This time our program took us, so we didn't have to do any planning on our own and just got to sit back and go with the flow. We left Friday night and took the train. CIEE bought us AC 2-tier tickets. Normally we travel sleeper class, which means the windows are open and there are three beds per sitting area, plus another two side berths. In the sleeper class, there are tons of people walking the aisles selling chai, tomato soup, gadgets, all sorts of stuff, and there's also a lot of beggars who come through. A step up from that is AC 3-tier, meaning the car is air conditioned and there are still 3 beds per sitting area. We were even one above that with only 2 beds per sitting area, no beggars, only one chaiwallah who came by at reasonable hours, etc. It was a nice little luxury.
We got to Hospet at 5 am on Saturday and bussed for about 30 mins to our resort. And yes, it was a resort. Each room was it's own little building in a little village of double rooms. The beds were actual beds, not the mattress pads we've been sleeping on normally, and the pillows were fluffy. The showers...oh my god the showers. It took me about 5 minutes to figure out how to work it but it was glorious. It was like one of those showers that has a bunch of pressure massagers all around you and it had scalding hot water. The resort was really really nice, nothing any of us would have splurged on on our own trips.
Saturday we spent in Anegundi, a little town across the river from Hampi. It was a very small village and we checked out a banana fiber weaving place, a temple and went down to the river and hung out. It was very very hot, probably around 95, so I opted out of the climbing, but the people who went said they had a really great time and found some neat caves and stuff.
That night was one of the best dinner's I've had here thusfar. I think everyone on the program ate three full plates of food. Afterwards, we went to the little fair that the resort holds every night. We got free camel rides and chai, there was a dance performance and henna and all this stuff for free, which was really neat. Then we just stayed up for midnight when I turned 19 =), after which I got to retire to my luxurious bed.
Sunday was a long day. It was just as hot as Saturday and I think we saw every ruin within 20 miles of Hampi, which is a ton, trust me. They've all kind of blurred together in my memory, they were really cool, don't get me wrong, but ruins begin to look the same after you've seen about 5. Some of them were whole ancient cities, some royal palaces, temples, mosques, etc. CIEE hired a guide for the whole weekend who spoke good English and showed us around. For lunch we went to the Mango Tree restaurant in Hampi. In order to get there you walk through a banana plantation. Your seats are on the ground and the table is a short table, kind of Japanese, but they all look out across the river and you can see the banks and activities of random people, it was a beautiful view. They had some really good food, too, especially the cheesy garlic naan. After lunch was more ruins, but we did get an hour to hang out in the Hampi Bazaar and do some shopping and stuff.
When we got back to the resort, Shera and I got massages (for my birthday =)). But, massages here are apparently a little different than the ones we're used to, which we found out the hard way. First of all, they give you this see-through underwear that you're supposed to change into but is really really small, so we skipped that part. But then, for a full-body massage, the massage the whole front, not just neck and shoulders and arms, if you catch my drift. It was a little startling to say the least. After the massage we headed to where the group was to wait for dinner when the heads of the program (Kavitha, Madhuri and Kalyan) brought out a cake for me! When other people put up their pictures I'll steal some of that night because I didn't have my camera with me, but there are some great pictures of the cake smeared all over my face, an Indian tradition. Then for dinner, we ate Indian-style on the ground and such, and when dessert came around it's also apparently an Indian tradition to show your guests respect by feeding them, which we were all unaware of. So one-by-one a guy came around stealing our spoons and shoving sweets in our mouths and we were all putting up a fight. I tried to win my fight by hiding my spoon from him, but instead he picked up the sweet with his hand and hand-fed me! It was a very strange but fun evening.
On Monday we did a little sight-seeing in the morning, ate at the Mango Tree again, and had free time all afternoon. We did a lot of shopping, some people went climbing, some hung out in the shade. We got back on the bus around 6, went back to the resort and packed up, then went to dinner. This was another great dinner, more Indian food with Indian desserts. However, a few people did end up getting sick from it on the train ride back, luckily not me though.
Hampi was a lot of fun. On Thursday I take off for 10 days in Goa which should be an insane ten days. Thanks for your birthday wishes, too!
Photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=158970&id=642705832&l=a50b7b59c0
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