Well, maybe I’m misleading you a bit with the title, it was hardly a hog (Harley Davidson motorbike)...but more like an 80cc bike with the same power as a scooter but better shocks. I rented the bike for 150 rupees plus the same amount again for a couple litres of gas. My plan was just to tour around on the north side of the river (where I’m staying) and see what I can see. The roads are a bit bumpier than in Goa but the scenery was mesmerizing. I did a little off roading and was impressed with the handling of the bike. I had turned off the paved road to follow a sign to a temple but it beats me where it was. I got pretty much to the end of the trail and there were four people hacking away at the big rocks to get nice slabs to be sold.
A large insect at breakfast, nice ones though, they weren't bothered with humans at all:
Goat rush hour:
My trusty steed:
On the road:
Off the road:
Back on the main road, I travelled about 12 kilometres and hit the town (small city by Canada standards...but merely a town here) called Gangawati. I ventured as far as a fancy bus station and then turned around to head back to the Hampi vicinity. I turned into a small village called Anegundi. The Lonely Planet guide mentions this place as a sort of “Hampi that hasn’t been touristized” (they didn’t actually use that word...I just coined it). As I drove down the dusty little streets lined with old houses and some straw huts, almost every local I saw, old and young, said “Namaste” to me...very friendly place. There was a massive wooden chariot at one intersection but I have no idea about the history of it.
Friendly guys in Gangawati:
The entrance to Anegundi:
Nice wooden chariot:
By the river:
Cute kid in Anegundi:
Some houses were pretty simple:
At a small temple at the end of town, I met a young French couple, Remi and Julia, who were touring around on a bike like me. They have been living in Australia for the last year or so with Julia studying her masters in events planning and Remi taking the odd course while they both also work. They were on a quest to locate the infamous monkey temple and it was definitely on my list of things to see before I leave so we decided to join forces. Within an hour we were at the base of a big hill and began to climb the 575 steps to the top. There was a small, white building at the top surrounded by a fantastic view of this land intended for giants. Many monkeys were running around, climbing wires, scurrying over the rock faces...very fun to watch. One of the temple sadus (holy men) fed some of them some white bread followed by bananas. Julia was brave enough to feed them the odd piece of bread. In general they were fairly well behaved but one or two of the bigger ones would occasionally try to assert their dominance.
The entrance to the Monkey Temple:
Halfway up the hill:
How many more stairs to go?
The namesake of the place:
Good bananas:
Julia feeding the monkeys:
A cute monkey family:
Inside the little temple there were four rooms, all colourfully decorated. In one room there was a sadu chanting as he banged a drum while in another, tiny box of a room, a younger man just sat their cross legged, staring at the wall.
Remi inside the temple:
Writing on the side of the temple:
The view from the top:
Nice staircase:
We descended the many steps and decided it was time for a super late lunch...late enough that when we had finished we just had enough time to capture the sunset part way up a rocky hill. We met up later for a bit of dinner and a drink and wouldn’t you know it, the guy sitting at the table next to me attended the same university as me for engineering as well...albeit about 10 years after I was there. I bid adieu to Remi and Julia and will perhaps meet up with them back in Goa next week.
Just after sunset:
At dinner:
No comments:
Post a Comment