Hampi,Karnataka. Day 2.

A warm sunny day greeted me as I flipped open the windows of my room.This brightened up my spirits.We still had a lot of places to visit, but like the previous day we decided to do it at our own leisure. We weren't looking to tick off places, we just wanted to have fun. After a quick breakfast we started our round.

Our first stop was the Achutarayah Temple.This is, in my opinion, the best temple among the Hampi ruins. It was largely empty when we went and the lonely atmosphere only added to the beauty. The main temple is in the middle of rectangular boundary of structures. The entrance reminded me of the Angkor Vat temple in Cambodia.(I have never been there.I am just talking about the pictures I have seen of Angkor Vat). After spending ample time here reveling in the solitude it offered we made our way to the Courtesan's street in the opposite direction.This was the fabled street where diamonds were sold on the street. Only patches of green and empty pavilions greeted us today. 

Next we passed by what must have been a tank. This place looked magnificent with the Matunga hill overlooking the landscape. From here we moved on in the general direction of the Vittala Hill. As with the dominant feature of the Hampi landscape, there were rocks everywhere. To the left crumbled rocks.To the right giant pieces of rocks. Rocks everywhere.

As we were walking we passed by the Two storied Gateway. It didn't look that exciting so we decided to skip it and continue heading towards Vittala Temple. But Bhanu insisted that we just have a quick look. So we proceeded towards it and I am mighty glad that we did. This place offers excellent views of the surroundings.We spent around 45 minutes here. We liked it so much. There was absolutely no one here apart from us and it was serene and peaceful.

We moved on from here and reached the King's Balance. It is said that the king was weighed on a scale here and equivalent amounts of gold and other stuff used to be handed over to the poor.

Next stop was Vittala Temple, perhaps the most popular of all the sites in Hampi. There was a group of people right outside the entrance waiting for a bus. Men, women, young and old. Everyone was here. We were wondering the whole day where the crowd was and here was everyone. We entered the complex and it was swarmed with people. We strolled around and noticed the famous Chariot in the middle. We took a closer look and it reminded me of the Chariot at Konark Temple in Orissa. Of course this was smaller in size but there were similarities in the structure. We waited for a while to get our chance to click some pics and after we got some we moved on to the Vittala Temple.

In the Vittala Temple the most striking part is the below ground passage that runs around the base of the temple. One can take a walk here. The light was streaming in from the sides of the temple walls and the sight was unearthly. We decided to end our stroll here and head over to the other side after crossing the small river. But as we were walking towards the village it started raining. We had our rain gear with us but we decided to wait it out. We ran towards a small shack sitting at the side of the river, selling some light snacks and tea. There was already a couple sitting there having tea. We took shelter under the thatched roof and ordered tea and snacks. As the warmth of the tea spread over inside I looked around. Far away on the river I saw a small coracle carrying a group of tourists. The rain was falling heavily now and the man rowing the coracle was making a commendable effort to take it to the bank nearest to him. I sipped at my coffee and looked at this race with trepidation. Thankfully the man guided the boat towards safety and the people quickly disembarked. The feeling of relief was visible in their body language.

The rain was not showing any indications of stopping so we decided to wear our rain gear and get going. Which is what we did. We went back to the Hampi village and asked around as to how to cross over to the other side. We were directed to a ghat from where boats leave every 30 mins for the other side. We took our cycles with us and booked a seat in one of the boats which was leaving.
It is a short ride. Within minutes we reached the other bank. It is a steep climb uphill here and we were assisted by two kids in carrying our cycles to the top. They wanted to ride the shiny cycles and we obliged. When we reached the top they were waiting. A tip and a thank you later they ran into the narrow streets.

I had hoped that this part of the town would be free of the commercial feel of the Hampi village. Oh boy was I wrong. This part was even worse. The whole left side of the street was lined with one resort after another.On the opposite side were fields of paddy. They did look beautiful in their yellowish glow but the whole touristy feel to the place ruined it for me. Though a bit disappointed we cycled on. After a couple of Kms we reached another river crossing. Here we saw an ancient structure which initially I thought to be a bridge but in fact was an aqueduct. We cycled to the main road here and it felt good to ride on the good solid tar road after riding on mud roads for the last two days. We went in the right direction(from the mud road joining the main road). We went a long way thoroughly enjoying the sights. It was a beautiful countryside studded with green fields nearby and rock hewn hill sides far way. We had made our plans about when to turn back but an unexpected incident changed it.

Bhanu was cycling much further ahead of me and I wanted to take a video of him from behind. Now I did not want bhanu to turn around anytime when I was taking the video so to tell him to not to turn around I shouted out his name. Now generally Bhanu doesn't do stupid stuff but at that time I don't know what got into him. He did two things he should not have done simultaneously though either of the action independently wouldn't have been much of a problem. He abruptly looked back and at the same time he tilted the handle of this cycle to take a sharp turn. This had the result of him being flung in the air and fall on the hard road. I was looking at the whole scene speechless. By the time I had reached him, Bhanu was on his feet trying to lift the cycle. I quickly took the cycle from him and parked it on the side. He was now checking the extent of his injuries. He had scratches on both elbows, his palms and on feet. The sight of blood was making him giddy so he lied down on the soft grass beside the road. Luckily for us I had a first aid kid with me. I quickly applied bandages and gauze wherever required but I knew we had to buy some more band aids soon. This would do for the time being. So we headed the way we came back and bought some band aids in a shop nearby.

After changing all the bandages we made our way back towards the river bank. We quickly boarded the 1700 Hrs ferry and went back to our hotel room.The ferry service stops at 1730 Hrs. Bhanu took a quick nap to calm himself. Later we packed and left Hampi by 1900Hrs. It was a memorable stay here and the fact is true that it is absolutely not possible to cover Hampi in 2 or 3 days.