Humped my way to Hampi and Back

This independence day I Humped my way to Hampi and Back in the Yellow Wagon R...

Long weekends have a thing or two about them about them. Plus this was the 15th of August 2009.

It was exactly 3 years back Usha & I decided to break some rules and unite forever. So it was time to celebrate.

Hampi is close to 400 kms from Hyd and the route we took from GachiBowli was...

GachiBowli to Shamshabad (good airport road) to Jadcherla (superb Bangalore Highway) to Mahboobnagar to Raichur (2 Right turns) to Lingasur and Sindhanur (Via a Left) towards Manvi to Gangavati (ok roads till now) to Hampi (very bad road).

The last stretch of road of about 35 kms is in a very bad condition.

Our search for accommodation was a short one as Hampi the town is very small and good, clean and reasonable rooms available. Food too is good and nice. Vegetarian food is inexpensive and usually available in the room itself if ordered in time.

The Tungabhadra flows through Hampi so we took a long walk along the river on 15th August. There was some kind of a cycle race going on there. Saw that but never understood the concept coz it dint look like anybody won.

The Archaeological Survey of India has marked out a lot of sites that are of interest in Hampi. To see all of them it takes 3 days or that is what they say. We made a mistake of taking a guide for 3 hours. Cost us a bomb Rs.400/-. Please don’t make this mistake. Take a book that the local boys sell for Rs.20/- and walk/ drive or cycle around the marked route.

The Lotus Palace is the most preserved structures at Hampi. It has beautiful lawns and is photogenic. Then there is this golden Chariot like structure which is very photogenic however the approach road to this place is kaccha and thus drive to this place at your own risk.

We were told by our opulently paid guide that since it is the 15th of August we should go to Hospet which was just 12 kms away to see the damn. He told us that today all the 34 gates would be open and the sight of the water flowing would be breathtaking.

Driving to Hospet was not easy as people on bikes were out to prove their freedom and celebrate India’s independence. Also the sight of the damn was far from being breathtaking. It was a real piss off.

We drove back the next day taking the same route and enjoyed stopping and clicking pictures of the Thermal power Plant over the River Krishna at Raichur.