Hampi Trip

Hampi trip was a small but a good trip. This is a one day trip that I did along with my parents. We drove down to Hampi in our car from Toranagallu ( a place near Bellary, home to JSW Steel plant). We started at around 9 am. The road to Hampi is a pretty bad one, so the ride was not that comfortable. Our driver had been to Hampi so many times that he acted as a guide. (FYI, you can rent bicycles or motor bikes in Hampi near Virupaksha temple)

Even before we reached Hampi, we could start seeing the remains of the one time fabulously rich Vijayanagara kingdom. We first went to a Rama temple on the top of a hill (forgot the name :( ). The view from there is really wonderful. It should not be missed for sure. Do ask the pandit there about the importance of that temple and he would go about explaining how that Lord Rama's sitting idol is a unique one. Sita, Lakshmana and Hanuman's idols are also unique for their postures. I saw here for the first time how the vijayanagar temples had a separate enclosed pathway to do the pradakshinas.

Then we proceeded to Vithala Temple. This is an amazing temple with wonderful architecture. The highlights of this temple are the stone chariot and the musical mandapam. The musical mandapam has a number of pillars and when you tap on them, each pillar is supposed to produce a sound matching a different musical instrument. (Visitors are not allowed now to climb the mandapam, but if you ask the guards there, they might sometimes tap on one or two pillars and show it to you).

After spending some good time at Vithala temple, we proceeded to see the King's balance (tulabhaaram) and then the tungabhadra river. If you haven't before, you can try to take a ride in the coracles. My dad enjoyed it a lot.

After seeing Queen's bath (a small swimming pool for the queen), we moved on to see the Royal enclosure. This had a brilliant display of architecture and engineering skills. You can spend a good time here. After royal enclosures, it was time for zanana enclosure that housed the Lotus Mahal. This was supposed to be where the queens used to sit in the evening and chit-chat. We were quite tired by that time (it was a very hot day), but our driver-cum-guide was persistent on showing us the elephant stables before we proceeded to lunch.

We were told that the 'Mango Tree' restaurant was a good one. So, we went in search of it. It is right behind the Virupaksha temple but since the vehicles are not allowed to go that route, we took a road from behind and got to the restaurant after a bit of walking (since a strip of the road was being worked upon). Though the effort involved in reaching the place was high, it was worth it as the food was good and the place was very refreshing. The view from the restaurant was great and we could rest our feet for some time.

After lunch, we did a quick view of monolithic Ganesha idols, lord narsimha idol, lord shiva idol before going to Virupaksha temple. Do not forget to see the pin-hole camera effect in the temple. This is one temple where pujas are performed. In all the remaining temples, the idols have been disfigured (by the muslim rulers, it is said) and so according to hindu beliefs, pujas are not performed there. After performing the pujas, we headed back home. On the way back home, I was able to capture the beautiful sunset.

Dandeli Trip

This was a wonderful and a memorable trip for me because of multiple reasons:
1. Only out of hyderabad trip during ISB's hectic year
2. I did white-water rafting for the first time
3. It was a trip along with my dear friends

This was a short trip, actually just for one day. As I had some work to finish in bangalore, I went to blore from hyd and then joined my friends at Dandeli for the water rafting.

Trip Details:
Date - 2nd April 2008
No. of days - 1
Travel Mode - Bus

Leg 1:
From - Bangalore
To - Dharwad
Bus Agency - VRL Travels ( A very good bus. I took the sleeper volvo. The road from blore to dharwad was a very smooth one and hence no issues while travelling)
Booked thru - www.redbus.in (Booked thru phone and got it delivered to my place. Very prompt. Only issue was I did not get the seat I wanted, but no problems as the bus was good)

Leg 2:
From - Dharwad
To - Dandeli
Took normal karnataka bus. The route was terrible, a painful one. Only the desire to do rafting helped me bear the trouble!

Return Leg:
From - (Nearest station to Dandeli)
To - Hyderabad
Mode - Train (Haripriya Express)

Resort Details:
Stayed at Kali Resorts. We had booked them over phone. Be careful while booking them through an agent...they usually demand for total payment even before reaching there. One of my friend got the direct number and called the resorts and they agreed to take the payment once we reach there.
We had booked the tents and these were really good. It has two beds, an attached bathroom and good facilities. The housekeeping was good too. The food was also very good. It was a nice experience too.


Rafting:
The rafting was for a 9.5 km stretch in Kali river. It took us nearly an hour. We were 7 friends who went to rafting. 5 of us were in one raft and the other 2 joined another group of 4 people in the 2nd raft. There were 2 trainers who were very enthusiastic and really made our experience memorable. The Kali resort people arranged for a jeep that took us to the start of the stretch (nearly 22 kms from the resorts) and then picked us up from the end of the stretch. The trainers told us that there were 7 rapids in the stretch and the highest level was 3. Fortunately for us, water from the nearby dam was released that morning and hence we had a good time rafting. (One of our friends' group that did rafting 2 days earlier did not enjoy it as there was not enough water in the river). As far as I remember, the charge for rafting was Rs. 900 (on student concession).

Overall, it was a wonderful experience. I enjoyed it a lot!!