Being Hampi!

Yes, you read that right. 'Being Hampi' cause that's what the place does to you. You won't be able to get out of Hampi and get back to your routine life for a while post this trip; unless you're one of the strong ones. However, the place leaves you with a feeling of satisfaction and calm that you'll not get if you've been working crazily for a month with no weekends. That's exactly why this trip for me was much needed.

An overnight journey from Hyderabad in an AC sleeper Volvo bus took around 9 hours on the 14th of February. After arrival at the bus station I took an auto towards the boat drop point to cross to the other side. I had booked an AirBnB (Chinni's House) for 2 nights on the other side of the river. He was polite to send an auto for my pickup. After arriving at Chinni's I freshened up and rented a scooty for 2 days to go around Hampi.

Day 1 - Bus rides can be taxing, so we decided to have a relaxed day. We first went to the Sanapur lake which was ethereal. The blueness of the lake with the picturesque view made me chill there for around an hour feeling the wind in my hair all the while. We then went to grab lunch in the German Bakery which is quite popular there. The food was okayish and overpriced. (Most of Hampi is). Towards the evening we explored the Virupaksha temple which is right next to the other side of the river. We climbed to the top for the first sunset in Hampi which felt amazing. Towards the evening we roamed around the streets and had dinner at a different hotel and enjoyed the movie night watching 'Wolf of Wall Street'.

Day 2 - We started the day with breakfast at Bejamin's, his wife and he moved to Hampi and have been there for around 10 years now. The dosas served were crispy with a yummy chutney. Taking off from there, we started on the temple trail. Anegundi Village, Chintamani Temple, Lakshmi temple and Durga Temple are the ones to explore. Each of them have a sense of uniqueness which their own stories and quirks. My favorite was the Monkey Temple on the top of Anjanye Parvath where Lord Hanuman was born. One has to climb 575 steps to reach on top for the fabulous view oh Hampi and the sunset. We went back to the one of the hip places 'Laughing Buddha Cafe' which was renowned for good food. With the amount of hard work we'd done, a sumptuous meal was in order. We stayed late for another movie night and took a scooty ride back to Chinni's. The extraordinary thing is that Hampi population dies down early, so post 10 PM the eerie surroundings might scare you a little. However, the starry sky with the serenity around made it worthwhile!

Day 3 - We had booked the government approved guide for a bicycle tour which costs around 450 bucks. We checked out from Chinni's since we had the bus back this night. As recommended by our host, we had breakfast at the Mango Tree Hotel which serves quite a platter. We left our luggage there to join our tour group. The guide took us around to all the spots on the other side of the river which was for around 3 hours. He explained the details about the sites with utmost clarity and detail. If you're the one keen on knowing history this is a good investment. However, you can also choose to explore the trail yourself. By afternoon I was too tired to go anywhere else, so had lunch too at the Mango Tree which was decent. I roamed around in the evening to the other temples nearby and explored the shops on foot.

Getting back to the Hospet Junction to board the bus was easy as there are plenty of autos to take you there. There are many firsts that I that have from this trip, it was definitely a refreshing one that helped me understand myself a little more. The travel bug has bitten me and I'm not stopping anytime soon.

Overall Expenses: 5500 INR (2 night, 3 days)