Rocks, rice and religion

We survived the bus trip to Hampi without much trouble. We were delayed by 5 hours due to traffic jams, but considering we were afraid for our lives, we were relatively impressed with the trip. On the way we met a Michael and Andrea; Swiss tourists, who are travelling in the same direction and have a similar time frame as us. When we arrived in Hampi we found a guesthouse with two huts, and bargained ourselves a better price for two huts and four nights. They've turned out to be great travel companions, with a similar attitude to us - very relaxed, not needing to see everything possible, and enjoying the quieter back areas. Most importantly, they felt the same urge as us to grab a beer to escape the heat of the day, as soon as we'd found a room. Perfect!

Hampi is different from anything we'd imagined; when we caught our first glimpses in the morning we felt like we'd arrived in Bedrock from the Flintstones. The place is littered with mountain upon mountain of boulders between 3m and 50m high. Moko and Spooner, you'd both be in bouldering heaven. If you imagine you're an ant, they feel like piles of gravel. But more surprisingly, the land is fertile, with rice paddies, banana plantations, and the greenest grass we've seen nestled into the low lands. It's a place of such contrast it really catches you off guard. Yet again, India has completely changed. It's a small city, mostly based around the ruined temples which litter the landscape - the Jordan of the South. We stay on the far side of the river, accessed by a small ferry (a dinghy, which some entrepreneurial Indian has set up, costing 50c a pop to cross - very pricey by Indian standards). That side has a single line of guesthouses and restaurants along the river sitting right beside the rice paddies. It is so quiet, with very few cars and hustle. At night the frogs sing deafeningly in the rice paddies.

On our first full day we went on a walking tour of the temples, which took most of the day. We hiked up to a temple on the highest hill, which gave us a view of the entire area. We realised for the first time how these mountains just keep going on forever. I swear, there are more rocks here than in the rest of the world combined. At the main temple (which unlike the others, still stands and is in good use) we went to see Lakshmi the temple elephant. Unlike most of the other

Blessings from the elephant

elephants we've seen in places like this, she looked healthy and pretty happy all considering. She was trained to take money which people held out for her, and swiftly put it in her master's bowl, and tapped the giver on the head with her trunk in blessing, all in one surprisingly quick and fluid motion. Many people brought her bananas too, which she ate in one bite. I wish I had a video of it. It was very impressive.

That night we went to a restaurant which an Australian guy we'd met had recommended to us for the chicken kebabs. Glen and I have been vegetarian except for fish on the coast, but have been getting increasingly adventurous with our choices. We decided that as the Australian was still standing, we'd take our chances. Very glad we did. Those kebabs were better than anything I've tasted in NZ.

The next day we hired bikes and did a tour of our side of the river. We biked through a little village to the lake which is supposed to be safe for swimming (despite the sign which warns us of crocodiles. Apparently there are only crocodiles in the river, or so the locals comforted us). We jumped in the small rapids caused by the reservoir dam, and sat by the lake to dry off, constantly berated by locals trying to sell us cold beer, chips, cookies and chai. Entertainment came in the form of a few locals who tried to copy us, but whose swimming skills are particularly lacking. They struggled back to the nearby lake shore, and we realised how important those swimming classes we had in school were.

Lesson: Don't try to withhold bananas from monkeys

We biked to the monkey temple, and climbed to the top - some 800 steps in the blinding heat of the day. On the way up we followed a couple of Russian guys who were stupidly taunting the monkeys with bananas. They'd give them half a banana out of their bag of 20, and try and keep the rest. These monkeys are pretty aggressive however, and know that bananas come to them in plastic bags. The Russians found themselves overwhelmed by monkeys grabbing at them, and so utilised a stick to scare them off. This didn't work for long

Monkey temple

The ferry between the town and our side of the river only goes until 6pm. This means that we have very little to do in the evenings except eat at a nearby restaurant, most of which show movies. Our favourite has a good supply of beer, better chai, and a projector screen. We haven't tried the pizza yet, but I think pizza, beer and movies might be the plan tonight. Tomorrow night Michael, Andrea and I head to Goa. Glen still has a month in India (compared to my 2 weeks and Michael and Andrea's 3 weeks), so will spend a little more time in Hampi. So it's tomorrow that we part our ways as I prepare to head home.

Rocks, rice and religion

Hampi, India