10 - 11 / 01 Trip to Hampi

I boarded the night train from Bangalore to Hampi on 9th (Friday night) and reached Hospet in the morning. Walked to the bus stand, waited for Moku and then took a bus to Hampi, which stopped at a point from where, there were special buses to the Hampi Utsav. 

Selfie with local kids from a View Point

We roamed around a bit near the Virupaksha temple, came back towards Hampi market, hired a couple of bicycles for 60 each a day and started roaming around on the bicycles . I enjoyed the bicycle ride a lot, so did Moku. We rode around and viewed the Stepped Tank, Prasanna Virupaksha (underground Siva) temple, mosque, queen's bath, mandapas and a lot of historical buildings on bicycles.We settled around the Royal Enclosure (if I remember the name correctly) and enjoyed the view all around and some local kids (on an educational tour) came over and we clicked a couple of pics. The place is enjoyable if you observe the unexplored undestroyed beauty of the whole place as a whole.

Later, we rested sometime in the Underground Siva temple and when we were about to leave, I asked Moku casually, "Ye dekhna hai kya ? Haan yaa naa bol" to which he replied positively and we went inside the place. Shortly after, there was water inside and we were excited, took out the shoes and the socks and went inside. While I was clicking pics, Moku said that there are bats there which he could see flying behind my back and I assumed he is referring to the sounds. Nevertheless, both of us went inside that small dark place where the shivling was there and turned the mobile torch light to the top where there were ~20 bats hanging upside down and some of them flapped their wings (maybe due to the light) , one bat had his eyes shining and opened its mouth . We ran outside ! 

Hot Air Balloon

Around the evening, while we were  roaming on our bicycles and heading back to the place where the Hampi Utsav was happening, we saw a large tent from a distance and as we headed closer, it was a large hot air balloon being put up in an empty ground next to the Queen's Bath. It took them about 45 minutes for the balloon to get up and it took us about 2 hours to wait and get into the balloon. Well, we didnot go very high up in the air and not even for a very long time, but that's all you get for a meager 500 bucks.

We ditched all the cultural and entertainment events of the Hampi Utsav. And reached Virupaksha Temple, returned the bicycles in the end to lie down for the night. I took a bath in the rather clean public toilet and bath complex near the temple. We put down our newly bought tent and called it a night. The tent was really comfortable and we did not feel cold anytime during the night.

Put up a tent in the Vijaya Vittala Temple

The next day, we both packed up the stuff and had food near the Hampi Market. Hampi market and particularly the lane in which we had breakfast had a glimpse of the Marijuana culture. Everything was relaxed, psychedelic, colorful clothes,lovely music, delicious food , inhouse smoking, imported cigarettes, and no taxes. We had food and headed to Kamalapura and then to Vijaya Vittala temple through an auto. 

There was a cultural practice dance going on and we were high. We enjoyed the dance practice thoroughly. The girls danced superbly and the crowd appreciated the dance a lot. We roamed around the temple and enjoyed the excellent beauty of the place and admiring how the stones took the shape they took, how were the buildings carved and made. Shortly after, crossing a lot of chameleons to make our way to the Tungabhadra river, we rested there for a while, smoked up a little more and just enjoyed the view. The view was relaxing, peaceful and I wished that we could stay there for a few more hours, but Moku had his bus in a couple of hours and we had to go.

End of a wonderful trip. I am sure I will visit Hampi again.

04/01 - Trek to Skandagiri

Rahul and I started our little journey on 3rd Jan night to Nandi Hills and reached Skandagiri base at 2am following Google Maps. The rest of the trek can not be described in words. Both of us had never done any trek before. Well, I had done one in Ramanagar earlier but that was very easy.

We started following a bunch of localites who had come to trek Skandagiri and we thought that they knew the way. 20 minutes into the trek and having cleared some 2-3 normal to difficult hurdles, we encountered a major hurdle which required a group to act together. Well, they helped us out. 30 minutes further, we were in middle of slippery rocks, bruised by thorny bushes, low light and real green shiny snake with no way further and needed real courage to cross that snake/steep slope/slippery rock hurdle . Yes, we made it till the top by taking time and finding ways, but gosh it was no ways an easy trek as I had thought. Well, this post is not a travelogue, so, all I want to say is :
1) Go there if you know which way to go up. There was a very easy way (comparatively) through which we climbed down. You should know that way. There are some local guides which charge you for that. Either hire one or go through an adventure company.
2) I hope you get lost and I really do because that quadruples the adventure. In that case, make sure you have a good torch, water bottle, a very light backpack, a knife and will to climb up through the thorny bushes and dangerous wildlife and scary slopes and drops.
3) There was maggi, water at the top and very cold breeze. the Sunrise was just beautiful. All the people went nuts at the first sight of the sun.

We had a lot of fun climbing up to the top and there was not much tiredness after the trek although the legs were paining towards the end of the trek. I had a little sleep in the afternoon and went to a party in the evening.