INDIA: HAMPI

On our first day in Hampi we went for breakfast at Top Secret and the owner said he had a room free for 2 nights so we packed our bags and left the doghouse that was Bobbys.

Feeling more settled and with nice chill out areas we hired some mopeds and went for a tour around Hampi with Rami. It was my first time riding a moped and I was off! I soon got the hang of it. We visited many temples which all had beautiful views.

The first one, we could see women skilfully washing their clothes in the river. There was also a peaceful meditation spot in the cave.

The next temple was up a steep hill with red and white paint on the way up to symbolise that there is a temple.

There was an interesting rock that must be hollow inside because when you hit it with a stone it would make beautiful clanging noises. Further into the temple grounds we came to a smaller temple in a rock with a dreadlocked baba who did a prayer ritual for us 3 and we closed it with a few minutes of meditation which was special.

Then we hit the road again to get a coconut. Driving along the roads with beautiful scenery, wind blowing in my hair. I felt so free. Got such a buzz! We then took a long drive to the lake and got in a small fishermans' woven basket boat.

Me and mum didn’t dare get fully into the water so we decided to do some yoga on the lakeside. It was a nice few hours to ourselves. On the way home we saw some more amazing views along with cows and goats being herded by the shepherds taking up the road.

Tonight was our first proper ‘Hampi sunset’. We climbed up the boulders until we were approx 70m high. When we got to the top there was a small crowd of people strumming guitars, playing the drums, singing songs with one guy on a didgeridoo producing such amazing sounds. There were about 12 boys and girls walking around selling chai and lemon juice.

There was a real hippy vibe. I was in my element. The instrumentalist were letting go and people were singing in harmony. The view out over Hampi with the sun setting in the background behind a mountain was out of this world. After exploring parts of Hampi earlier in the day it was the perfect ending. The sun was so big in a deep orange colour creating the sky to go pink surrounding it with really cool cloud formations.

My mum started speaking to a baba who was dressed in white holy clothes with long black gorgeous, silky hair. It turns out he was also a yoga teacher. We stayed until it got dark then climbed down and went to Gopi restaurant with friends to watch some live music. When we were there I found some chocolate balls on the menu ?again! Buzzing.

The next day we got up earlyish for our tour of the other side of Hampi in a Tuk Tuk. Although we got to see even more of the area. It wasn’t as good as driving around on mopeds with Rami. We saw many temples, my favourite was the lotus temple.

We also saw an elephant at a temple.

People stared and asked for our photo countless times! Fuck being famous ever! I was starting to get very frustrated.

We got back and got the boat back across the river and we went to eat at Laughing Buddha further along the river. It is a nice chill out place just like Top Secret to eat with lovely views of the river. On the walk back we passed the guy who plays the didgeridoo at sunset, he is called Gali, he invited us into his shop and we learnt more about his life and his love for music. He is such a lovely man with such passion for music. We left promising we would see him at the sunset spot for one last time.

The sunset was the best one yet.

The next day we had a much needed chill out day of eating, hanging out in hammocks and going for a nice walk. Time passed all too quickly as our taxi was waiting to take us to the sleeper bus back to Goa. Everyone came to wave us off. It was nice but I really tried to fight back the tears. We only knew these people for 4 days but felt like 4 months!

The sleeper bus was ok at first but 6 hours in and we were being thrown about left right and centre in our little cabin.

11 hours later we had reached our next destination. A taxi. To take us to a hotel for the morning/day. 2 hours later and lots of asking for directions we finally got to our weird derelict hotel but we were both feeling too poorly to care. As long as we had AC we were reasonably happy. The customer service was disgusting, over charging idiots. Not even worthy of me talking anymore about them.

Soon it was time to depart for the airport. Me and mum had our last few moments together before I waved her off at her gate back to London. A few quick tears came to my eyes but I took a big gulp and tried to hold back the tears and listen to some music. An hour later it was my turn to leave India, the place that I called home for the past 5 weeks and was heading for Thailand via Kuala Lumpur!