Trip to Karnataka (4)

We set off for Hampi, after a good night’s sleep. We persuaded the manager to let us keep our room an hour extra after the check out time without extra cost. Reluctant at first, he later agreed as it was a SBI account. It was another hot morning. We told the driver to take us to a nice restaurant for breakfast. He took us to a guesthouse where absolutely no one was bothered to even tell us what was available. Mom took out guide pages, printed out by a friend and told the driver to take us to a place called ‘Mango Tree’.

And what a place it turned out to be! Volcanic rock formations in the background, with a river running right in front of us! No chairs. We sat down on a cool floor, in the open air, under the cool shade of a mango tree. Steaming hot, soft scrambled eggs for breakfast for me!

We set off for the famous temples of Hampi. We thought it would be interesting to explore the rocky terrain filled with ruins before going into the actual temple. It felt like we were climbing for an eternity. Between the three of us we easily consumed around five to six litres of water.

We finally made it around all temples and went inside the main one just before it closed for lunch. Coming out a djembe caught my eye. After bargaining for about twenty minutes the price was bought down to five hundred rupees. A little bit of shopping for some bags, and we went into a ‘dhaba’ like place for lunch. Rice, ‘sambar’ (which I must say was nothing like the ‘sambar’ I’m used to! There were hardly any vegetables and it was very watery. No complaints though!) and a pickle cooked over wood fire satisfied the huge appetite we had built up.

 We ran into some students from  South America, Chile if I remember right. They could not enter the Elephant Stables, as the fee for foreigners was a two hundred and fifty rupees.Daylight robbery at it’s best. After visiting the famed Queen’s bath, and more temples, we returned to Hospet. After a long swim, we had our dinner in the only restaurant that was open, with crackers bursting at the door. We waited in the reception of our hotel for two hours, and another one and a half hour at the travel agency where the bus we were taking to Bangalore was supposed to arrive at.