All
Ben
James
Lavinia
TansyWelcome, guest
Sat 24th January 2009
Brief Update
From Gokarna, we headed to the magical ruined city of Hampi, set in surreal boulder land in the North of Karnataka.
Here, Lavinia, Ben and I spent a few days wandering among the thousands of ruins, often finding that due to the sheer number of ruins, we had whole temples to ourselves (apart from the monkeys). We saw some stunning sunsets and on our last morning, Ben and I went for a sunrise walk to a large temple golden and glowing in the morning sun and imagined what the bazar in front of it would have been like when the city was a rich and bustling capital selling silk and precious jewels.
We were sad to bid Lavinia farewell after a fantastic five months traveling together, but can't wait to hear about her adventures on her journey home through Pakistan and Iran a few weeks ahead of us, with our friend Friedl.
Ben and I are coping with being alone together! It is quite exciting to be setting out on a new phase of our journey as a more manageable two rather than as a group.
We've started off with a particularly challenging 3 day journey to Gujerat which we're still in the middle of during a 3 hour stop at Madgaon (Goa!). Last night brought the exciting experience of our first journey in General class seating, as the reserved seating was booked up. We therefore spent 10 hours crammed in the tinyest carriage I've ever seen with hard wooden seat which we were saved from sitting on because they were already full, as were the luggage racks, on our bags on the floor. Felt very Gandhian! We actually rather enjoyed the camaraderie with the locals taking the train.
Wanted to post photos, but this computer wont recognise anything we plug in to the USB port so we can't. Promise to do so soon.
by Tansy - get rss
name Adam
Your journey twists and turns, your sights and insights are so well described - thanks. I looked at Hampi online and it looks extraordinary. Hope you can post some pics soon - and that your backs and bums are not too sore.
name Tansy's Gran
Your dad is coming tomorrow to give us some computer tutoring. We'll get him to show us Hampi on line. Keep your eyes open for the film "Slumdog, Millionaire". We are going to see it on Jan 28th. I think it has a lot of train-travel footage! We look forward to more pics.
name Alison
Wonderful pictures. It looks unbelievably serene and beautiful. That warm, golden light is something I would give my arm for in cold grey Britain at the moment.
name Angie Roselle
Tansy, this is wonderful. I love reading your descriptions and impressions - almost feel like I'm there with you. Y'all be safe and take care. Love you and think of you often Angie p.s. when Susan came to visit, she said she'd only come if Bridget and i could say one nice thing about the Republicans! That was tough! I said Bush was a helluva shoe dodger! So happy he's gone, as I know you are - better days are here!
