Hampi at Vikki"s

So Hampi! I am glad the 'French speakers' from my Kannur trip recommended Hampi to me because it is absolutely brilliant. I could not even begin to describe Hampi, it is so beautiful. And as usual I have spent far too much time in the one place - I am such a crap traveller but the truth is...I really hate packing! I get settled, he he! And it has been so nice here staying at the 'Vikki guesthouse' in Hampi. What I really like about the place is that there are different generations of the family all working here together and one of my favourite people in the family has got to be little Varsha, who is 4 years old and can already speak some english - she does the 2nd best rendition of 'twinkle twinkle little star' I know - the first of course coming from the lips of my little niece Callie Boon. The matriarch of the family seems to be the boss although the 'rickshaw driver' and 'postcard seller' that you will regularly find in the rooftop restaurant playing 'cards' or 'canonball' will go through the family advocating why each one is the boss - personally, I still believe its Varsha! But the mother or Grandmother has that look - you know the 'parent' look even with her guests, today myself and the other long drawn out tenant of 'Vikki's' - Camilla Maria from sweden got that look as we had a 'water fight' on the side steps as I was supposed to be washing my clothes in a bucket and a small splash 'accidentally' got CM and she takes up my soaking towel and squeezes it over my head the holy cow, anyway the matriarch heard us laughing hysterically. She didn't seem too impressed, and we tried to suppress our laughter like a pair of naughty school girls as she walked away. At the same time the 'men' of the family were watching cricket upstairs in the restaurant and kept looking over the balcony to find out what we were laughing at. Its really weird when I think of my friendship with Camilla Maria, she is one crazy mama jama - louder than me, which I now find is possible. We met in Goa as she was leaving for Hampi and Kasha and I helped her find out about the train as I also had to find out for my own imminent journey to Hampi. Didn't think I would see her again, but I did...and oh my goodness, she is crazy! I remember her telling me her name was 'Camilla', but when we were in Hampi she kept telling people her name was 'Maria' and so I thought I was introducing her to everyone wrong and started calling her 'Maria' only for her to say - yes my name is Maria...and Camilla. She confuses me, I think maybe she has two personalities - it really wouldn't surprise me! Anyway, when we are together we laugh at each other all the time and if one starts laughing the other laughs and if you know my laugh...well 2 mad laughs and people just stare at us and well that makes us laugh more. Half the time I don't even know what she is laughing at, she just starts laughing like today she was giggling as we ate dinner so I start laughing and ask her 'what am I laughing at anyway' and she says, this Indian guy who sat beside me as I sat watching the sun set this evening as I got up to leave he asked for a kiss and tried to touch my boobies and I had to shout at him and he said he didn't understand so I shouted 'eh la, eh la, eh la' (note: we always say this as in this part of India they say it all the time, I think it means 'over there!' and so we do it for a joke and she is shouting at this guy!) We were all in tears laughing at her! You got to love it, its India.

Anyways, some of the things I have done here have included a tour of the ruined Hindu Temples which are absolutely beautiful. I went with another girl from Sweden - Terese who was here with her brother Andreas. The rickshaw took us round and we went a wandering round the ruins and also the rocks are so beautiful, they are massive rocks, sitting like a giant came and put them there in magnificent piles here and there strategically around the temple ruins - gorgeous. I look forward to putting my pics on, as you just have to see it - its breathtaking. It was also a particularly cool day as our rickshaw went around at the same time as another rickshaw driven by the 'infamous' Maddie - a crazy Hampi guy who loves 'tourist women' - especially when he sees they are travelling alone! Anyways Maddie had a couple of English travellers in his rickshaw - Tracy and Adam and we pretty much did the tour in tandem the 4 of us together with Maddie pointing things out to us here and there. We had such a good time together we decided that we would take another trip together and Maddie took us to a waterfall - which wasn't really a waterfall as there wasn't enough water but there was a little lagoon which was pretty nice for swimming. I went with Tracy and Adam, Terese was sadly sick and had to stay at the guesthouse, her brother Andreas came and CM came along as well. To get to the lagoon you had to do a bit of bouldering and as Tracy and I had our flip flops on we were pretty crap at some of the jumping and climbing, eventually I decided to just bare foot it. The rocks were pretty hot but after that Ashram in Mysore my feet have hardend up 'a bit'. And it was pretty nice. I also went in for a swim and jumped in as Maddie told me there was no rocks - it was fine, thank goodness! My only problem was getting caught in the fishing nets we discovered and trying to climb back up on to the rocks as it was quite slippery.

