Weekend Trip: Hampi

The river running through the village of Hampi

To start off my first weekend excursion, I, along with 12 of my fellow interns,  were required to take an 8 hour “sleeper bus” overnight to a town called Hospet, where we would then have to take a 30 minute rickshaw ride to the town of Hampi. I’ve never experienced a ride on a sleeper bus before, but I can’t say that anyone slept like a baby throughout the night due to the frequent bumps and swerves in the road and a man screaming in Kannada (most common language spoken) up and down the aisle every time the bus stopped. You also must have a hefty bladder for these types of bus rides unless you want to get out in the pitch dark in the middle of bumble no mans land as a man points to a hole in the road signaling the “public toilet.”

After a very long night, we finally arrived to Hampi around 7:30am and were already in need of a shower (which we found out was not going to happen for another 3 days).  

Hampi is a village in Northern Karnataka State, India, which is located in the ruins of Vijayanagara. The village still remains an important religious center and houses various temples and monuments belonging to the old city.

In essence, the river splits the village into two; the main section of town is on the one side, which houses the ancient temples, monuments, and various restaurants, cafes, shops and native homes.  The opposite side of the river is comprised of mainly “hotels” and “resorts” (not accurately described)with attached restaurants  among the extended grasslands and beautiful mountains that lie in a walkable distance.

Young natives in love with the camera

In order to make your way across the river, you have to take a small boat about 100 feet to the other side (Of course we were charged each time we needed to take this 3.5 second boat ride). While we were making our way across the rocks to the banks of the river, many children were running around while older children and adults swam in the unsanitary water and washed their hair and clothes. The children were obsessed with us foreigners (which is an understatement) and couldn’t say HI! HI! fast enough. Not only did they want their individual pictures taken, but they were very interested in taking numerous photos with us and shaking our hands at any chance that they could get.  Of course I gave in to all of the adorable nuggets.

Delicious first meal at the Gowri Resort

For $4 a night per person, we stayed in a luxurious (hmmm) hotel with an ox roaming the perimeter acting as our security guard. We had a great breakfast when we first arrived, which only took an hour to make! I’m still getting used to the dishes coming out one at a time in India, but at least the food is actually hot!

We had great luck arriving Saturday morning, where all of the power was out throughout the whole village due to a monsoon storm the night before. It put a little bit of a damper on our trip (NO fans or cold water anywhere) but we still tried to make the best of it.

One of the many beautiful temples!

Saturday afternoon we hired a rickshaw driver to take us around to all of the ancient ruins and temples, which were absolutely beautiful.  We could only spend a couple of hours walking around because the temperature was in the high 90’s, and after the 15^th temple they all start to look the same. No cold water in the village + HOT = not good. After sightseeing we went to a couple of shops and hung out at the “Chill out café.” Apparently here there is no price to chill.

Later on, we crossed the river and had dinner at the White Elephant, which was a small accommodation where some of the other interns were staying for the night. I ordered an exotic dish called the “Margarhita Pizza”. Ok, I probably ordered the most American dish possible, but it was not bad for being prepared in India!

Jammin until the sun sets

After our meal, we made our way to a mountainous area where a couple of guys who work at the White Elephant frequently bring their numerous instruments and play at the peak of the mountain as the sun sets. The one native has his own music shop down the road where he collects and maintains all of his precious instruments from various countries.

The best view of the town

The view from the top of the mountain was absolutely gorgeous, and well worth the extremely dangerous hike back down in the pitch dark. As we may our way back to the accommodation, we were trapped by stray dogs that became a little too vicious for my liking. 

The rickshaw ride back was also an interesting one. After the driver got into an argument with 4 guys on motorcycles and stopped in the middle of a road without telling us why he was getting out, I was extremely glad to be back in a room. 

My shower consisted of splashing water on my arms out of a bucket, which sadly felt oh so refreshing. The best part of the night… no mosquitoes! It’s the little things that make your day.

BAD MONKEY

After breakfast Sunday morning, we took a rickshaw to the monkey temple, an excursion that comprised of a lot more stairs than I ever expected.  The long and tiring walk up the mountain was definitely worthwhile, though. The view, like many other areas in Hampi, was absolutely incredible. Don’t let the name of the temple fool you-there were actually monkeys covering all points at the top of the temple. They were cute until they snatched a whole granola bar out of one of the interns hand and proceeded to eat it right next to us. At the point we were pretty set to walk back down.

The rest of the day was spent shopping, eating great food (with the electricity back on), and soaking up the last hours of the Hampi sun.  Although it was a very tiring weekend, it was a great way to start off my adventures in India!

More to come J

Sydney