Next on our agenda was the long awaited trip to Hampi, in Hospet.
The climbing mecca of the world; where Chris Sharma filmed Pilgrimage, where many a climbing documentary has been filmed and a place with one of the most unique and unusual landscapes in the world. Hampi has a far flung, red stone, other worldly-esque landscape with massive oddly shaped and positioned boulders scattering the horizon for as far as you can see.
In between the boulders are treasure troves of barely explored temples, caves and orifices that beckon the adventurer in many to amble across the vast terrain of this beautiful place. Hampi and the surrounding area boasts over 33,000 temples and shrines, meaning that it would take a long time, and a great knowledge to explore them all.
However, we tried to emcompass the best of this place in a 3 week stay, which included climbing ERRRR’YDAY, swimming, hiking and exploring.
To reach Hampi from Madurai, you must take two connecting night buses, firstly Madurai to Bangalore and then Bangalore to Hospet. From Hospet you board a regular government for 20rs or a auto-rickshaw for about 200rs, we did the latter.
After ambling around looking for certain guesthouses we had been reccomended it soon became apparent to us that Hampi was very quickly changing from the place (only a few months before) our friends had visited. Guesthouses and huts where now derelect crumpled sites and restaurants had been gutted or boarded up.
This is due, we found out, to the local government requesting the removal of any lodgings that encroached upon the UNESCO world heritage sight to be removed. Which is basically the whole of Hampi, this will mean that all travellers must stay in the local town of Hospet and travel to the climbing areas of Hampi by moped or rickshaw to explore. This is due to the religious sacrality of the area, most of the ‘encroached’ business’s are going through court proceedings currently but some that have already been passed through, lost their cases and have been demolished.
If you want to read more about the current situation here is a link to one of the articles I read; http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/Remove-encroachments-in-Hampi-HC/article14015765.ece
So essentially, if you want to experience Hampi as it is now, GO GO GO GO.
Anyway, we spend a brilliant three weeks in the area.
We climbed most days, you really have to get yourself into a nice little routine if you want to make the most of the climbing here however, as between 10.30am – 4.30pm, it is too hot to climb out in the sunlight. Not only are the rocks hot, but it really takes it out of you. Oh yeah, and the rocks are SHARP, like, super sharp. Come, armed with plenty of tape and plenty of chalk.
When we weren’t climbing, we were exploring, we hiked to Hanumans Temple which had some breathtaking viewpoints, took a tour around the heritage sides on the other side of the river. Spent some time swimming in the gorgeously tranquil lake, and by the way, there are no crocodiles! We ate lots of great food, met some amazing people and did quite a bit of partying.
We spent Desshra and Gandhis birthday in Hampi, and these are big national holidays in India. The party vibe is high at these times, but also be warned, the price of accomadation rises very steeply. We ended up sleeping in a storage hut with a bunch of other mismatched budget travellers from around the world, which actually turned out to be one of the funniest and best parts of our stay in Hampi.
In a last few days we celebrated my 25th birthday in Hampi, which was idyllic and easily on of the best birthdays I have ever had. Rob went out his way to make sure I felt loved and had a super fun day even though I was away from my family and friends. I got presents, balloons, a cake and of course a big bottle of rum!
This place is magical to us, for many reasons, including the climbing, the friends we made and the crazy memories. I truely hope it doesn’t change too much so we can return in the future and make even more!
The Manifest Monkeys 