Hampi - Bangalore and straight out..in Hassan now

India today is 35c, the heat shines off the road as the rickshaws wizz pass. We left Hampi, the magical city of boulders, happy and content. The city was worth exploring and we enjoyed what it had to offer.

(this is the main temple in hampi, it will only let me upload three pics, not the best choice but hey..will upload more when i can)

(this elephant blesses you when you walk pass, you give him a rupee, he takes it in his trunk and gives it to the man and then he blesses you with his trunk on your head..was really cool to see)

At 11am, in the blistering heat we took a short boat ride accross the river to the Monkey Temple. The river was covered in colours from the local people washing their brightly coloured saris. The florescent pinks and yellows beam into view. The temple is a local shine to Hindu Gods, covered by monkeys and local people willing to bless you with paint and water. We trekked the 600 steps to the top of the temple, 12 noon, sun in full heat, watching the views of the millions of boulders, tea plantations and local people. Once we reached the temple, we had to take our shoes off and walk around the large boulder it was built on. For many, they walked around slowly with thier incense and candles, but for Terry and I it was a hop, skip and a jump to the next shady part so to not burn our feet! Our journey down, as ever, was easier to manage and we waited at the local bus stop to take a ride home. The bus arrived and was fully packed with people, everyone with thier eyes on us, the only sweaty tourists on it, only to be dropped off somewhere very unfamiliar and told to walk back to the main city. For ended up following some local kids and working our way through tea plantations, over rivers, up hills and through people´s house to arrive back in the dark.

That night we wanted to sort our bags out to make them lighter as it is just too hot for terry to carry both big bags here in India (hehe, sometimes i attempt it....joking!!), so we found some of the locals that were living in the street a few things just to make life easier for them. Terry gave his binoculars to this same boy who had been following us all day wanting his picture taken, he couldn´t believe that he could see things from a distance in them and rang back to his family to show them.

(an amazing man, near the river, good pic ay!)

When we finally left, we travelled for 12 hours during the day (we thought a better option after our night hassle to Hampi) and arrived in Bangalore, the financial capital of India. The traffic was crazy getting into town, compared to the rural india we saw on our bus trip. The people here still carry things on their heads and by cow cart and live in bamboo huts on the side of the street. Many own cows and goats also so there is cattle pretty much everywhere you look.

Bangalore was a bustling city with hunderds of buses and people everywhere. Once we arrived we were exhausted and were accosted by this very drunk homeless guy who said he would show us to some cheap accomodation. It ended up that he wanted money from us for showing us to some guesthouses we could have easily found ourselves and then we couldnt shake him all night. We didnt give him any money and we kept asking people to tell him to go away in hindi but he wasnt having any of it. He was still outside our guesthouse this morning!

We checked around many guesthouses in Bangalore, some were awful, damp everywhere and i even stepped on a cockroach on the floor of one of the bathrooms. One of the worst experiences of my life.

So Bangalore didnt start off that nicely and we were so tired that we both decided we didnt like the city and would leave the next day (today). Its so funny how you do that, first impressions ruin the city of 5.5 million people! But its happens and after a really bad sleep (We were awoken by a muslim prayer call outside, a loud voice over the whole of the city telling everyone they must wake up at 5.30am) we got a bus to Hassan, 4 hours for 1 pound each! We sat next to a really nice indian guy who told us all about the hindu faith and about arranged marriages for the whole time, past the time nicely, with a few 3 rupee somosas too!

We are the only westerners in this town, so as we got off the bus you can imagine the reaction. Its a tiny town with lots to see around it. Tel just got his hair cut for 25p, looks real good and we are just off to eat a Thali which is a selection of dishes on a banana leaf all for 25p for the both of us! Our room is really nice, with the typical bucket of water for a shower. We headed to the movies today to relax and watched a great Indian film. As the roads are so packed, on the way to the theatre I had my foot run over by a motorbike!

Love to everyone...hope your all well...xxx