Hampi

Hampi, o’ Hampi, this long awaited blog. A beautiful place; a hideaway akin to Goa but without the crazy parties or all the Hippies that was Goa. It’s 'The Jungle Book' meets 'The Flinstones' and I loved it, but unfortunately we stayed too long and at some point it lost it’s charm. I also got sick and so there are some pretty awful memories I have as well the good, but you already know about that.

First and foremost Hampi is cheap, so cheap that Johan and I were paying less than a euro per night; so a great place to be sick and not waste too much money in the process. We met a lot of cool travelers, ate a lot of fantastic cuisine and, for a time enjoyed the wonders of absolute sobriety. Hampi, you see, is a tee totaling society where alcohol is illegal. But, once we moved across the river (with the Frenchie’s) we discovered a whole racket where suddenly Hampi was not so cheap anymore. We didn’t take a lot of photos with the Frenchie’s, but there is a good one on asian-soup.blogspot if interested.

The ruins were fantastic, which we explored with a couple that we’d met in the on the sleeper bus. I love sleeper buses; they are so fucking cool and the drivers are almost as crazy as Egypt (almost). We also visited a place called the monkey temple, full of (you guessed it) monkeys. There are dudes chanting up at the top and the most fantastic views. This is the Hampi I loved. The peacefulness, and the serenity watching the Indians play their cricket, some cliff diving and then hanging with the Frenchies (in particular) is what I love.

A word on the French- in my travels, I haven’t met a lot of French or heard anything overly positive for that matter- they complain a lot and usually stick to themselves when traveling. Now, the Parisians were great to me back in the day when I was in Paris, but I didn’t really get to know any. But these Frenchies, well they were the first I REALLY got to know and I have to say they are some great people. Many of the stereotypes I thought came to be true, and some not so much. But, I gotta’ say man, I absolutely LOVE French humor. They are bizarre yet witty motherfuckers. This one guy Hawk and I would just go at it- demented and sarcastic as shit. He rarely even called me by name, and when he did directly address me it was just as ‘Fucking American.’ Which I didn’t mind and he didn’t really differentiate when I tried to say I’m not American- I am Californian (big difference, aye?). I just told him to shut the fuck up and go take a shower. But all-in-all they were great and really made a nice addition to our chapter in Hampi. I only wish I wasn’t so sick for a portion of the time, and had to miss out on some good times, but hey I did my best.

It occurs to me that I haven’t mentioned much on Indian food. So, let me say that I do love it. I mean, there is some good stuff we’ve had, from various types of Thali (a whole plate of different dips and shit) to all the many kinds of curry, Tandoori chicken.. vegetarian dishes like palak palar, paneer (type of Indian cheese), dosa or pagoda (Indian burrito or pancake-thingies), great fruits like fresh pineapple, coconut, bananas, etc. The juices rock, lassis, milkshakes… oh too much stuff to name. It is only my stomach that didn’t share the sentiment for Indian cuisine- in India apparently. But by all means otherwise, I am careful. I mean- I brush my teeth using bottled water… so wtf, mate?

I also met a Dutch girl that was great and spiritual, but we only had 2 days together so our time was short. By then, we were sick of Hampi and it was about time to move on. We spent about two weeks there total, so the story is just too long to tell. But, I’ve got a shitload of pictures and some videos to tell the rest~