HAMPI - Train Rides, Temples, Elephant Blessings

Apologies in advance for the length of this post. Bonus: if you keep reading, towards the end, there are elephant photos. Just sayin'...

As if planning a 3-day wedding wasn't enough work, Brian and Maya also planned a 3-day excursion to the UNESCO World Heritage site Hampi (a temple complex in the Karnataka countryside) for any wedding guests who wanted to attend. They were the best hosts ever! The trip included two overnight train rides (about 8 hours each, to and from Bangalore), so the people who opted in to the trip were mostly our age and friends of Brian and Maya's from the US. Brian and Maya arranged for an extra sleeping car to be added to the train for our group. The result of 50+ friends filling up a train car? Party train! It actually really felt like summer camp, but with whiskey. Here's our new friend Uttara sitting in one of the mini cabins.

On one side of the train there were six beds: the bottom and top are always there, and the middle one pops up. On the other side of the aisle, there were two beds going perpendicular to the other six (parallel to the train tracks), resulting in eight people in a little rectangle. On the way to Hampi, I had one of the top bunks looking down on the set of six bunks. Here's my bunk: 

And here's the view from my bunk: 

Some of our new friends settling in the for the night: 

Eventually everyone calmed down and fell asleep - earlier than one might expect due to jetlag (and whiskey I suppose)! The train provided clean sheets and blankets, but Will and I were happy that we brought along some silk sleep sacks we got from REI (lightweight, warm, and very comfortable). The train car had bathrooms on both ends, and there was one Western-style (in theory at least) toilet for us to use.

After the train ride, we boarded two buses and made the hour drive to where we were staying in Anegundi.  On the way there, we got to see some cool scenery out the window, including these beautiful rice paddies and palm trees:

The bride and groom set up an awesome place for us to stay in Anegundi, a small village in Karnataka across the river from Hampi. We all got to stay in guest houses, and our group took up the entire grounds. Part of our group actually stayed in a separate house a few blocks away, because there wasn't enough room here! Here's our little hut, that we shared with one of WP's book club friends, Vanessa (we also went to the Taj Mahal with her and another friend, Kate; wait for post #3 for those photos!). 

Our first day in Anegundi, we did a little walking tour of the town. The weather in Bangalore was probably about 80-85 degrees Fahrenheit when we were there, and in Anegundi, it was closer to 90. When we were walking around, we were happy to be there in winter! Here's someone's front porch, where they were drying some peppers and some kind of grain: 

Part of what makes India such a cool place is all the bright colors. In this village where much of the landscape was dry and brown, the buildings were brightly painted (neon, in this case for the small local mosque!) and women's saris were stunning: 

After walking through the town, we went up to a small hill where there was a temple overlooking the river. Women were down by the riverbank doing laundry and laying out clothes to dry on the rocks: 

In the temple at one point, a herd of cows came through! Cows were everywhere in India, but especially in this small village, they seemed to own the place: 

After a long afternoon nap, we woke up again for New Year's Eve celebrations! Brian and Maya arranged for a special dance group to come in and get the party started: 

Some of our group started to join in after a while and learn the Indian moves. Shortly after the countdown at midnight, about half the group started wandering toward the cabins. After a night "sleeping" on a train and still adjusting to the time zone, staying up past midnight is hard work! 

It's a good thing we went to bed relatively early though, since the next day was a big one. We started out in the morning with a bike ride to the Hanuman Temple, named after the Hindu monkey god Hanuman, who was fabled to have been born there (he's a major figure in the Ramayana epic story), about 6 km away. Some of you may be impressed to see me standing behind a bike again. It's true. WP convinced me to ride again, and it actually went pretty well! There were no tears this time, even though I had close encounters with the following: ditches, potholes, speed bumps, trucks, cars, rickshaws, motorcyclists, pedestrians, cows, goats, and monkeys. It's amazing what a little peer pressure can do. Plus, my bike was pink and said "Miss India Gold" on it, so that helped. 

