Indian Paradise - Hampi

I admit I've been a little hard on India. The first 5 days I just wanted to get on a plane and leave. You have to constantly "defend the fort" and be on alert that someone or some animal is not ripping you off.... because in this country the default is it is all your fault. And the pollution, chaos, and beeping horns just drills into your brain after a while.

But as with everything else in life if YOURSELF decides to change and be accepting of other people and look for the good in the world....the world suddenly changes around you and you find the good. I have been meeting so many nice Indian people once you decide to open your heart and make the first move (while still holding onto your pocketbook, darn kids aren't going to suddenly turn into Mother Theresas). I buy people and their kids candy and ask their names and then you start feeling the love.

And then once I decided to change even the impossible happened. I had no clue India was capable of paradise after seeing all the pollution and 1 billion people staring over my shoulder. But after a 7 hour death ride in a taxi (that was suppose to be 2 hours), we wound up in paradise: Hampi.

http://www.travelpost.com/AS/India/Karnataka/Hampi/map/6757175
http://www.indiaplaces.com/india-monuments/karnataka-hampi.html

Now don't get me wrong. I'm still crapping with the cockroaches in a one-hole squatter in a bamboo shed. And I'm sleeping on the roof for about $1.50/night mosquito net included. But the noise is gone, the pollution is mostly gone, the darn kids are gone...and replaced with scuplted rice paddies, Hindu temples, amazing scenery, jovial Indian people, hippy dude yeah baby yoga loving meditating missedwoodstock 20'ish somethings expats and total peace. Its more like Bali Indonesia than India. I guess everything is relative though. I have been spending a month in chaos-ville....so this is just a respite heaven compared to Saigon or New Delhi. I'm going to rest up my lungs and ears here for a couple days before I move on to Thailand.


Scene from the bar.....rice paddies and cool rock climbing. Same as Joshua Tree rocks.




One of MANY temples we see from my roof.




Bungalows from my roof where I stay for I think $1.50/day.....All the groovy yoga people hang out in the morning and do their yoga and mediate. The dreadlock crowd. 1/2 climbers 1/2 world travelers lonely planet types.



Here is the French crowd I'm hanging with: Left to Right

Sam: 32 year old photographer for climbing mags. Travels the world taking pictures and selling them.
Alex: 26 year old 2005 world champ. Now traveling the world putting up hard climbs
Jaque: My mentor. 60 year old amazing climber can onsight 5.12b and does 13s (translation: really hard, I can't climb this hard)
Cloey sitting: 21 year old #7 best world champion 2008 very quiet but geez huge muscles
Malee standing: 25 year old daughter of Jauqe
(TBD): Malee boyfriend doesn't speak much English so not sure of his story




Mike and his $1.50 room and very happy!