Hampi

Made it! Bloody hell what a cool place it is here. Sorry I don't know how to turn the photos round but at least it is on! Oh I do now. This is the main bazaar street in Hampi and the temple is at the end and is amazing. Got here about 10am and yet again not a wink of sleep. the bus was something else but at least I had leg room and it was fairly comfortable but the 12 hours of bumpy roads and mad helter skelter driving put stop to any kind of sleep. the bus had JESUS written really massively on the front windscreen. Unfortunately I didn't get my camera out in time but it did make me laugh coz the words impaired the driver's vision and why the hell was Jesus written there? I don't think it had anything to do with the son of God! Last night before I left on the journey I had my last meal at the hotel and got chatting to this rather serious looking German woman but she was pretty friendly really. She was there for an 11 day ayervedic health treatment she was having massages everyday and had to only eat fruit for 7 days. Doesn't sound too much fun to me. I offered her half my beer but she obviously refused to partake!
Booked ahead again for this place and chose a place called Vicky's (THere you go Vicky because it was named after you! cheers for your comment on yesterdays blog we must have been thinking about each other at the same time.) It's good and clean and I crashed out til 3pm, which isn;t a bad thing coz it's just too hot to be outside. I'm really not getting much of a tan, you won't believe I've been to India.
then I got up and wandered around. This place is magical. loads of hindu worshippers and hippies and families and locals all just stolling around. The main temple is about 600 years old but lots of the ruins are much older. Saw the sunset from a hill behind the temple t'was amazing like a massive red fluffy peach. Really looked 3D. Tomorrow I'm up at 6 for a rickshaw drive to another hill which has been declared one of the best places in the world to see a sun rise!
Shouldn't be bad then! Got chatting to a shop owner and her daughter and went inside the temple. You can't take photos inside but there was a holy elephant which will bless you with it's trunk and I got blessed by a holy man and made to drink holy water...I got carried away and really got into character and drunk it so probably will catch some kinda lurgy now. Got a red bhindi mark put on my face too. Look like a local now!
Loads going on.
Just had Thali, which is loads of individual curries and chapatis and rice and 2 bananas for dessert for about 80p. was really tasty but the owner just wanted to sell me Bangh lassi which is the yoghurt drink laced with hash. I just had to tell him that it's not a good idea to get really stoned on your own in a new place when you are carrying all you important documents on you. (Well I didn't tell him the last bit) Right a few last photos of the band which paraded through earlier playing pretty good jazz and the shopkeeper and her daughter. Up at 5 tomorrow so I'm off to my bed which has a wonderful vibrant pink mosquito net over it.