Chasing Monkeys and Climbing ruins

By the way, I have added pictures to my Mumbai post, and two Goa posts. I could only pick a few pictures, since it took a while to download. I don't want to spend my whole day at a computer.

On to Hampi....

Driving from the bus stop I couldn't stop starring. The ruins surround you everywhere you look, and the landscape is covered with old crumpling temples, boulders and rocky pillars. We've heard from many people we bumped into while traveling that Hampi was beautiful, we had no idea!!

Once we made our way into an area called Hampi Bazarre, where the narrow streets are filled with scooters, cows, Indian people saying "hello how are you" and tiny road side stalls selling chips, water and Indian biscuits. After looking at 3 different guest houses, we settled on Gopi guesthouse. Cold-ish water for showers was the small price to pay for this clean brightly coloured room. And for $12 a night ($6 each) we felt we got a good deal. After the 12 hour bus ride, we both just wanted a clean room in a safe area.

What Joseph and I encountered in India and mostly in Hampi is that many people work on the honour system. It's not a-typical for a restaurant owner to say "pay me later" or for the guy working at the small confectionery store to wave you off with a "next time" as you you rummage through your pockets for that 5 rupees and can't find it. After today's lunch at the Gopi rooftop restaurant we encountered that same thing, only this time we fill up a book with our room number with all our meals and pay when we leave. A very trustworthy culture, and Joseph and I don't want to take advantage of their trust and kindness.

The manager of the restaurant, named Kiran, extended a lot of kindness to us when we arrived and were getting hassled by the rickshaw mafia, as they like to call them in the guidebooks. He shooed him away and proceeded to inform us that Joseph and I had to register our passport and camera make and model with the local police station for our safety. We proceeded to ask why, feeling a little apprehensive as to what the answer would be. He told us that in 1998, there was a thief who was stealing cameras from unsuspecting foreigners. And so to protect our stuff and to retrieve our goods if stolen it is safer (and protects their tourism) if we register. We both found this reasonable enough and liked that there were steps being taken to ensure our safety.

The conversation that too place next went something like this:
Joseph: "What ever happened to the thief"
Kiran: " Oh, the police shot him in the leg when they found him"
Joseph: "So he was running away, right?"
Kiran: "No, no, he was sitting down. The cops just shot him in the leg."
Shelley and Joseph mouths open: "Really?"
Kiran nodding: "Yes, and when he was released from jail, the police planted 2kg of marijuana in his bag so that they could put him back in jail."
Shelley: "Where I come from, we call this corruption"
Kiran: "No not really, just keeping streets safe for people and tourists"

Isn't that hilarious!! Thanks Hampi, for your police corruption and for keeping things safer for me and other tourists. My Mom will be happy.

Isn't that just awesomely funny! I love culture differences. It's an education.

Up next: The history of Hampi, early morning yoga, Joseph getting sick off some dodgy Hindu holy water.

Good times!

These are some of the ruins at sunset time that is just behind our guesthouse. This is the view we have while sipping tea and eating nutella pancakes in the morning.

Love you and miss you all! But safe and having a blast!