Hampi

The view of the vast ancient city from the monkey temple

A comically overloaded ferry

One of the many temples - featuring a fine stone chariot

Hampi is otherworldly. The boulders overflowing from the hills are stacked precarious and haphazard bringing to mind funnily enough cartoons. Bedrock, the home of the Flintstones, or the blasted Arizona landscape of Roadrunner. But apart from that there is not anything reminiscent of a cartoon. THh place has gravitas.
The inhabited part of Hampi itself is a tiny village really, utilising a single bazaar and a couple of temples of a vast deserted city that once used to be the second largest in the world. Blown away by Muslim invaders in the mid sixteen hundreds the remaining site of what must be three square miles or so is trapped in time- baths, watchtowers, temples and palaces part excavated. A lunarscape of scortched stone and finely carved architecture. I have never seen anything like it.
I have been staying on the other side of the river at a guest house called Mowglis. Stunning views of paddy fields and boulder mountians can be seen from the veranda, the room is pretty simple. The is true hippy country, my neighbours all have dreadlocks and huge voluminous Aladdin like trousers. There's a place called the Tipi up the hill where heavily pierced and tattooed mothers let their impsih children run around while the dads - bearded and glassy eyed - play the flute or tap bongos.
I've had a couple of cracking walks too - across to a resevoir in which apparently crocodiles swim (probably a ruse to keep tourists and locals out of going for a dip - without much luck....), and also to a monkey temple. Sadly not a giant carved monkey or anything you would find in Monkey Island or Indiana Jones - rather a squat utilitarian bungalow with a couple of gawdy idols in it. However it is perched on the top of a pretty impressive mountain, a fair old climb, and the views of the ruined city are clear and from great height which gives the impression of the actual ruined city as a model.
Now I am waiting to go to Mysore, on an 'Ordinary' government bus. We shall see what that means.