INDIA: GETTING TO HAMPI

A magical, mysterious, spiritual world.

We left Agonda after a few days of saying goodbyes and last minute shopping. We had to buy another rucksack for my mum to take back to the UK with her as I had bought too much stuff of course. Everything was so cheap!

We got a 7hr train journey from Madegon to Hospet, then a Tuk Tuk into Hampi. The train journey was an experience… for the first 3 hours we were in sleeper class where there were no closed windows, no fans, no AC. We were dreading it. Once we were sat down and settled we realised we were sharing our cabin with 2 French guys and 2 Indian guys. The Indian guys turned out to be lovely. They were very nosey, asking us lots of questions about ourselves and life back at home. They worked on the train lines and were off to work. They told us that a waterfall was coming up so I had to get my camera out. You know always up for a good photo opportunity. I was climbing up on the seats, camera at the window ready. This is what we saw next.

I saw monkeys on the train tracks, mountains upon mountains, it was very fun hanging out the door. No health and safety over here!

The Indian men couldn’t believe I was 24 and wasn’t married yet. Females who aren’t married, when in the western world you call them girls, in India you are still classed as a girl, no matter you’re age and won’t be called a woman until you’re married.

And soon enough it was their stop and off they went. It was lovely to speak with them.

The next few hours were hard as it was starting to get hot. The last 2 hours of the journey was in 3rd AC class. Although it was cooler, there wasn’t much space. Then finally it was our stop and we jumped straight into a Tuk Tuk and got dropped off at the river. It was the smallest river to cross but there isn’t a bridge to cross over to the other side in approx 16km radius!

I was in search for a place called Top Secret as it was recommended. Got there and it was full for the week. Disappointedly we checked in next door. It wasn’t very nice but we were only sleeping there right? We dropped our bags off and went back next door to watch the sunset and eat some food.