So after I sucked back all my tears due to the fact that I had to leave the beach world, more specifically, chacha, I headed on an overnight bus to Hampi. Traveling in India is like this: my bus ticket said to arrive to check in at 10:30 and the bus departs at 11:00. Sitting at the pickup point until 12:30 and asking the people that work there every 10 minutes, starting at 11:00 where the bus is, only to have the constant reply of "very soon, don't worry, do you want chi?" No I don't want any more chi, I only want to get on the bus. So when the bus finally came one and a half hours late I boarded and got into the seat I paid for which was called a "luxury seat". Luxury in India I found is a VERY loose term. It can mean anything from comfortable to my legs, back and neck are breaking and if I get through this ride I will never book anything in my life that says luxury again. I was sat in a first row with my knees up against the metal wall in front of me so that every bounce my knees would collide and shake a little. After about 20 minutes of this I decided to sleep in the aisle of the bus on the disgustingly dirty floor that turned my once blue tshirt into a light brown. When I asked the bus driver what time we would arrive, he told me 7 am. "Are you sure?" I asked to so I could have an idea in my head when this nightmare would be over. Yes, 7am I think. When we finally pulled in at 10:00, I dragged my aching body out of the bus and looked for a 70 yr old, one eyed man named chacha which was no where to be found. I did however within 10 minutes of getting off the bus get offered the standard Rickshaw, taxi, tour, cheap room, anything to smoke and just hands that wanted money (they figured I was rich since they saw luxury on my ticket). What I had heard about Hampi was that it was great, there were rocks everywhere. It was recommended, so I went. Honestly it was great, and there are rocks EVERYWHERE. They aren't just rocks though and I really don't know how to explain it. There were some good hikes which lead me to temples up and within all the rocks. I rented a bike for what I planned to be a 4 hour bike ride but after about half an hour I parked next to a school in the center of town, watched people go by and interact and watched the children play before returning the bike after half the time. In the river the people of the city were washing there clothes next to the people bathing, next to the buffalo bathing. When the day was finished I headed back to my room, ordered some food (rice and vegetable curry-the easiest things to make here) and then waited 2 hours for it to come before eating it in 4 and a half minutes.
The next day when I was walked and toured out I headed out of town at about 5:30 pm only to arrive at my final destination of Mysore at about 12noon the following day, two buses and two trains later. I got a bed on the long train. (when I say bed I mean something about the length of an ironing board, maybe twice the width and just as hard)
I arrived in Mysore to find an email that the two girls, Sarah and Michelle who I met about a week before in Palolem where in Mysore so I went and met up with them and we decided to take a tour of the city in a Rickshaw (a miniature car). The first place our driver took us was to a catholic church. Our driver decided with his broken english that he was qualified to be a guide as well. In the church he pointed out 3 different statues of Jesus for us and then pointed to one statue of an apostle and told us that that statue was of Jesus's father. (This threw me, because I always had thought that God was his father, oh well, maybe not in India). He then pointed to a statue that said in bold print underneath "Saint Philimino" and told us that that was Jesus's mother. We walked down a hallway where there were hundreds of names engraved on the wall, something where if you donate a certain amount of money to the church they put your families name up. Well, our "guide" pointed to all of these names and told us that they were Jesus's cousins and mothers. This part of the tour alone made it worth the price of the trip. We then drove around and didn't see anything else because everything was closed due to the fact that it was a holiday. "It's tuesday, nothing is open, because it's a holiday". This is what they told us as if everyone in the world knew that it was a holiday. We just wanted to know if today was the holiday or was it the fact that it was tuesday?
We finally got dropped off and then had a few drinks got some dinner and awaited the next day which was when we would depart to Bandipur in hopes to see a tiger on a safari.
We took the bus to Bandipur and got dropped off on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. We found a small place that had dorms, but we couldn't rent the beds, we had to rent the whole dorm. They asked us if the 3 of us wanted the 6, 10, or 20 bed dorm. I think we'll take the 6, thanks. We had a room boy who would be outside our room if we needed any food, drink or had any problems with anything. When we finally went on our safari tour called "Plan Tiger" we got to see not only deer, chickens and peacocks, but we also saw a family of pigs walking around. We decided that the tour was called it's name because everyone who goes plans to see a tiger, but then are obviously much happier when they can see the same animals they could have seen from sitting on their front porch. (From our front porch we saw no only these animals, but many monkeys and also elephants, old and young.)
I am now back in Mysore and heading to Bangalore, my last stop in India to visit friends I made back in Egypt, Kiran and VIbha.
I quite enjoyed my time with Sarah and Michelle and was so happy that they could discover the magic of the "Plan Tiger" safari with me.
Sarah by the way who is the short one in the picture, we are the same height when I am sitting in a chair. When Michelle was reading from a guide book to her and mentioned Ghandi, she thought for a minute and then asked where in India that was. The first night I met Sarah she asked me if the U.S was one country. You'll never know if you don't ask. They are both as nice as can be to me so they can say any ridiculous thing they want. When I walk around with them I feel like I'm with celebrities. It is what I would imagine life for an NBA star or something. Two pretty white girls with a little cleavage and if they stand somewhere in public for more than 10 minutes they will have at least 50 Indian men staring at them. People in India don't try to hide it when they stare at you, they may be 10 ft away standing and facing in your direction and their eyes won't leave you for as long as you stand there.
"For every traveller who has any taste of his own, the only useful guide book will be the one which himself has written"
-Aldous Huxley an English Writer.
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