Hampi

We departed Kochi around 5pm and took the overnight sleeper to Bengalore.  From Bengalore we headed north another 7 hours and arrived in Hubli around 2pm the next day.

One stop snack shop...a well oiled machine.

Hanging out at the Hubli station.  Passing the time with yet another photo shoot :)

Our train in Hubli was delayed an hour...or so...we departed around 5pm and arrived in Hospet three hours later, where we then took an auto rickshaw 30 min. to Hampi.  We made it to our final destination, Hampi, at 9pm. Yeah!!  Considering it was dark when we drove into town the scenery was quite a welcome surprise in the morning!!

We decided to explore Hampi on bike.  These are actually not our bikes...these are much cooler and hip looking models.  Mine was a dusty mauve color called "ladybird" or something of that variety.  I think Steve's was bright blue...very similar to the Hercules model that he rode around on before...maybe some of you are familiar?!

One of the many temple ruins we explored our first day in Hampi.

The Queen's bath house.  One of my personal favorites.

Admiring a carving on the ceiling.  The Flower of Life...another favorite...this sacred symbol can be found in temples, art and manuscripts in many cultures all over the world.

The stairs leading to the monkey temple.

The white flowers on the Frangipani tree are collected and made into garlands that can be bought on the street and  left at temples by devotees or worn by women in their hair.  Their fragrance is divine. mmmm... 

A view from the monkey temple.

Tour de temples.  Of course you can't tell by the photo, but it is about 105 degrees out...dry heat though :) Yes, I am wearing black knit. I can't explain why.

I am pushing 5 '1" tall. Just a little perspective.

The gnarly trunk of a frangipani tree.  Wikepedia says...Plumeria (common name frangipani) flowers are most fragrant at night in order to lure sphinx moths to pollinate them. The flowers have no nectar, and simply dupe their pollinators. The moths inadvertently pollinate them by transferring pollen from flower to flower in their fruitless search for nectar.

We decided to cross the river and spend one night on the other side, which is supposedly less crowded.  We made this decision much to the dismay of our guest house owner..who tried to convince us it would be a bad idea and not worth the effort.

 Beautiful brilliant green rice paddies.  This is the view from our guest house on the "other side" of the river.  I'm convinced the owner of our first guest house has actually never been to the "other side" of the river...but I'm glad that he was looking out for our best interests. hmmm...