So, lots to say since Goa.
Break it down. Ok.
Hampi then (in Karnataka - I'll try to get a map up soon)Having narrowly avoided the biggest club in Goa the night before I left Arambol, a 4am taxi was just what I needed. Still, the train journey was stunning - winding up lush mountains (the western ghats), under waterfalls (bad photo above), and my mp3 player helpfully kept playing me epic Sigur Ros and Mogwai tracks. Its really exciting picking up all your stuff and going into the unknown and, after all that happened in Goa, Everything was Ecstatic...
Hampi is bewildering. 2 things you need to know: temples and boulders. Ok, 3 things: monkeys. I won't go on about the temples as, frankly, there are far too many of them and I found most of them really quite oppressive. Controversy. Not all of them. Its just that the architecture is very linear, low ceilings, little light, no colour etc. Not all of them. I do imagine, however, that back in the day (400 years ago I think) they were vibrant and colourful. Nye, I'm sorry... Still, here's me being blessed by Lakshmi.
The boulders, on the other hand, I love. I've never seen anything like it (except perhaps the Olgas in Oz, but Hampi goes on for miles and miles). They form the most bizzare, precarious arrangements - strewn across the river, stacked into mountains. I think they're formed by some kind of plate-squeezing-cold-volcano process, but i might be wrong. Anyway, they're fascinating.
My first couple of days were hectic, dutifully marching between temples, climbing up hills for amazing views, being surprised to find myself sitting next to Emma...
(actually this is Ally, my ozdrawlian trekking buddy, and i mainly put this photo in to draw attention to the fact that Ally is a good name for a girl). Shut up rich. OK.Anyway, after running round for 2 days, Hampi hypnotised me. It does that. I spent a phenomenal amount of time at the nicest cafe in India (so far): the Mango Tree
So, I stayed in Hampi longer than "planned" partly due to the trance i was in, but mainly because there was a massive festival coming up. One morning I climbed up a hill at 8am and when I came down again, Hampi had been transformed from sleepy temple town to the annual gathering of the entire Karnatakan police force. There were thousands of them. And (apparently) they're the most corrupt in India. Every hotel in town had to give them 5 rooms, every restaurant had to feed them for free, etc. But by the second day of the festival, there were almost as many cilivilians as police, so it wasn't so scary. The festival was free (state-sponsored), and was a strange mix of incredibly good Indian music (the Tabla is one of the best instruments in existence) and village-talent-contest standard dancing. Interesting to see some Indian dance, but even I could tell this was awful and could probably have done better myself. Or not. And perhaps even stranger than the 1940s brass band intro, the monotone presentations of awards to every participant, and the fact that the sound-man didn't bother to delay the speakers further from the stage (so everything had 3 fast echos), was the crowd reaction to performers. My theory on Indian crowds (as put forward in my post about the cricket in Jaipur) has suffered a blow as, even when the act was incredible, it was met with muted, impolite applause! I really couldn't believe it. Here was an excuse to holler and cheer together being completely missed. Strange. Still, if there's one thing I'm learning, its that you really can't stereotype India, or Indians.
So, I stayed in Hampi longer than "planned" partly due to the trance i was in, but mainly because there was a massive festival coming up. One morning I climbed up a hill at 8am and when I came down again, Hampi had been transformed from sleepy temple town to the annual gathering of the entire Karnatakan police force. There were thousands of them. And (apparently) they're the most corrupt in India. Every hotel in town had to give them 5 rooms, every restaurant had to feed them for free, etc. But by the second day of the festival, there were almost as many cilivilians as police, so it wasn't so scary. The festival was free (state-sponsored), and was a strange mix of incredibly good Indian music (the Tabla is one of the best instruments in existence) and village-talent-contest standard dancing. Interesting to see some Indian dance, but even I could tell this was awful and could probably have done better myself. Or not. And perhaps even stranger than the 1940s brass band intro, the monotone presentations of awards to every participant, and the fact that the sound-man didn't bother to delay the speakers further from the stage (so everything had 3 fast echos), was the crowd reaction to performers. My theory on Indian crowds (as put forward in my post about the cricket in Jaipur) has suffered a blow as, even when the act was incredible, it was met with muted, impolite applause! I really couldn't believe it. Here was an excuse to holler and cheer together being completely missed. Strange. Still, if there's one thing I'm learning, its that you really can't stereotype India, or Indians.Ok ok, here's a temple.
The Vittala temple is "the undisputed highlight of the Hampi ruins" (according to the lonely bastard). I dispute this, but who am I?I'm tired so lets have some Hampi animals:
Hampi was almost 2 weeks ago now. Hopefully I'll get some more done soon. And hopefully my blergh hosts will stop doing strange things with my blog. byee.....
