Last Stop: Hampi

It seemed like I had forever until I didn’t. 

My last travel stop was Hampi. Expectations were high from what everyone had told me, so invariably, because that’s how expectations work, I was a little disappointed. Such is life!

I have realized that I enjoy places where you can see things on your own at your own pace— either on foot or by bicycle— that was definitely a highlight of Hampi. But there was something about the town of Hampi Bazaar that made it uncomfortable just to wander. The overinsistence of the shop owners and guest house owners perhaps?

Day One I rented a bicycle for 100 rupees and cycled South from Hampi Bazaar to the Royal enclosures, including the underground temple, the mint, Queen’s Bath, Lotus Mahal, and my favorite, the elephant stables. 

My rental bike

Other tourists

The Elephant Stables! Where else would you keep them?!

Then I booked it to Vittala temple up north because the ticket to the royal enclosures (600 rupees for foreigners and 40 for locals, as always a huge price difference) would get me into both sites but only on the same day. I didn’t cover much mileage, as it was really hot and the bicycle had no gears, but I saw everything I had hoped to see. 

Vittala Temple

After the Vittala Temple it seemed late to try to catch sunset at Matanga Hill, a good sunset spot, but I decided to head over anyway to get beta for a future date. A tuk tuk driver at the foot of the hill assured me I had enough time, so with my new motto of “Don’t put off til tomorrow what you can do today” that came from missing out on Jaisalmer Fort and the sunset hike in Pushkar despite six days at each place, up I went. 

At the top, I happened to sit next to Pablo, a Colombian living in the U.S. Pablo and I had dinner and then I came face to face with Hampi’s curfew! After the restaurant closed promptly at 10:00 p.m., we decided to continue chatting on the roof of one of our guest houses. Just as we settled in the lawn chairs on the roof of mine, the guy from the guest house came up to tell me there would be trouble with the police and I was to come down to my room immediately. I slinked down, chastised, and he rearranged his bedroll right outside my door. I wasn’t sure if he was lying about the police situation, but about half an hour later, I could hear intermittent whistles blowing throughout the little town. 

The next day, in the vein of not putting anything off, I had been planning on crossing the river to “Hippie Island” and visiting the temples near Anegundi. Over breakfast, Pablo mentioned he was going to go rafting before he left. I was going to stick to my plan but I spontaneously decided to join him. I’ve been looking back on my trip in recent days and realized that almost all of my trip highlights are experiences, not sites or things to see. And my trip highlights have often involved other people whose company I’ve enjoyed. 

 

Off we went paddling down the river in a big basket. I felt like Moses. 

Unfortunately, the raft guide thought he would get a better tip by spinning us in circles. The spinning triggered a migraine so I spent the rest of the day in bed in a dark room— my first migraine in over a year and a half. 

After I felt a bit better, I stumbled out for food and then dropped by the Virupaksha Temple, which is just outside of my guest house. The temple was abuzz with activity. 

Virupaksha Temple

People were lighting candles and creating elaborate rangoli. Lakshmi the elephant was blessing people with her trunk, which caused one little boy presented by his father to scream bloody murder. A cow wandered around the temple, some people touching it in solemn prayer and some trying to shoo it away so it wouldn’t trample their rangoli. In one corner, people set off sparklers. Mischievous monkeys swung on the rafters, stealing whatever they could from temple goers. One monkey ripped a garland of flowers from one woman’s hair and then started munching on them while another two sat perched on the head of the holy statue of the bull in the shrine. 

On Day Three I took the 20 rupee boat across the river and rented a bicycle for 100 rupees and then set off.

Traffic!

I climbed the 570 steps of the Hanuman Temple, biked around Anegundi, shopped at the banana fiber factory filled with women crocheting banana fiber products, and visited the Durga temple, Ranganatha temple, and the Pampa Sarovar, one of five sacred lakes in India that looked a lot like an ornamental pond fronting a blue temple.

View from my bike

View from Hanuman Temple

View from Hanuman Temple

Anegundi village

Pampa Sarovar Temple

Another temple by the side of the road

I hung out in Hampi Bazaar until my all too brief overnight train would start my journey back to Kolkata. In the end, what I had expected was going to be a rushed last 10 days of travel actually had many movements of relaxation. On the day I had my migraine and in Goa, I pretty much took two “zero days.” And all of the overnight sleepers weren’t so bad after all.