10/mar on the other side of hampi 02

I had a very powerful breakfast, since a long day was waiting for me. And a bike as well. One day, without the night, RS30 (0,5euro), twice the price I paid in puri. But even if it’s still cheap, we cannot forget that hampi is a very touristic spot.

I decided to cross the line!! Or better, the river, and go to check the other side. To cross the river the have those extremely simple, bamboo round boats, covered with a kind of plastic. It looked like those cheap swimming pools for children, the blue ones… anyway, with these 2 materials, they manage to take people, bicycle and even motorbikes to the other side. And it was there where I saw Indian women cleaning themselves, and their clothes. And they do all that in the river, without showing any cm of skin, always dressed, probably uncomfortable.

Once on the other side, I started pedaling towards a lake. Any excuse was good enough. Even if it was very very hot! The other side was full of green fields, rice and peanuts, with all those colors, people working, full of animals,, buffalos, cows, donkeys, goats and sheeps, pigs, and lots of monkeys playing on the top of the trees, and yes, and yes, I can not avoid being surprised every time I see one. It’s like seeing cats in Europe!!

The road is only half asphalted, full of people carrying stuff on their heads, back and forth. There are also eunucs… everything together is suggestive. I know I’m using this word a lot, but for me this is India, a never ending excitement of my senses.

After this green stripe of nature and water, canals, rivers, one can see those huge and imposing monolithic stones. You would almost expect to see a giant appearing at any moment, to play with them again…

After more than 400 steps (I lost the number when I was almost at the top of the mountain), I reached hanuman temple, a monkey god. From there, as you can imagine, one of the highest mountains of the area, the view was amazing. And of course, the temple was full of monkeys, some of them very aggressive, but maybe less than the beggars that wanted to charge you money once you were there. Of course, unofficially!!

The temple/house was very small, and not that interesting, architectonically talking. But the top of that mountain was great. A kind of moon-like landscape, where you had to jump to go on. How can these rocks stay in these positions!????? People have different theories; old oceans, volcanos, wind erosion, meteorite impact… If I have to choose one, the meteor one. But with magic involved!

After this temple, lakshmi temple, where a puja was celebrated. A puja is a hindu celebration, like the Christian on Sundays, but without a fixed day. And in the government temples, there’s free food afterwards.

On my way to the river, in another part of it, I passed through a town, full of children, very small, and very happy and waving there hands and saying hello all the time! It was the ‘after school time’.

And after that… I was very tired, and it was very hot. I was also burned by the sun, and hampi was still far. These last hour was hard, since I had to carry my bike (Indian bicycle may easily weight 15 or 20 kg!) in many parts of the way. It was sad to pass by wonderful places, but… I would have time to go back there another day.

Once in Hampi, I found a very nice place to eat, by the river, protected from the sun by 4 or 5 huge trees, a Japanese and a polish playing guitar and tabla… very peaceful and relaxing. There I met Rebecca, a girl from the states. She was very cute, nice and amusing, and super expressive. It was hard to tell her age. We spent the afternoon there, taking it easy, and had dinner with 4 more French. Once in the guest house, I met another French, and one Israeli. It was a great day, and I was destroyed!!

25/3/05