It was lovely to meet up with Josh and Kieron, and after spending a couple more days in Cochin sunbathing on the beach and exploring antique shops we decided to continue our journey north. We had been recommended by many people a stay in Hampi, and when we were booking transport it had seemed a great idea to break up the journey by stopping in Bangalore on the way. We took a non air conditioned second class sleeper train which wasn't the most pleasant experience but travelling overnight meant we didn't lose a day exploring. Bangalore however was a bit of a disappointment. There was not a lot to do and the city was spread quite far apart. We also happened to stay in the most disgusting hotel I have ever seen with suspicious dark stains on the walls. We entertained ourselves with museums and aquariums but I definitely would not recommend visiting the city unless for business purposes. We were happy to leave the next day on a night bus to Hampi.
Hampi was gorgeous. The scenery is magical with huge rocks littered across the landscape. On our first day we rented bicycles to explore one of The nearby temples. The roads were so clear that by the following day we felt confident enough to rent scooters (I hopped on the back of Jonny's). We did this for a couple of days travelling down the country roads passing small villages and workers in fields and rice paddies. Every night the hotels and restaurants show different movies where we could recline on cushions on the floor eating and drinking beer. It is impossible to be stressed in Hampi!
We had been sleeping in some serious budget accommodation however me and Jonny moved to a much more comfortable hotel when we discovered squirrels were invading our room gnawing on closed packets of biscuits and rubbish out the bin. The price difference was definitely worth it as we had hot showers and woke up every morning overlooking some rice paddies. The only things wrong there were the frogs living in our toilet and the time a big poisonous spider came in our room.. Luckily we were saved by our friend Vishal who was not frightened to gra the spider with his bare hands!
After a few days we took another night bus to Goa. Our first stop was Anjuna which was great for lounging around on the beach in the day and partying at night. Unfortunately we chose a bad time to visit as it is election season and there is meant to be a curfew of 10pm. There was always still somewhere open until the early hours of the morning though. Walking home was always a mission after a few drinks on a night out. We inevitably got lost every night. The stray dogs take ownership of the town at night which was quite scary. I would walk in between the boys as they held rocks just incase we had to defend ourselves.
When we had enough of touristy Anjuna where we could not spend half an hour on the beach without being hassled to buy things, we travelled South to Palolem for a more chilled out beach experience. The beach was gorgeous and there were campfires every night. We were staying in beach houses right on the shore which were painted in bright colours making them look like doll houses. It would have been more fun living like barbie and ken if they had hot water!
We rented out kayaks on one day and went out on the sea to explore a nearby island but just made it around a big rock. Still a good effort though...
We took scooters out on another day and went to see a big fort nearby. When walking around there were loads of monkeys. They were fascinating to see in such a wild area, but I was scared if getting too close incase they felt threatened by us and attacked.
Me and Jonny then left Josh and Kieran to travel north to Mumbai. I had a great time with them and am looking forward to a reunion at an Indian restaurant when we get back to the midlands.
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