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We left Goa and hit the train to Hospet on our way to Hampi. We befriended an Indian family on the train there and they were really cool and even invited us back to their crib. Time was short so we couldn't go but we did see some amazing sights on the train and I took loads of pics and took in the views while Lis read Cosmo..
Hampi was pretty amazing (we'll load up pics soon) and although our accomodation was a bit ghetto the small town was very different to the rest of india. I don't know if they put prozac in the water but the kids and people were the happiest we have ever seen. Just telling them your name seemed to make their day, also they appear to have avoided the power of begging (a miracle in india). The place was very hot (43 degrees) but it wasn't humid so not too bad in the shade. We spent a couple days there and got up a 4am (not the dream) to climb a mountain to watch the sunrise which was mind-blowing, more so because of the monkeys, which, unbelieveably, live up there and come right up to you in search of food!
On the last day in Hampi I sent Lis to go and arrange an auto-rickshaw to take us to the station in Hospet; major mistake. Lis managed to select, in one of the safest places in India, the biggest rude-boy in India, possibly the World. After picking us up, he picked up his mate and they were literally throwing the tuk-tuk all over the place, oblivous to us two sat in the back. We then pulled over to the side of the road and the driver jumped out and picked up some small bag from the hedge at the side of the road. Turns out he was picking up his stash of drugs which he had launched out of the tuk-tuk earlier in the day when the police were chasing him. After him trying to sell it to us (we declined) he then tried to take us to a bar for beers.. After explaining our train was in 10 mins he relented and dropped us off. Needless to say, I will be arranging the tuk-tuks from now on.
From Hampi we caught a train to Bangalore and then to Mysore. Saw the massive palace and then decided to move on in search of some beaches in Kerala. This 'moving on' didn't quite work out like planned. We got a train back to Bangalore and then this teenager followed us around everywhere for 3 hours (even Lis had a go at him.). We then couldn't get on the train because it was full (i.e. not full but we didn't offer the conductor a bribe) so we waited for the next one. I wont bore you with the details but it took us 22 hours to get to the next place travelling in 'sleeper class', ironic as it's impossible to get any sleep unless you take valium. The only positive we could find was that it only cost us 8 pounds for the two of us...
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