My first stop after Bangalore was Hampi. This little place used to be the glamorous capital of a rich kingdom. Hundreds of temples can be found there. Some are only ruins, others are well preserved and huge tourist attractions. We started the day with some pan. This is a snack with betel nut prepared on a leaf. The leaf is then rolled together. A friend of a friend then drove us around, so that we could see the most popular places. In between we filled ourselves with various snacks like some sour mango, watermelon or sugarcane juice. I find it strange, that even fruits are eaten with spicy masala. We saw the elephant's stables, where the king used to keep eleven elephants. We saw a famous statue of the Vishnu incarnation Urga Narasimha with the seven-headed snake, the stone chariot and a few more places. I found the Virupaksha temple with its gigantic entry gate most impressive.
Inside the temple we discovered a nice surprise. You could give a 10 rupee (0,13 €) note to an elephant. It would take the money and then give a blessing by laying the trunk on ones head. Behind the temple I crossed the river in a bamboo shell to get to the top of Ajanadri hill. This is supposed to be the birth place of the god Hanuman.
A slate at the river with the image of Hanuman
Instead of taking the normal way I took a short cut through a banana plantation. This, of course, took longer and got my shoes completely dipped in mud. I then reached the hill. Hanuman being a monkey got me in a climbing mood. So I decided against the 575 steps but to climb my way on the rocks. What started out easy got tougher and tougher with denser bushes. I was pretty far up already, but with the sun burning I chose the safer option of going back down again. Completely exhausted I reached the bottom, only to go up again, this time using the steps.
