Actually we rode the 10.30pm train to Hospet but lets not quibble.

I really thought that no trip to India would be complete without a journey on India's famous railway network. So when my colleague Jez mentioned a trip, by train, to see the ruined city of Hampi then I was keen to come along.

There seem to be a myriad of classes and types of travel on India's trains. What with the that and the noise and confusion of Bangalore railway station I was pleased to be travelling with people who knew their way around. Having said that there is a very efficient on-line booking system. Efficient in the sense that it works, not in the sense of speedy. The website is a mass of animated gifs and confusing text and it took Jez a mere 45 minutes to complete the booking. But it worked and as the train drew up, pasted to the side of compartment A1 were our names and our berths.

We were travelling 2 tier A/C which is quite posh on account of someone who shall remain nameless (Rani!) not travelling any other way don't you know. Not that I'm complaining - it was clean and comfortable and we had a reserved seat/bed. In the simplest unreserved carriages there is right royal scramble for a seat as the train pulls in. I saw one kid pull of an outstanding "Dukes of Hazzard" manoeuvre in through the window of the train before it had even come to a stop. He deserved a seat.

I'm not the kind of guy that actually sleeps on a sleeper. I can well remember an overnight train journey to Cornwall, aged about 14, where I heard my digital watch bleep every hour from 11pm to 7am. Even the efficient operation of a Swiss sleeper couldn't get me to sleep and it was the same this time. But I could lay down, it was comfortable and I felt fairly well rested. I also got to see the glorious sun rise as we approached Hospet, our jumping off point for Hampi.



Hampi was once the capital of a powerful empire that ran things in these parts about 500 years ago. In them days they called it Vijayanagar - City of Victory (woo!). It must have been incredible in its heyday. Today the ruins occupy a really large area and you can wander around uncovering temples and statues amid the amazing rocky landscape: an extraordinary collection of boulders which seem to have been carefully arranged by some autistic giant.



Hampi is about half-way between Bangalore and Goa. But in atmosphere it's a lot closer to Goa (I would imagine) and about a light-year from the 'lore. It's clearly a popular backpacker's spot, witness the many chilled out restaurants all serving identical fare: a few curries, pasta, pizza, Israeli goodies (?) and momos, a Tibetan delicacy (which as one right-on traveler had scribbled on the menu is NOT the same as Chinese). Like playing the didgeridoo, I mistrust the desire to eat Tibetan food in a way that's quite unfair and probably unmasks me as a terrible inverted snob. But there you go. I'm not complaining though - despite our Punjabi correspondent finding they did an odd take on Aloo Paratha, the food was great and it was nice to slow down from the crazy pace of Bangalore.

I hadn't got far with my sightseeing before an Indian family beckoned me over and before I knew it had thrust their baby into my arms. I know people seem to like having their photos taken with westerners but the reckless abandon with which the dad swung his child at me was quite something. Still the kid was very sweet and the whole family came in for a picture as well.


In the end I got to do some exploring. My young friend and I climbed up the hill on the edge of the village, scrambling over boulders and investigating caves.


and we got to hang out with some monkeys..


We ended up climbing back up and the end of the day to watch the sunset, made even more marvellous by the enterprising local who brought up a tiny stove and sold tea! The sunset was spectacular, as we had been told it would be. There's great poem by e.e.cummings that says something along the lines of "if day has to become night, then this is a beautiful way" - nice one e.e.


More photos here, but none of the cheeky young rapscallion selling newspapers and magazines at Hospet station on the way home. He offered us Cosmopolitan, "Mary Clarey" and then thrust India Today towards me. I'd just been telling the group my "old bald guy" story so when he pointed to Gandhi on the cover and then to me... cheeky bugger!

On the way home, after a final game of Scrabble I took one of my hardcore-yet-over-the-counter sleeping pills and, joy of joys, I actually slept on the way home. We pulled into Bangalore at 6am and I was ready to go when classes started at 9.