And so, here in Hampi I have been enjoying doing a lot of relaxing, reading a lot of books, going cycling around the ruins - my bike is priceless it was pink with a basket and looks older than me (right thanks for the jokes!) and I wasn't going to get it at first until I discovered its one of the only bikes in Hampi that actually has gears - and there are a lot of hills in Hampi! I love that bike! I will post the picture of us together! On the other side of the river from Hampi there are more temples and a gorgeous lake. On one visit across CM, Terese and I went to the 'Monkey Temple' which is for the Hindu God 'Hanuman' who look a cross between a monkey and a man. And so as Terese is still not feeling too great CM and I drag, laugh, puff and pant ourselves up the 560 odd steps up to the temple. And guess what - there was ONE monkey! ONE! And the little @$%* took a liking to my bag and kept trying to grab it and kept screaching at me, that was one of my more enjoyable experiences - not! I was then quite glad there was only one! And there was a sign up there saying - monkeys are thieves! Oh joy! And so CM, me and the monkey are up there with a few priests in the temple and a couple of other 'tourists' hanging around and CM says 'it wasn't worth it really was it?' I had to agree in the fact it nearly killed us getting up there, I nearly lost my bag to an angry monkey and the temple was just like a box and a bit disappointing...but...the view was out of this world. You looked down on some of the ruins and the river and the rocks and the palm trees and the green and the browns and it was beautiful. I was glad I went up there. The next time I went over the 'other side' I wanted to hire a bike but they didn't have any left so I got a moped and a little boy offered to be my guide for 100 roupees, I offered 20 and he took it - 30p! So he sat on the front of my bike and directed me around and he loved it - so it wasn't exploitation really! And I did buy him a juice and some biscuits so you can't really say better than that... Moving on swifly, Nanradj my 10 year old guide took me to a beautiful lake where it was mostly Israelis swimming and sun bathing. It was so beautiful, the water was so clear and inviting and the sun was beating down and around the lake there was mountains and palm trees and it was just so breathtaking. And so we stayed a little while and then went on to another Temple, Lukshma I believe - I will probably be told off I always get names wrong never mind spelling! Also really nice up there and beautiful views. I think I really enjoyed most about this day the driving around, it is so beautiful the views, so truly beautiful. Nanradj also took me to a bridge that is not quite completed and we sat and looked at the river and I noticed the 'coricles' - they are circular boats that look like baskets. I decided we would go across the river and come back on one just because I wanted to sit in one - such a tourist. And so we did and I was in shock as a motorbike was sitting in it along with a few people. What was more shocking really was the fact on the way back this small boat had 3 motorbikes, a bicycle, 6 men including the 2 doing the rowing and 3 women and 2 children going across. I have a pic of the motorbikes coming off the boat - its a sight to see! But the guy wouldn't take my 50rs note as it had a tear in it. And so when I went to pay for my moped I deliberately put all of my money in to my pocket and only 150rs in my purse and showed him all I had to pay the 120rs I owed was the 100rs note and the torn 50rs note, he was a bit annoyed but still took it so I was happy! But Nanradj seemed a bit worried in case I couldn't afford his 20rs fee and so he then asked me for his fee there and then! So funny.

Other things I have enjoyed here include going in to the local temple and having the 'holy elephant' bless me with his trunk when I gave it 1r. Been taken to see a beautiful sunset with with one of the rickshaw boys (friend of Maddie - Ramesh)who invited me in to the rickshaw with 2 swiss tourists he was taking at the time. But our relationship turned a bit sour as I denied his request to go and have 'chai' with him or go down to the 'river' and spend some 'time' with him afterwards!

And I have enjoyed the friendship of the namesake of my guesthouse 'Vikki - Vikram Singh!' with whom I have had many long and meaningful chats, laughed a lot, joked a lot and enjoyed a very cool frienship. Vikki is one of those quiet people who just gets on with his work - which he does very well I must say, a business man is born! - he has a sweet nature, a mischievous personality and a very good heart.

I have so many other experiences, too many to mention and so many people. One of the funniest being Buba an 'uncle' in the family at the guesthouse. He is always drinking and I just wonder how he gets any work done. He loves to push me and CM all the time, he is so loud and crazy sometimes and other times he is just funny with his funny faces he makes all the time.

Maybe I will write some more another time, as usual...I am sad to leave but feel its time to move on even though I will miss the great Hampi festival which will be happening next week. Tomorrow I head for Bangalore and Sunday I go to the Himalayas which for some reason Vikki finds funny the thought of me trekking! Well I didn't say anything about Everest but they must have a wee mini hike for the likes of me...hmmm, we will see!

Take care and thanks for your comments, I love them.

Sylv x