It turns out hippies are not much interested in us, which must mean we're not hippies. Yet.
Anyway, curious folk chatting about yoga and spirituality aside, Hampi was brilliant. It's on the site of a ruined city which was raided by invaders in 15th century. Back then the city was over 100km in size now its more of an overgrown village. So what hasn't been ravaged by invaders, time or looters is just sort of lying around in among all these extraordinary rock formations. It is pretty cool. There are some pictures but there is no way we've done it justice.
We took a tour round the main sites and posed for the now obligatory pictures with groups of children and teenagers.
We also had time to hire some bikes (no gears) and take a bone jerking cycle out to a monkey temple with an epic walk up the side of a mountain. There are also pictures. Check out the ones with some excellent plumbing across the steps which go up the mountain. Other health and safety highs include transporting 10 people and a two motorbikes on a tiny little boat. There is a sort of magic genius in how no one gets hurt despite crazed infrastructure and seemingly lunatic driving.
On our last day we visited the still working temple in the heart of Hampi. It was Sunday and many other people had come to look or worship. There was a wedding taking place with a full band and an elephant called Lakshmi who blessed you for a few rupees or a banana. Despite these significantly more exciting and interesting things we still found ourselves at the centre of attention. The brother of the bride had his family pose with us and then thrust a baby into my arms for another shot. He invited us to the bridal feast but unfortunately we left Hampi that evening on route to Bangalore.
It's big news in India at the moment that when Tom Cruise came to Mumbai they hired a crowd to cheer for him at the airport. We're thinking of dropping him a line and letting him know we're available for a small fee to draw a crowd whenever he wants.
At the station yet more school children gathered round us. They were lovely but it was a little intimidating to look around at the 40 odd faces of smiling children all asking questions and think 'shit the train doesn't get here for another hour...' I ended up signing the hands of most of the girls (I'm not sure why) and letting them write messages on mine after answering detailed questions about what clothes I wear, why I don't have any jewellery, whether Chris was my husband or my brother [cough] and so on. By the time we left the platform from the train we had invitations to their village and the homes of two other women who happened to be passing. Just to balance things out I'm pretty sure an old woman cursed me for refusing to give her money.
Incidentally when Indian school children ask you what you eat Chris discovered that the funniest thing you can answer is 'Chicken Tikka Masala'. For reasons unknown it had them rolling in the aisles.
More pictures on flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/71649987@N05/
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