Across the River

Hampi, India -- Day 2

After breakfast in the upstairs restaurant, we wandered over to the main temple, declining offers for maps and tours as we went.  This place is a jumble of dirt roads, shops and guest houses... with sprinkling of stray dogs, cats, sacred cows and mischievous white-faced monkeys running around. We had heard from Kai, our tuk-tuk driver last night, that there was a festival going on.  I’m beginning to think that there is always a festival -- after all, there are thousands of gods.

Lakshmi, the temple elephant, getting her morning bath

As we neared the main temple, snapping a few monkey photos, a man approached saying he was part of the local tourism agency, and there would be a tour starting at 10:00.  If we wanted, we could join them.  What's more, the tour would use bikes to get to the various temples. Hang on a second, that could be fun.

Virupaksha Temple in the distance

All in all, the tour was quite interesting and Hamanath was very good about explaining the significance of the various temples and gods.  We soon learned that there are three primary gods in Hinduism: Brahma, the creator; Vishnu, the protector; and Shiva, the destroyer.  However there are 10 different incarnations of Vishnu and Shiva has a 108 different names.  Not only that, each god has its own unique means of transport or “vehicle." Brahma is the swan; Vishnu, the eagle; and Shiva, the bull (beware the bull, apparently).

Our one speed bikes were nothing to write home about.  Part way along the tour I started feeling achy and an hour or so later it was clear I was getting sick.  After the “underground” temple with dozens of bats hanging on the dark ceilings, we told Hamanath we were going to call it quits.  At that point, our tour group had "swelled" to five, so we left our guide with the remaining tourist and rode back to town.  Before picking up our bags and catching the ferry across the river, we decided to get a bite to eat at the Moonlight Restaurant.  This was a new low in terms of amenities -- the restaurant was actually a canvas tent with sturdy tree limbs for poles, there was no bathroom or running water, only a 55 gallon bucket filled with water and a scooper.  One the plus side, there were fans and large stone slabs on the floor.

The Hema Guesthouse that we had booked for the next two nights, is actually on the other side of the river.  The ferry driver had apparently decided to take a break, so we just waited in the baking sun watching locals wash clothes, bathe and splash in the water.  Eventually the glorified row boat siting on the other side -- not the identical one on our side --  fired up it’s tiny outboard motor and slowly plied its way across the hundred yard river.  To our dismay, however, no one was allowed on and it took off to the other side.  Now, the boat originally on our side was being boarded.  For whatever reason, it seems that each boat only takes passengers one way.  On the third crossing, we finally made it on along with two small motorcycles.