple
Check out the chinese guy on the left.
There were also Inca and Aztec influences in the carvings.
Arriving back safe and sound!
Nick and the guide. He finally caught up to us after riding around all day with a flat tyre.
Can you spot the cheeky monkey helping himself to a bunch of grapes on our favourite roof top hangout?
The bamboo cafe at night
View from the Bamboo cafe
View from the roof top of our guest house.
Hampi really was a magical place and we left feeling relaxed and re-energised, ready to face the our next adventure!
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