It's a truth universally acknowledged that every temple elephant in possession of a kind mahoot must be in want of a daily bath. Lakshmi strolled out of the temple at 8.25am ready for her morning soak. She artfully negotiated the steps from temple to the river, stopping only to snaffle a large helping of peanuts from a lady selling nuts on the edge of the steps. She waded out into the water past women washing their clothes and children swimming. Before slowly lowering herself into the water, and with a small splash lay on her side ready to be washed by three men with soap and scrubbing brushes. Whilst changing sides one of the bathers approached her for a blessing. Using her trunk she squirted him with some river water before rolling onto her other side for the bath to continue.
We left her to it, and went to catch a ferry to the other side of the river. It turned into a long wait, as we needed the boat to be full before the ferryman would cross the 20 metres of water to the other side. Eventually we set out with a full boat- including a motorcycle parked precariously on the front.
There is an ongoing battle between the residents of Hampi and the government about how to preserve the ruins. Unfortunately this seems to lead to fairly routine demolitions, and the day before a large section of the village appeared to have been demolished, and everything was shut. I don't really understand the argument at hand between the residents and government, but seeing homeless people in the wreckage of what appeared to be well built houses did nothing to improve the aesthetic of Hampi.
We found a tuk tuk to take us into another village- Anegondi. This was a capital city of an older empire than Hampi. We had a wonder around, but had forgotten to bring the guide book, which was a bit of a mistake. We struggled to find anywhere to eat, but ended up having a highly nutritious lunch of what can only be described as Indian nick-nacks on the steps of a small food stall. A map in the town centre appeared to show elephant and camel stables so we decided to go on an expedition to find them. This involved a walk through the backstreets of Anegondi, past spotlessly clean houses and out into the fields beyond. After a long wonder about we found a dome sticking out of an overgrown patch of jungly looking plants. There was much excitement for about 30 seconds until we realised that if these were the stables the civilisation of Anegondi, they must have specialised in 'bonzi' elephants and camels. Instead we had found another small temple- Edd was delighted.
We decided to abandon the exploration as frankly it just got too hot, and began the journey back to Hampi. The tuk tuk driver took us to the Lakshmi temple on the way back. This place had a large tank covered in a stagnant layer of red grime, and a particular fondness of tinsel as a source of decoration. The shrine was very peaceful half way up the hill, but we decided it was definitely time to return to Hampi and find some proper lunch.
We spent a long lazy afternoon basking under the fans of a rooftop cafe, with mugs of masala chai and lemon and ginger tea. I left Edd to his book for a bit, and went and had some amazing reflexology on my feet that were not enjoying hiking in sandals (RIP walking boots- the heat melted your glue.)
We left her to it, and went to catch a ferry to the other side of the river. It turned into a long wait, as we needed the boat to be full before the ferryman would cross the 20 metres of water to the other side. Eventually we set out with a full boat- including a motorcycle parked precariously on the front.
There is an ongoing battle between the residents of Hampi and the government about how to preserve the ruins. Unfortunately this seems to lead to fairly routine demolitions, and the day before a large section of the village appeared to have been demolished, and everything was shut. I don't really understand the argument at hand between the residents and government, but seeing homeless people in the wreckage of what appeared to be well built houses did nothing to improve the aesthetic of Hampi.
We found a tuk tuk to take us into another village- Anegondi. This was a capital city of an older empire than Hampi. We had a wonder around, but had forgotten to bring the guide book, which was a bit of a mistake. We struggled to find anywhere to eat, but ended up having a highly nutritious lunch of what can only be described as Indian nick-nacks on the steps of a small food stall. A map in the town centre appeared to show elephant and camel stables so we decided to go on an expedition to find them. This involved a walk through the backstreets of Anegondi, past spotlessly clean houses and out into the fields beyond. After a long wonder about we found a dome sticking out of an overgrown patch of jungly looking plants. There was much excitement for about 30 seconds until we realised that if these were the stables the civilisation of Anegondi, they must have specialised in 'bonzi' elephants and camels. Instead we had found another small temple- Edd was delighted.
We decided to abandon the exploration as frankly it just got too hot, and began the journey back to Hampi. The tuk tuk driver took us to the Lakshmi temple on the way back. This place had a large tank covered in a stagnant layer of red grime, and a particular fondness of tinsel as a source of decoration. The shrine was very peaceful half way up the hill, but we decided it was definitely time to return to Hampi and find some proper lunch.
We spent a long lazy afternoon basking under the fans of a rooftop cafe, with mugs of masala chai and lemon and ginger tea. I left Edd to his book for a bit, and went and had some amazing reflexology on my feet that were not enjoying hiking in sandals (RIP walking boots- the heat melted your glue.)
We were leaving Hampi that evening, and went to try and say goodbye to Lakshmi the elephant. Sadly she was nowhere to be seen, but we climbed up the hill behind the temple to watch another spectacular sunset. The only problem was the bands of marauding monkeys intent on stealing water bottles. One tried to grab a bottle from my hand, before it was chased away by Edd. He is still not a fan of monkeys.
We then headed for the overnight train back to Bangalore, from where we fly home to England first thing on Friday morning.
We then headed for the overnight train back to Bangalore, from where we fly home to England first thing on Friday morning.
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