Huffing in Hampi

Yeah I am back from Hampi, the forgotten Kingdom. Sabine organized a "Cultural Run" in Hampi. Well I didn't have any plans of going to Hampi, and then Prateek called up on Thursday and by afternoon we decided that we will be going to Hampi, obviously my favorite way... driving. I convinced Nitin to Join us, and in turn Prateek convinced his friends Saurabh and Saumya. The idea was to start from Bangalore by 4:30 pm, but as usual we were late and we were able to leave the city by 5:00 pm, only to discover that Tumkur Road is jam packed with traffic. Anyways it took us over 8 hrs to reach the place. We already had a booking in Hotel Mayura Bhuvaneshwari (A KSTDC Hotel).

By the time we reached at the hotel, we didn't have any energy left, we all just dozed off. Next morning got up at 9:00 am, and by that time, Athreya, Leona, Amit, Reena and the rest of the gang also arrived by train, we had a gala time eating the breakfast. This place serves some awesome Poori Sabzi, and we RFLers just forgot the amount of Oil it has and ate to our heart's content. Well I never ordered anything, I kept shuffling between Athreya's & Manoj's plate.

The gang planned to run in the eveing, but we decided to take a guide and go site seeing, and we spent the entire day lost in the Hampi ruins. As soon as I used to step inside a monument, the feeling was amazing, it was actually like reliving the time, the same Temples which were once the centers of religious and social gatherings are so forgotten now, you can spend hours at each monument just looking at the amazing architecture, looking at each small details, the carvings, the amazing paintings, and wondering about the Strength of Raja Krishnadevaraya i. At the end of the day I realized that two days are way too less to see Hampi. Hampi, a world heritage site decalred by UNESCO has 83 big and small monuments, and more are being discovered each year. Aaprt from the architecture, I just loved the terrain, with boulders spread all over the place, the best idea is to rent a cycle in Hampi and go cycling.

Sunday we got up at 5:30 am, to run at 6:00 am and we were bang on time!!! well this is expected, as we all were runners. As soon as we hit the road, the passer bye's started giving us strange looks, but again, I guess all of us are pretty used to that! We ended up running 21 Km passing by all the important temples and monuments, sitting there, chatting about the amazing architecture, and then proceeding towards the next destination. The day ended with a great lunch at Sam's place. With heavenly "Baingan" ki sabzi, Mutton curry and Rice!

Would love to run there again!

Sam & Sabine: Special Thanks for taking such good care of us!!! We just loved it!!!

Song Today: Khamosh sa afsana