As a key destination I probably built Hampi up in my mind to be more thrilling than it really was. True the landscape and embedded ruins are nothing short of breath taking but the overwhelming tourist infrastructure wasn't quite what I expected. The village itself could have been anywhere in the Med and over the river the scene was more Goa than rural Karnataka.
Having said that I did enjoy the 10 days I spent there even with the last three marred with a cold and an infected gum... Ouch!
My time here in Hampi coincides with a large cultural festival of music and dance. The Hampi Utsav draws crowds of thousands to enjoy a wide mixture of Indian music from local village performances, through virtuoso classical music turns to wild and exuberant Bollywood set pieces. A kind of Indian Glastonbury without the mud. There's too much going on to take it all in but the performances I have seen have been superb and sometimes a little crazy even for me.
Arriving in Hampi after dark was a little stressing. The hotel touts swarmed and wouldn't give us any space. However after about 30 minutes we found rooms for the night but would have find another place in the morning.
Waking up to Hampi's surrealist splendour was a delight and our guest house rooftop restaurant must have the finest breakfast view in all Hampi.
After walking around looking at guest houses l found a decent place so accommodation was no longer a problem. It was time to explore some more. A short ferry trip to the other side of the river proved uninteresting but when I got back.... The local temple elephant was taking a bath in the river http://youtu.be/I-KQNammmCM
