Day 1.
I have been trying to write this post for the past three weeks, but I was unsure how to put the entire experience in words. This was the best trip I've ever had, and any words I write or speak to describe it would be insufficient. But I'll still give it a try.
When was the last time you were all alone and shouting at the top of your voice in excitement and there was no one to hear you? When was the last time you climbed a hill all alone, and then had your heart skip a beat while trying to come down? When was the last time you learnt to ride a vehicle on the spot just because that was the best way to explore the place? When was the last time you wanted to sit forever and pause time? I did all these in a couple of Days in Hampi.
If I had to choose a word to describe Hampi. I would choose is Dreamy. Because it all felt like a terribly good dream!
I reached Hampi early Saturday morning and had pre-decided my place of stay from all the material I had read about it. The entire place of residence is a tiny village, which you can probably cover in minutes, handful of shops and other local business exist, but tourism is what runs Hampi, most people here have converted their houses into homestays and Guesthouses, which are overshadowed by the magnificent Virupaksha temple and bordered by the river Tungabhadra and enclosed by the gravity-defying boulders.
Two places which we hadn't covered in the auto were walking distance from the Hotel and were best done on foot, one such was the Virupaksha temple, where I met the superstar of Hampi, Lakshmi the elephant, and The Nandi statue which is hand cut from one giant boulder, but the highlight of the day was climbing the Mathangi Hill, the steep climb isn't easy on any given day, and when I reached there it was about to get dark and probably rain(It didn't rain the next day), and I didn't want to miss anything, so I decided to climb the hill, the climb was hard on my legs and I felt how unfit I was, but reaching the top and seeing the view was worth it! This was my first shouting at the top of my voice and no one being there to here except the insects and the Now the hard part was to get down, one slip and I would have fallen down a 1000 feet to death, I held my nerves and took every step down with caution, and took a deep sigh of relief on reaching ground level. Before going to my room, I decided to stop at the famous Mango Tree restaurant, which originally was under a giant mango tree on the banks of the river, but had to be moved in the village because of some government crackdown. I met Ratan here, who from his accent I identified as a Bong. He worked in Goa as a water sports guy for a long time, came to Hampi on a vacation a couple of years age, fell in love with the place, and found an equal paying job as a waiter in one of the restaurants, and never left. I talked to him in detail about the next day, and he told me all the places I should see on the other side of the river. I made a mark of them in my mind, used the free WiFi for a while, gave a loud burp to give respects to the amazing meal and came to my room to call it a day.
