Monkey Kingdom

In the northern part of the province of Karnataka, India is the town of Hampi.  A Unesco World Heritage Site, it is surrounded by Hindu temples both in use and in ruins, ancient architecture that integrated the town and defence with the surrounding landscape.  Built alongside the Tungabhardra river amongst giant boulders by the Hindu princes of the Vijayanagarian empire, the Dravadian temples and palaces created the biggest city and capital of its time in the whole world inbetween the 14th and 16th centuries.  Dravadian architecture is characterized by massive dimensions, lofty towers and decorated pillars.  Easily compared to Angkor Wat built in the 12 century, I found the similarities amazing yet Hampi has won me over with its landscape and by the fact that I could scamper over boulders discovering hidden carvings in the rock without running into another soul.  Conquered by the Deccan Muslims in 1565, the great city was ransacked and abandoned.  Once at the peak of greatness, diminished into ruins.  The recognizable forts, temples and shrines show what once was huge economic wealth, kings, queens and princes with a well run society.

We entered the town after travelling two days by bus via Bangalore and are stunned by the giant boulders that litter the landscape perched as if by magic upon eachother.  We drive through palm groves, banana plantations, fields of sugar cane and mango farms.  Staying at the base of Virupakaha temple we are in Hampi bazaar surrounded by shops and restaurants on the temples side of the river.  There is so much to see and do we immediately sign up for three days and nights starting our stay off watching the sun rise over the temples of Hampi.  Beautiful.  We order some chai and wait for our room to be ready.  Luckily we have info from an old neighbour and friend, Lisa, from Canada who has directed us to an amazing guesthouse, Gopi.  We feel at home right away and after settling into our room arrange for some Ayruvedic massages to ease our bodies.  Three seperate rooms, three seperate massuses, one same experience.  Completely lubed up head to toe and massaged with a heavy hand, very much a deep tissue massage, none of that sissy make you feel good shit.  No we are correcting every wrong move your body has made in the last year even the ones you thought of doing!  Relaxed and slippery the girls get some henna done and I retire to the room for a nap.

The next few days are spent exploring the temples and ruins, taking a cooking class from our guesthouse manager's aunt (incredible creations!), getting blessed by Lakshmi, the elephant who resides at Virupaksha temple and running over to the other side of the river where beer and meat can be found.  Lakshmi is totes adorbes, taking 10 rupee in her trunk she passes it to her mahout and then brings her trunk back to bless the top of your head.  Walked down to the river twice a day to shower she is a special part of Hampi.

The boulders surrounding Hampi are described in two ways, geology and mythology.  Geology tells us that the boulders were once a huge mountains of rock, monoliths.  Erosion as a result of sun, storm, wind caused the monoliths to crack and crumble forming heaps of boulders that fell as gravity led them.  Now I find the mythology far more interesting, Hampi a mythical monkey kingdom.  Two brothers Sugreeva and Vali were in a constant fight for power.  One particular battle led to Vali defeating Sugreeva and chasing him out of the kingdom and up onto Matanga Hill.  Fortunately he is safe here as due to an earlier curse Vali cannot follow.  At the same time Rama, the king of Ayodhiya, is on the search for his kidnapped wife Sita.  The monkey general, Hanuman (whose birthplace is not far from Hampi and is hugely featured in the themes carved in the boulders), locates Sita in Lanka (Sri lanka) with the demon king Ravana.  Vali, desparate, offers his monkey army to help attack Lanka and free Sita in exchange for Sugreeva's head and the throne of the monkey kingdom.  During the battle, the intensity is extreme and the boulders the brothers throw at eachother pile up all around Hampi.   In another version the monkey army piles boulders to build a bridge to Sri lanka.  Highly unlikely, more plausible with the whole brother vs brother battle I say, Sri lanka's way to far for a bridge.

Tromping through tea estates

Upon finding some decent wifi finally, I suppose I have some back tracking to do for you all.  Sitting in a Korean restaurant that Kim has found us in Delhi.  Eating amazing kimchi and sipping on some Kingfisher light beers is particularly refreshing.  But before I can tell you about now I must take you back to  the mountains of Munnar which was our next stop of substance after Varkala.

We approached Munnar in a rented car with a driver who had no knowledge of how to drive properly, accelerating and braking at all the wrong times which was very tough to bear seeing as we were on a windy road ascending up to the mountains.  Luckily the scenery was amazing and we were enthralled with everything  and found our way to our guesthouse 22 km out of Munnar.  Nestled amongst a pepper and cardamon plantation on the edge of a village it was a serene little spot for us to relax in a cooler climate.

We adventure by rickshaw the next day on roads full of potholes winding up and around through one tea plantation after another.  The terrain reminds me of the Okanagon covered in vineyards except we keep going up and up until we are in the clouds and still the tea plantations continue.  Tea is the most widely drunk beverage in the world and in India it seems as if one would not survive without their chai several times a day.  The tea plant is Camellia sansis, the variety grown in Munnar being Assam.  Though the plants could grow up to 20 ft through regular pruning they are kept at 4-5 ft and labourers wait with their bags of leaves on the side of the road to be collected by big trucks.

The roads winding through the tea estates are lined with wild lantana and hibiscus with their pretty red and yellow flowers.  The forest is filled with eucalytus trees covered in blue flowered morning glory.  We drink tea and stop for snacks on our rickshaw tour as we drive through this enchanted land, one of the most beautiful spots I've been.  Taking a short break so our driver can enjoy some puri, puffed rice, peanuts, chili, cilantro, red onion, cucumber, lime juice and crispy noodles served in a newspaper cone, we sit on the side of the road.  Enjoying some conversation we pause as what seems like chanting in the distance is coming our way.  Our driver jumps up, almost losing his pants in the movement and runs to the back of the rickshaw.  Quickly he returns and fires up the engine, saying strike! as we flee from the mob that is approaching from behind us.  Traffic will come to a stand still he explains, many many men.  Seems our beautiful tea land doesn't come without its own problems.

Beach escape

The setting for my birthday couldn't have been better.  Perched cliffside on south beach at Varkala our bungalow was the perfect getaway.   We have travelled way down south India to the provice of Kerala cited as being God's own country.  Quite so on many levels, from the gorgeous scenery it has to offer to its friendly people to the fact that Catholicism is huge.  Many things have changed from north to south, beef is on the menu and as a result cows are off the streets.  There is seafood a plenty but beer is not as common.  It's not listed on any menus and when ordered appears on the bill as a pricey pop.  We have entered a communist province and the hammer and sickle is painted on every wall, many a taxi driver be in favor of prohibition.  The men are more relaxed and can appreciate a smile from myself for what it is, a smile.  And loveliest of all we see women out and about in all levels of society.  The perfect honest simplicity needed to enjoy the big 40.