Apologies for the brief intermission. This was due to
a) a long travelling day/night to Hampi and
b) being struck down with the lurgy
I had a good final night in Kudle Beach - another movie night at the Shiva Prasand guesthouse. The film - Mila Jovovich's The Fourth Kind - was truly awful, but I had a decent curry* and met up with a couple of people I'd met earlier in the week. There was one final sunset too:
I then woke up the following morning with the sweats, the aches, the head, the Delhi belly, the works. I sat around all day in the shade sipping water, eating just two slices of a pizza I'd ordered (I think the waiter took offence) and finishing off my second book of the holiday - The White Tiger. A brilliant book.
At 5pm I hauled myself off the beach to start the trek to Hampi. This involved a long walk up a hill to the rickshaw stand, a rickshaw to Gokarna, a local 'government' bus to Ankola...
...a rickshaw to a hotel on a highway outside Ankola, and then a sleeper bus to Hampi:
At the hotel in Ankola we had 5-6 hours to wait. I felt like shit, the toilets reminded me of the one in Trainspotting...
...and there were cockroaches everywhere you looked. Not a high point of the trip!
But eventually our bus came, I had a fitful sleep and we arrived at Hampi at 7am this morning. Hampi used to be the capital of southern India - many moons ago - and the architecture of the temples is one of the major draws for tourists. I had a slow walk through the small town and took some pics:
And these are the views from the rooftop of my guesthouse:
So, illness aside, it's good to have moved on to somewhere new. Hopefully I'll be back on my feet tomorrow to go see some sights.
Btw, more pics here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26607248@N08/
*tasted good, then proceeded to ruin me.
a) a long travelling day/night to Hampi and
b) being struck down with the lurgy
I had a good final night in Kudle Beach - another movie night at the Shiva Prasand guesthouse. The film - Mila Jovovich's The Fourth Kind - was truly awful, but I had a decent curry* and met up with a couple of people I'd met earlier in the week. There was one final sunset too:
I then woke up the following morning with the sweats, the aches, the head, the Delhi belly, the works. I sat around all day in the shade sipping water, eating just two slices of a pizza I'd ordered (I think the waiter took offence) and finishing off my second book of the holiday - The White Tiger. A brilliant book.
At 5pm I hauled myself off the beach to start the trek to Hampi. This involved a long walk up a hill to the rickshaw stand, a rickshaw to Gokarna, a local 'government' bus to Ankola...
...a rickshaw to a hotel on a highway outside Ankola, and then a sleeper bus to Hampi:
At the hotel in Ankola we had 5-6 hours to wait. I felt like shit, the toilets reminded me of the one in Trainspotting...
...and there were cockroaches everywhere you looked. Not a high point of the trip!
But eventually our bus came, I had a fitful sleep and we arrived at Hampi at 7am this morning. Hampi used to be the capital of southern India - many moons ago - and the architecture of the temples is one of the major draws for tourists. I had a slow walk through the small town and took some pics:
So, illness aside, it's good to have moved on to somewhere new. Hopefully I'll be back on my feet tomorrow to go see some sights.
Btw, more pics here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26607248@N08/
*tasted good, then proceeded to ruin me.