Karnataka

We took the 2 hour train from Goa down the coast to Gokana which is a small religious town surrounded by many beaches. The town beach is dirty with a lot of litter strewn everywhere but a short rickshaw journey away are some clean and beautiful beaches that are quieter than Goa. We stayed in the middle beach where you could walk to several others. There were lots of baby animals there for some reason kittens, puppies and calves and a lot of cows on the beach. One day we walked up to a viewpoint and saw birds of prey diving down hunting fish and dolphins jumping.

Then we took a 7 hour night bus to Hampi (not recommended as was bumpiest ride ever, train is a better option!)  We decided to stay across the river but we were too early for the little ferry boat. A man in a tiny circular reed woven boat paddled to shore and picked up 5 of us with all our bags in the centre. There was a mysterious atmosphere as he paddled across the river with carvings and statues on the rocks and chantings from the surrounding temples as the sun rose.

Hampi is a ancient religious  town with thousands (I was told 5000 by a guide) of temples with very unusual scenery of mountains of giant boulders. We checked into Balancing Rocks guesthouse which is basic but has a lovely restaurant and is very welcoming. At 8am everyday Laksmi the sacred Temple elephant gets washed in the river so we went to see and had an amazing breakfast at a street stall  of banana puri and I enjoyed it so much I had normal puri too finished off by a fresh coconut of course. Laksmi laid down in the river while two guys scrubbed her with brushes. We went into the main temple in town (2ir entrance,  50ir camera charge). There were lots of monkeys and langur jumping around and trying to take whatever they thought might be edible. If you give lakshi the temple elephant 10 rupees she gives it to her carer and then puts her trunk on your head to bless you. She is very gentle even with the weight of her giant trunk.. Then we went by boat to the other side of the river and walked to Monkey temple which is at the top of a high hill. It was very hot and humid climbing up. I got talking to a large Indian family who adopted me, helping me up the steps and offering me food on the way, they all wanted photos with me and even invited us to stay in their house in Northern India! The temple was small but the family took me round and showed me what to do and the view from the top was amazing.

After we went by rickshaw to another temple and got told off for not leaving our shoes in the correct place and then another temple where they insisted we kept our shoes on! A guide took us into natural caves made by the boulders and right to the top to walk around the temples walls. The sun was going down and the light on the rocks was gorgeous. I finished the day with an amazing full body massage by the guesthouse owner. He was passionate about his abilities  and has 3 books full of excellent reviews  by people all over the world.

The next morning we woke up at 5am and a rickshaw driver picked us up to go to a temple for sunrise. It was quite cloudy but very peaceful up there. Monkeys began to appear after sun rise and a boy dressed up as Hanuman the monkey god appeared too!

We went for breakfast and was then driven around looking at many temples and palaces until 3pm. Some of the stone carvings were very intricate and before about 10am there were few people so you could really feel the magic of the ancient buildings. I was exhausted so I had a nap and woke up at 5am to begin the climb up Matanga Hill for sunset. The view was really special and the sun melted into the clouds over all the temples and village  below. In the evening we watched a band at the restaurant  who were travelling India by playing for their food and board.

Our final day in Hampi was spent relaxing, wandering round the village and surrunding plantations. I got a beautiful henna pattern on my hand. The artist did not pause for a second as she drew the detailed design.  After a delicious dinner in The Mango Tree restaurant we took a rickshaw to Hospet to catch the 13 hour sleeper train to Mysore.

Mysore was our final stop in Karnataka. It is a busy and chaotic city with a certain muddled charm. We stayed at Zostel which is everything you want from a hostel, clean, comfortable and friendly. The main attraction in Mysore is the palace (250ir, no cameras allowed but you do get a audio guide included). It is the old Maharaja’s Palace (ruler of that area). It is ridiculously lavish with gold decorations, giant murals and marble. It has an amazing  stained glass ceiling in the main room made with iron from Glasgow. The
whole palace is completely over the top and if you’re  there on a Sunday you can see it lit up at night with thousands of light bulbs to complete the theme!

In the afternoon we went to see a lady making natural incense sticks by rubbing wax coated sticks with sandalwood. She makes hundreds in a day all by hand.

The following day was India’s independence day so we went to find the celebration in the stadium which wasn’t there! Many people had painted their cows yellow although they didn’t  seem to celebrating in the rest of the city. We headed off on the bus to Bandipur national park.