Sunday, December 22, 2013

Trip to Hampi - Part 5: Day 2 itenerary


8th December 2013

“We must go beyond textbooks, go out into the bypaths and untrodden depths of the wilderness and travel and explore and tell the world the glories of our journey.” – John Hope Franklin

We have reserved the 2nd day to explore the 2 things. One is the trek to Matunga hills and other one is to explore the Kishkinda and other sights which are across the river. 

Most difficult turn on our trek to Matanga. Critical point for vertigo
We have put up an alarm of 5:30 am but wake up at 6:30 and were ready by 7:30. We had light breakfast at one of the roadside vendor. As we had to trek Matunga hills, we prefer easily available idli and took an Auto from Hampi Bazaar to the place from where we need to start the trekking. The place was very near and there is no need of an auto but I thought we were late so we prefer auto.

We started trekking for Matunga Hills at 8 am and completed it around 10 am. It was quite challenging and enjoyable. Read it in detail about it here.


We spent a beautiful time up there at Matuga hills. 
 "Remember that time spent on a rock climb isn't subtracted from your life span." -- Will Niccolls

 We came back, cross the river by mechanized boat which took around 2 minutes and reach across river at 11. Please note that all the places in Hampi are very near to each other and do not take much time. Environment was quite Goan type across river. All the restaurants, roads, ambiance and people were just like Goa. My memories of Goa became refreshed. 

There was series of restaurants and the instrumental meditational sort of music was played everywhere.Must visit place across river is Anjaneya Parvat which is considered as birth place of Lord Hanuman and is famous among foreigners as Monkey temple. There are 2, 3 more temples and Pampa sarovar which is actually lake where Parvati performed penance to show her devotion to Shiva. 

We sitting at Moped
We were contemplating about how to start and as Anjaneya temple was little far, we were confused whether to hire cycle, moped or take an auto. There was 1 very good restaurant Gautami. We went into it for some breakfast. It was a good restaurant and manager recommends us to take moped. We hired moped and went to Lord Hanuman temple. The route was very beautiful. Don’t expect proper road but it will take you into very interior and also offers some splendid landscapes. 

There were around 580 steps to reach to the top. We parked our Moped and started climbing the steps. As soon as we started, 1 monkey jumped from tree on the shoulder of my wife. Before we can understand anything or can take photograph, he took the banana that was coming out of one of the pocket of the bag and vanished. My wife enjoyed it very much however, I became little scared as there were large no. of monkeys in that place. And it is also believed that all the monkeys belong to some deity of that age. 

Entrance of the temple. Temple can be seen at the top of the hill, white colored
 
Temple was at great height and it was looking difficult to reach but once started, we reached at the top in less than half an hour.

Paddy field view from Goan Corner restaurant
 After coming back to, we rode a lot in the village exploring different restaurants. I had read a lot about the Goan corner restaurant and went straight to it. It was at the other end of the village. Though it was accessible by bike, the route was long. You can walk though the paddy field also which is a shorter route. We ordered pasta here.  



After enjoying the ambiance and the superb view of paddy fields that this offers, we headed straight to Laughing Buddha. 

Laughing Buddha
 This place was also very nice and offers a stunning view of Virupaksha temple. We relaxed there for 2 hours, had some good food and finally crosses the river again.
View from Laughing Buddha Restaurant




 At 4:30, we reach the place from where coracle boats were working. We boarded a boat and ride in the river amidst the numerous boulder sites which don’t know how balancing each other.  Read more about it here.



Me enjoying the ride

After the trip, we walked the Hampi town and Hampi Bazaar and contemplating about that era when Hampi was inhabited by the Kings. We reached our room at 6: 30 and rest for an hour and then again started exploring restaurants. Though I do not each much while traveling, I didn’t know what had happened to my taste buds at this place. It appears to me that have woken up from the deep slumbers in Hampi. We went to sleep at 11. 





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Complete Hampi trip Posts Compilation so far


Day 1:




Day 2:





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