Hampi, the very name of it seems like this place got to be interesting. Hampi is located in Bellary District of Karnataka State. Had been hearing a lot about Hampi from fellow travelers & other people so the travel bug got into my (you know what I mean) 😉 and I started researching about it. On the initial stage I decided to venture out alone on this trip but then thought why not ask someone who might be interested in joining me on this trip. So I put up a plain and simple post on my facebook wall “Hampi in Jan – anyone interested”. My friend Adarsh said he would love to join and so it became a 2 man team. After a few weeks 2 more joined in – Rajith (a good friend & photographer) and Girish (my friend & the kid – only by heart). Some more planning & dates were set. Buses tickets & hotels booked and finally we were off to Hampi on 22/01/2015 evening for a 3 day trip. Before we went ahead, shared some details of the place and maps & set up a basic itinerary (which I was sure would change) 😛 So finally on 22/01/2015 evening we boarded a bus from Andheri whereas Adarsh got late in college & had to hop in from Sion. A little scary situation as we thought Adarsh might miss the bus but he had reached well in time & we were late to reach Sion. Mumbai evening traffic as usual. Settled into the bus & had a few conversations & watched a movie on bus TV.

Day 1 – 23/01/2015: We reached Hospet, the next morning on 23/01/2015 at about 8.00 am. We still had a good 13 kms to go to reach Hampi. Got a rickshaw & all 4 of us hopped in and enjoyed the morning views of the village life around Hampi. Reached our Hotel “Lakshmi Heritage Hotel) & the owners son Kiran took us to another hotel. I was just going ask why the change when he showed us that they now own other New Lakshmi Heritage Hotel too. We were asked to wait till the rooms got cleaned up. Since our room cost also included breakfast, Kiran led us to Gopi’s Rooftop hotel to eat our breakfast. We all ordered variety of full breakfasts and again Adarsh & Girish had Idli from the road side aunty’s stall. We settled in our room & decided to meet in 1 hour. Our first day plan was to visit the nearby places and then head towards Mathanga hills but a little change took place. We took some more rest & about 1.30 pm we ventured towards the Virupaksham Temple. The temple was closed till 2.00 so we just decided to go towards Hemkuta Hills. The photographers in us took charge and we went bang bang with our cameras meanwhile Girish was lazy enough o get a book & lie against a big rock and read. After exploring around we went to have our late lunch at about 4:00 pm to Tibetan House which was a nice & cozy place. It had tables as well as ground sitting on mattress. Had some food & I had Banana Strawberry Milkshake which was simply lovely. After that we decide to opt out of Mathanga and headed to sunset point whereby we just sat relaxed, clicked pics and listened to music. The sunset was simply amazing amidst the serenity of the entire place. Finally we headed back to our hotel rooms to relax and go for dinner after sometime. But our talks got interesting so we decided to get foods to our rooms which included masala dosa & pizza. At about 12:00 am we decided to call it a day since next morning we planned to bike around Hampi and wanted to start off early.

Day 2 – 24/01/2015: We woke up at about 7 and got fresh, headed to Gopi’s Rooftop for breakfast but before heading there again my three friends opted for Aunty’s idlis and I tasted the same which was really soft & yummy. Then at Gopi’s we had our breakfast, called onto Kiran and asked for 4 bikes (bicycles). Mopeds have been banned now in Hampi for tourists. We got 4 Btwin Rockriders and off we headed towards Mathanga Hills but it was a rock climb so we had to leave our bikes down so we clicked some pics of Monolithic Bull & planned to go towards the Royal Enclosures. He rode and stopped at many places for pics, rest & fun. After sometime while returning we noticed that Adarsh’s bike had a puncture (which we later got to know is purposely done by the auto rickshaw guys). Having completed our trip by 12.30 we decided to go for lunch at the well known Mango tree Restaurant. We had Special Thali (which wasn’t really special) and I guess the place is just over-rated. But the Dal which they served was yummy. After lunch we decided why not headed towards Mathanga from the opp side but we were just not able to find the road leading to it. After some speculation & pinpoint our location, we finally got the route. It was an off beaten road which we passed several times but since no identifier was there, we missed it. Anyway we ventured on that road & were simply stunned at the beauty which immediately surround us. The village dirt road had a far better view then the main roads and it went all the way through the jungle for about 30 mins till we reached the main road. We reached the Vithalla temple area but looking at the crowd we decided to visit it the next day from the Mathanga Hill side only. And after tea break we again took the dirt road back towards Hampi Market. While going through it suddenly Girish shouted WTF!!! In a very loud voice. I was ahead of him & stopped immediately. He shouted Snake & I was shocked to see the size of that amazing cobra. Sensing people around it quickly slithered to a water body nearby and jumped right in it. After coming back to our senses, we quickly rode towards the sunset point again to witness the sunset. We got to point & just sat there in silence to view the sunset. After sunset we returned the bikes to Kiran. We went to our rooms to freshen up & then headed out for dinner at Chilled Out Bamboo Café (I don’t recommend it). We order pasta & it turned out not well cooked which spoilt our stomachs the next day. We hit the bed early as we were tired from cycling.

Day 3 – 25/01/2015: Got up at 8.00 and felt a little weird in stomach but then it was decided that I have a case of to & fro 😀 . Similarly even Adarsh got bad stomach & acidity. Still we headed out towards Mathanga Hills to explore but soon we decided against it as we didn’t have enough energy. However our fellow mate Rajith went ahead and 3 of us headed back to Hotel to rest. At around 1 pm, I got up & was going to view the spectacular Narshima Statue which wasn’t too far and |Girish decide to join me. Adarsh was still unwell so we decided to let him sleep. After 4eaching the place & clicking a few pics, Rajith joined us there. After lunch and rest, it was pack up time as we had a bus from Hospet at 6.00 pm. 4.30 pm we left our hotel and reached by 5.15 pm at Hospet. Finally our bus arrived & we boarded it. We reached Mumbai (Sion) at 8 am on 26/01/2015.

Can’t write the exact point to point details of this trip as it will be very long but I guess I have summed up a nice itinerary though we did miss Tungabhadra River, Mathanga Hills & Anegudi (but that gives a reason to come back, doesn’t it) 😀 If you plan then do plan a 4-5 day trip to completely visit all sites. Also Hampi has become birds paradise with a lot of bird species. I was lucky to capture a Hoopoe.

Want to thank my fellow travelers – Adarsh, Girish & Rajith for their wonderful company. New Lakshmi Heritage Hotel for their clean rooms & hospitality. Kiran & his brother Prakash to cater to our needs. The people of Hampi for being nice & cordial to all tourists (though they like foreigners better), Booking.com for give nice reviews about hotels, redbus.in for travel arrangements through VRL Buses, for various websites for all reference materials. So long mates. Cya soon with another adventure 😉

Pics by Rajith PS