I recently talked with a friend of mine who had been to India on leisure and believed the only redeemable aspect of that country was none other then the world renowned Taj Mahal.
However during my summer I found 6 additional cities that should be given consideration.
Stop 1: Hampi, India
Gorgeous Sunset over the river valley in Hampi
Back when monkeys where a novelty and cute....
Hampi, a quaint jungle town, not for the fainthearted, but rather for those who enjoy an adventure as it is a bit of a journey to get there since there are no close airports. We took an overnight bus, which worked great, that is if you don't mind hearing the horn throughout the night. Other options include testing your luck and will to live by driving, or taking the train into Hospet(the main town outside of Hampi) and then taking a bus, or auto into Hampi. We arrived into the bus station in Hospet in the wee hours of the morning and took a short ride in an Auto to Hampi's center. After all night on a bus all I wanted was a nice comfy bed to sleep what was left of the morning away. Our auto driver was kind enough to help us get rooms in Hampi, the first option had no AC. Luckily another hotel owner was awake and offered their rooms with AC. It was heaven, and they were very accommodating, there are only family run hotels and no "5 star resorts" directly in Hampi, so the families live at the hotel.
Ann riding to one of the many ruins
Breakfast we went to the hotel across the street to their roof top restaurant, and this is where I fell in love, ok I became addicted, to Mango smoothies. Hampi does them the best out of everywhere I have been. As a group we met up and rented motorized scooters, with a few of us doubling up. After one slight accident(before we even took off) we traded one scooter for 2 pedal bikes. Both were great, the bikes are not road bikes, just everyday kind of bikes, and in the heat and long distance it was not that fun. (we took turns on the bikes..) The scooters were an awesome way to see the jungle, as they weren't loud, and you could still go along at a leisurely pace.
This was my first venture into a "real" jungle and it felt so magical to me to see all the old ruins pop out amongst the lush vegetation of the countryside. I almost felt like I was transported into a story, like the Jungle Book. I have seen my fair share of ruins, but these were beautiful as they still held much of the original detail. It was cool to see everyone from all walks of life coming back to gather at these sights.
Riding back towards Hampi, we came across a lemonade stand. Who wouldn't want a nice refreshing drink or ice cream after a long, hot ride in the jungle. We learned a whole new way to make lemonade, the start with an empty glass coke bottle filled with soda water, the top is covered in a whole lemon to keep out the bugs. Now it is time to juice the lemon, and boy do they juice that lemon. Last of all there are two ways to get your lemonade, salty/sour or sweet. Ann got salty just for kicks, it was good, but I can only take a few sips before I fill sick, it is definitely an acquired taste.
We ended the day by doing a little shopping at the bazaar there in Hampi's center, they have some unique items which was so refreshing after seeing the same stuff everywhere else. The food here is delicious, we went to the "main street" and found a fully-mediterranean-themed restaurant, including a low table and rugs and cushions on the floor. I highly recommend this place. It was called ____ Leaf.
The next day we decided to go swimming in the morning, we were told Lakshmi the elephant comes down to bathe here at the river everyday. We entertained ourselves by swimming out to and exploring some of the ruins in the middle of the river. Just be aware it is mostly men and boys who swim in the river, woman and girls come to do their wash and then spread out there lovely saris all along the steps and they look beautiful with all the color.
Finally we spotted Lakshmi headed down to the river, we swam over and were able to help bathe her and in return at the end she gave us an elephant bath. She has quite the following as she gives elephant blessings to the lucky. I followed her but got distracted and soon lost the crowd, not that the temple was hard to find. I stumbled upon a traditional Indian wedding happening amongst the ruins, and in all my swimming glory they pulled me in to participate in the ceremony, saying I would bring added blessing to the couple(they don't get many white people around here I guess). They even took professional photos with me as well.
They invited me to have lunch with them, and I asked if I could bring my friends, we agreed to meet at the bus stop and go with them. I went to find everyone, but sadly we had missed the family or we misunderstood the spot. To end the day we did a sunset yoga session on the roof of our original hotel and then sprinted to catch our bus to Hospet. This bus was a nicer sleeper bus as it had beds but no AC. In Hospet we grabbed dinner at the Shanbag hotel.. I tried boost for the first time (similar to hot chocolate) and fell in love with my drink once again.
We headed to the bus depot to wait for our bus, but it wasn't coming... somehow we figured out that although it drops you off at the bus station, it doesn't pick you up from there. We booked it a block & a half and barely caught our bus.
So like I said, if you are in for adventure Hampi is right for you.
