Chilling out in hot Hampi

After the fast pace of the city, Hampi's laid back Indian style and effortlessly beautiful landscape made for a nice breather.

Slightly hampered by the infamous 'Delhi belly' (I'll spare you the details), I allowed myself to get in since with the slow rhythm of life in the historic settlement. Hampi has an ethereal glow and you feel like you're in the midst of an epic Indiana Jones film set. Colossal rocks and crumbling ruins scatter its dusty, ochre landscape and I struggled to take in the magnitude of what lay before me.

Bewitching Hampi was chosen by Telugu prince Harihararaya in 1336 as the site for his new capital, which grew over the next couple of centuries into one of the largest Hindu empires in Indian history, with over 500,000 inhabitants and busy bazaars dabbling in international commerce, brimming with precious stones and merchants. This all came to an abrupt end in 1565 when the leaders of the Muslim-ruled kingdoms in South India razed it to the ground - a blow from which Hampi never recovered. Now only a few families live in the main bazaar area, surrounded by the remnants of a lost empire.

As an exception to the relaxed tempo of Hampi, everyone who arrives in the main bazaar area has to register at the local police station, which is tucked away in a decaying ruin at the far end of the bazaar. I think the main purpose of this visit is to scare all the tourists into staying in after dark - I guess this makes their lives a whole lot easier!

On my first morning, I walked along the river, speckled with giant rocks and stones, and then through a banana plantation for lunch. As I emerged back along the main track, an Indian family beckoned me over and, before I knew it, a massive plateful of food was thrust my way. Feeling far to polite to say no to the eager pairs of eyes wanting to share their picnic banquet with me, I tucked into my second lunch of the day!

Feeling the squeeze, I headed to the figurehead of Hampi bizaar: the Virupaksha Temple. At er negotiating my way past the old women selling small bananas and the men asleep in the pockets of shade in the entrance, I left my shoes and felt the fire of the midday heat on the soles of my feet. The resident elephant, Lakshmi (named after the Hindu god of wealth and prosperity), was inside waiting for my Rs. 10 note (but naturally she accepts Rs. 1 coins from Indians) so I could receive her special blessing.

This was one of many ornately carved stone temples in the Hampi ruins and none of them failed to impress me!

The rest of that day and the next involved broken sunglasses, a knuckle fight with the fan in my room and stepping in a cowpat at 2am in my pyjamas, so I welcomed the arrival of Saturday with open arms.

An early start was called for to watch Lakshmi, India's most pampered elephant, have her twice-daily bath in the river. Well two helpers scrubbed and scrubbed her for 2 hours (so I'm told, I didn't last longer than 30 minutes!).

I then walked through the dramatic landscape to the Vitalla temple, which boasted a stone chariot with wheels that once were capable of turning. With two Australian friends, I rented bikes (probably not the brightest idea in 42 degree heat) and headed to the Royal Centre of Hampi to explore more of the crumbling landscape including the Lotus Mahal and the old Elephant stables. We also came across the unreal Underground Virupaksha Temple, built in the name of Lord Shiva (the god of destruction, and patron of the arts), which was filled with knee-deep water, and lots of bats!

All too quickly it was goodbye to beautiful Hampi, but I was on my way to see a good friend from University in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu for a few days of luxury!