Hampi

July 12, 2007

Finally, the day came to travel - to pick up my bag and do some traveling. It was serious travel after quite some time and was looking forward to this day. From Hyderabad, it was just the two of us, me and my friend, going to Hospet. We reached Hospet around 6:30 am - almost an hour behind schedule. But then, it didn’t really matter because we were waiting for another two to join us - Amir and his friend.

Hampi
As we were getting off the bus at Hampi, we were swamped by tourist operators and guides. It took some effort to get out of that crowd offering guides, hotels, and even books about Hampi. That was the first minute in Hampi.

Setting out and setbacks!
Soon we set off to see the ruins in and around Hampi. We walked to the nearest ruins - three temples. We walked around, went in - all the while clicking away with our digital cameras - thanks to the unlimited (almost) storage space! We came back to the entrance and my buddy began to set his tripod for his medium format camera - and there came the watchman saying we should have prior permission to use tripods. He said we can get permission from the Archeological Society. So, off we went to get the permission, only to be told there that they do not have the authority and we have to get the permission in Bangalore! However, they also said that we should be able to use the tripod in most of the places.

Going around Hampi
At the end of the day, we came to the river. Need to say, the steps aren’t the cleanest. I was wondering if the buffaloes and elephants use the steps to the river!

The Mango Tree and dinnerHaving heard a lot about The Mango Tree from people who’d already been to Hampi, I was quite curious to check it out. It wasn’t just about the food - I was told that the ambience and the view is great too. And, I wasn’t disappointed. If you really want to wind down when you are at Hampi, you should go to this place. And remember to sit outside (on the floor) under the tree - overlooking the river. You get an awesome view from that place of the river and the hills.

So, it was at Mango Tree that we spent more than 2 hours there - chatting, joking, getting to know each other, and, of course, relishing the food. It was the first time I mixed lime soda for myself! And not surprisingly, it bubbled over :) after which I learnt to be careful mixing lime, salt and soda. For me, that evening is filled with a lot of memories - plenty of little things… like Prathibha reacting to a cat as if it were a monster (am sure she’s not gonna like this:), Amir making us sit still for 30 seconds coz of the low shutter speed, sharing the food, trying to figure out if that white thing they served was mayonnaise or chutney, ….

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