442. Trip to Hampi

This trip was planned a long time back with my cousin and his family. Somehow or the other, it never materialized, for whatever reason.  In March this year, there was a ceremony in Bangalore that we had to attend. On checking the map, it seemed that I can make the trip to Hampi and then proceed to Bangalore for the ceremony from there.  As usual (I have decided that this was the last time I was doing this😊), I called up a few people to see if they were interested to accompany me for this trip.  When no one seemed interested, I asked Jayashree if her friends would want to come. She checked with her friend, who was in Bangalore, and she immediately confirmed that she would accompany us. 

I started seeing what all places were there to see in Hampi. Based on google, I drew an itinerary for a 2-day trip, seeing almost 20-25 different attractions in Hampi.  On checking the trains, I found that instead of reaching in the morning, it would be good if I can reach there earlier to get accustomed to the place. Accordingly, I planned to catch a train from Hyderabad in the morning to reach Hampi in the evening. Jayashree’s friend was supposed to come early morning the next day.  Exploring Hampi for 2 days, the next step of the journey was planned for the 2nd night, when all of us could leave for Bangalore together.

Through google, I also checked out a good place to stay for 2 nights for us and 1 night for Jayashree’s friend.  I got hold of a good place and finalized the price for 2 days.  This planning was done in January itself.  By mid-February, when I called to confirm the stay by providing advance, the guy said that the price has increased and it was double the cost now. I told the guy that the booking site had still got the original price that I confirmed for.  He said I could check now and it was the higher price now. I immediately went to the site and saw that there were 2 entries for the site and I booked the one with the original price. The booking went through and I did not have to pay any advance too😊!  I called him again and said that the booking has gone through and the price was the original one that we had decided mutually earlier.  He said he had changed the price on the site, but somehow before he could change the price for both entries, my order had gone through😊! He confirmed that since my booking had gone through, he will honour the deal. 

I had also checked the costing for a car for the 2-day trip.  On checking with him, he said that he would arrange a car for the trip and we arrived at a price.  Before leaving for Hampi, I had a vague idea that one of my cousin, Sriram, had said that his wife had a relative in Hampi who can help us in case we need anything there. I called Sriram and got the relative’s number. I called the gentleman and asked if he can arrange for a car for 2 days. He got back to me later with the car owner’s number. After speaking to him, I confirmed with him the car and the price. I did not want to risk with the hotel owner again if he were to suddenly ask for a higher price, once I reached Hampi😊!

With this plan, we arrived at Hampi station. I had thought that Ola and Uber would be available here. But there were only autos available. After speaking to one auto and bargaining on the price, we took it to the guest house.  I usually never take an auto as I find the constant shaking irritable and also because of my back!  But somehow, I managed to sit through the journey.  I asked the auto if he could pick another passenger tomorrow morning from the station and bring them also to the guest house at the same price. We haggled again and agreed on a bit higher price, as the train was coming very early the next day. 

On reaching the guest house, there was no hotel board, we were shown a room on the 1st floor. It was a nice room with A/c. Outside the room, there was a passage with balcony, where we could sit and have food.  The guest house provided food on call as their restaurant was located some distance away.  We ordered dinner and the food was very nice.

Next day, Jayashree’s friend joined us and after having breakfast, we started our journey.  I already had a list of places that we wanted to see and showed the same to the driver. He then proceeded to take us to all the places in the list.  I had thought of writing the places here, but then thought that I would work on a book like document with places and the photographs that I had clicked. So, sometime in the future, you can expect a document in your mailbox😊!

We finished most of the places on the first day itself as most of attractions are near to each other.  We planned to see the Anjanadri temple early morning the next day. This is the place where Lord Hanuman was born. The temple is situated on a hill and there are about 575 steps to reach the temple. According to Wikipedia, this place was called Kishkinda in Puranas.   We left the guest house at about 530am in the morning and went to the temple.  Had a coffee from the shops in the entrance and started our climb. It took us about half 45 minutes to reach the top, mainly due to me and my leg😊!  Had a nice darshan here and explored the rocky surroundings here. Before heading down, had one more darshan as there was very less crowd.  After coming down, had breakfast and then came back to guest house. 

After 10am we proceeded to see the remaining attractions. Finished them by 2pm and then headed to guest house. Ordered lunch and had a light nap.  Last night, we had asked the caretaker to give us another room for Jayashree’s friend and he gave us at the same original price. In the evening, we headed to the station to catch the train to Bangalore. I called the same auto driver and he agreed to take us to the railway station at the original price that we had come to the guest house😊!  Since, it was the T20 world cup final, I started watching the match on my mobile throughout the auto journey.  We looked around for a place to eat dinner in the railway station. Luckily the restaurant also had a TV and was showing the world cup match😊! Saw the entire 1st half while having dinner.  After interval, we went to the platform and boarded the train.  The second half of the match was seen in the train!  The trip to Hampi was a great one and the ending of the match was also a great one😊!

Adios till next time😊!!

PS – A small movie on my Andaman trip is here… https://youtu.be/LIluvthL_rw

Enjoy😊!!

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