Here's the entrance to the Hanuman Temple: 

To get to the actual temple, we had to walk up hundreds of stairs to the top of the mountain (Dorn family, this reminded us a lot of the hike in the Grand Canyon up to the Nankoweap granaries). Since it was New Year's Day, everyone we passed on the way up and down said "Happy New Year" and shook our hands. As a group of 50 white people on bikes, we were quite the spectacle, so I think it was hard for Indians visiting the same sights as us to ignore us. Plus, they were just nice, and seemed genuinely excited about the New Year. Here's the beginning of the stair trek: 

It is fitting, but monkeys really were EVERYWHERE around the monkey temple. They get fed a lot of bananas and other food, so are also very friendly with humans: 

The view from the top of the temple was spectacular. The mountains in the area are composed mostly of big boulders, and between them, there are fields of rice paddies and pasture land:

After the walk back down the stairs, most of us bought cold sodas or coconuts (they hack them open right there and give you a straw; how's that for fresh coconut water?). It was around midday when we were at this temple, and felt like more than 95 degrees. Needless to say, we were drenched in sweat and happy to take a break in the shade for a minute. I don't think I've ever been happier to drink a Sprite. Looks like someone gave this little guy a coconut of his own:

From the Hanuman Temple, we continued our bike ride another few kilometers to the little town closer to Hampi. On the bike ride into town, we rode past a lot of chalk drawings like this one, so nice! 

This part of the Hampi trip was probably the most touristy, as it is closest to the main sights of the region. The main drag is lined with backpacker hostels geared at every different traveling group: the Germans, Americans, Israelis, etc.

This restaurant even advertises Indian, Chinese, continental Italian, Israeli, MAXican (like Mexican, but significantly more extreme, we figured), Tibetan and Tandoori food. I'd stick to Indian if it were up to me...

From this side of the river, you have to take a small motor boat to get over to Hampi, since the bridge fell down (more on that later). 

In this photo you can see the marshy river and Hampi on the other side.

Once we all made it safely across the river, we took a short walk up to this first Hindu temple. This tower of Virupaksha Temple was amazing! 

After checking out the inner courtyard of this first temple, we started a 40-minute hike to another nearby temple. This cow statue was in the courtyard of the Virupaksha Temple, and this shrine to Hanuman (the monkey god from our morning hike), was on the way to the next stop:

After a short hike up a small hill, we were able to get a good view of the temples we were headed to next. This looked like something straight out of Indiana Jones: 

We rested at this temple for awhile and got to eat lunch here! No big deal, just chillin' in some ancient temples, eating some rice. 

That little silhouette in the top window is a monkey! They were crawling all over this place: 

After lunch, we continued on to yet another amazing Hindu temple. This building was just one of many in this complex of intricately carved structures: 

As the day went on, we ran into many Indian school groups who were visiting the same places we were. After a while it became clear that we were as big an attraction as the temples, being that we are tall, light-skinned people who wear Western clothes. Here's a couple of our friends with a group of Indians: 

This little girl was just adorable, so I had to include this photo: 

Several hours of sight-seeing in the heat starts to bring out the silly side in people. I don't think I can even attempt to explain this more, but here we are, (respectfully) imitating reincarnations of Hindu gods (this lasted into the next day too, if you're wondering why I've suddenly had a wardrobe change): 

On the way back home from this last temple, we took golf carts down to the river to catch a boat. WP and I ended up sitting backwards on the golf cart, and as we drove away, clusters of kids were gathering to wave, and take photos of us. Yellow shirt kid seems a little skeptical ("I mean, those Westerners are kind of cool, but they don't have sweet khaki bell bottoms like mine."):  

To get back across the river, we went to a different crossing than we used the first time. This one is, frustratingly, right next to a half finished bridge across this river. Our guide told us the story of this bridge several times. Apparently the people of the Hampi area wanted to bridge to make it easier for tourists to come in and see the sights, but the Global Heritage Fund stopped the project in an effort to protect the temples from erosion, pollution, and too many tourists. The local people had already build about 90% of the bridge when the project got canceled, so they just stopped work on it. Eventually, half of what was there collapsed into the river, and the only remaining part is pictured below:

This meant our only way of getting home is to wait for this boat. Unfortunately, there were about 50 of us, and about 50 Indians waiting to get across. A big part of the Indian line was people with motorcycles, which of course, get loaded onto the boats and then carted across, taking up more room than people. After waiting about an hour, the first of our group (about 10 of us) got to get on the boat and take the two-minute ride across. From the other side, it was about a 10 minute walk back to our guest houses. It took the rest of our group another hour to get home, and apparently got a little intense as everyone was crowding around the boat and pushing to get on. It was a lesson in the lack of personal space in India, and that, if you're not aggressive, you probably won't get anywhere. I think some people wanted to make the quick swim across, but non-ocean swimming in India is fairly risky from a public health standpoint.

Eventually, everyone made it home safe and sound, and we all ate a well-earned dinner. For our last day in Hampi, we had the choice of hanging out around the guest houses all day or going to see some more of the Hampi sights. While lounging, drinking chai, and reading sounded really nice too, we decided to go for the adventure day again. Who knows, this may be the only trip to Hampi we ever make (though we would love to come back someday)! The day was off to a good start when we learned this was what the back of our bus for the day looked like. Whoever did this air-brushed spray art could make a killing at one of those boardwalk t-shirt stands:   

On the way there, WP and I sat up front in the bus by the driver. These seats were definitely the action seats. From the front you get to see all the crazy maneuvers everyone is making on the road, as well as the obstacles that are constantly popping up. One fact of life in India appears to be that even if road construction is underway, that road is still open, and there are no detours or warning signs necessarily. At one point the one-lane road we needed to go down was being repaved, and instead of taking an alternate route, we just drove over the fresh asphalt, to angry yells from the construction workers. This photo shows a very common road scene: herds of cows or goats alongside wagons: 

On the drive we also saw some cute modern temples like this one, I love their neon paint: 

The first stop we made was to the Queen's Bath. This was a beautiful place that used to house the Queen's swimming pool (I know, way cooler than living in Versailles and just having 100 drawing rooms and frilly sofa covers). There are little windows around the edge for her musicians, and even a raised box seat for the King. I think if I was a queen and lived in a place where it got above 100 degrees all the time, this sort of project would be high on my list: 

WP and I were also super excited to see this stepwell, just a few minutes bus ride from the Queen's Bath. Step wells are fairly common throughout India, but rare elsewhere, and we loved its M.C. Escher-style geometric look. They are built very cleverly so that as the water level rises or falls, you can always walk down to the water's edge. We weren't allowed to walk down these steps, but from the top could see a fat and happy colony of toads living here: 

The arches on the nearby Lotus Palace were very elegant and beautiful, and we also thought the watch tower on the corner of the enclosure walls was pretty neat: 

One of the major highlights for me was the next spot we visited, the old elephant stables! This building used to be where they kept the elephants, and looks so much cooler than any car garage I've seen. We got to walk around in the stables, which are cavernous inside, and a lot cooler than the outside air: 

In this part of Hampi we saw a lot of water buffalo wandering the grounds. The photo on the left is a group of adult and baby buffaloes grazing, and the photo on the write is a dark stone carving of Ganesh, the elephant god:

After spending some time in the elephant stables and nearby museum, we got back in the bus and headed to this big statue of Narasimha (one of the ten incarnations of Vishnu): 

Once again, we are as big an attraction as the statue we came to see. I wanted to tell them that they were facing the wrong way! My favorite face in this photo is the lady in the sari on the right: 

Next we got to see a huge statue of Ganesh, the god with an elephant's head! This one was nestled back into a dark temple, but you can get an idea how gigantic it really was: 

Outside the Ganesh statue, there were some overly friendly monkeys that clearly made me a little nervous:

From there we headed back to the Virupaksha temple we visited the previous day. We made it just in time for a special evening service, and got to take some more photos of the amazing tower! 

We had to take our shoes and socks off to go inside the temple, and got the happy surprise of meeting Lakshmi the elephant, who was hanging out inside the temple courtyard!

For a mere 10 rupees (20 cents), Lakshmi blessed each of us! You just hand her the 10 rupee note, which she takes with her trunk and hands to her keeper. Then she hugs your head with her trunk!

This is one of the best moments of my life, caught on film:

Meeting Lakshmi was the best ever! I wasn't sure we'd get to interact with an elephant while in India, but I'm so glad it happened. I know she was trained to bless us, and that she does it mostly for banana treats, but it still felt special.  Looking in her eyes, we could tell that she was smart. Someone mentioned when we were there that they are one of the only other animals that can look in a mirror and recognize that they are seeing themselves. They also are known to grieve like we do, and have strong family networks. One of our friends on the trip summed it up nicely: Elephants live in a matriarchy, so are we surprised that they have all these incredible attributes? Nope.

After hanging with Lakshmi for a little bit longer, we walked for about 15 minutes to meet up with the rest of our group for our last group dinner in Hampi. On the way there, we saw another little pack of monkeys that looked a little different from the ones we saw everywhere else (more lemur-y?): 

This guy came forward and started screeching at us until we all passed: 

After dinner we all got back on the buses, and drove an hour to the train station. After a short wait, we boarded the same train car we came in on, and did the overnight train ride back to Bangalore. The whole trip was fabulous, and as everyone went their separate ways after Hampi, it really did feel like the end of summer camp (or in this case, winter camp). Brian and Maya brought together a really fun group of people, and, once again, we felt lucky to be a part of it.

The next (and last) post on our India trip will be about our time in Delhi and Agra checking out more temples of every kind, delicious food, and the Taj Mahal!