1/31 from Auroville

Morning reflection:
I was thinking this morning about the void, and not knowing what will emerge from it. And then I realized what a blessing the void is, for who knows what will emerge from it! Once again I am connected with the mystery. And that complete stillness I felt at that moment brought such peace over me.

I so much wanted to hold on to the stillness, but it evaporated with the "wanting." The stillness is a gift from the universe, a wild thing which can't be leashed. So I thank the universe for its gift, this momentary glimpse into the void, or maybe more accurately, this moment of becoming the void.

Sheila (from USA) with Raju, her favorite auto rickshaw driver

Sheila (my good friend from Seattle), Rekha and Eugen (from Chennai). I met Rekha and Eugen two and a half years ago while traveling in Karnataka, India, and it is really nice to see them again.

I am now in Auroville, on the coast about three hours south of Chennai. I will be traveling through Tamil Nadu with my good friend Sheila for the next few weeks, and we are here in Auroville with my friends Eugen and Rekha from Chennai. I walked on the beach at sunrise. It was very busy with fishermen readying their boats and shoving out to see, along with the boys and men squatting, doing their morning "business." The safest place to walk is in the water, for the squatters seem to station themselves a bit above the water line.

Cute boy on the street

Looking into someone's front yard

Another good sign:
The very delicious South Indian restaurant across from our hotel in Chennai wrote on the sign advertising their restaurant: "Partly Air Conditioned Hall"

1/27-1/29: Hampi to Chennai

My last day in Hampi was crazy. As the festival began in full force, the price of the rooms went from 500 rupees (which actually should have cost 200 rupees) up to 1500 rupees. At first I thought it was just greedy guest house owners price gouging travelers. But then I found out that with the tens of thousands of tourists descending on Hampi (the vast majority Indian), there would be over 1000 police, and they were demanding two rooms from each guest house for the three days of the festival, free of charge. The guest house where my friends Ginetta and Shmuel were staying had even more trouble. First they were asked to give up two rooms, then three rooms, then the day of the festival the number of rooms increased to eight, and they only have nine rooms. Not just the police men were demanding rooms, but Hampi was going to be full of important government officials as well. The guest house owners were asking guests to vacate their rooms who had already paid for their rooms in advance. "What can I do?" the owner asked. "They are the police. Who am I going to complain to?" The feeling of powerlessness, for both the tourists and the guest house owners, is so depressing. It is hard to imagine what it is like when their is no one or no agency with which to seek recourse. And for so many people around the world, this is the normal state of affairs.

Martin (famous ski instructor from Switzerland) and Emely (vagabond and dive instructor from Brazil)

Shmuel (a very sweet man from Israel) and Katherine (a very sweet woman from New Zealand)

Church in Chennai (previously known as Madras) at sunrise

I am now in Chennai. I met my very good friend Sheila (who is now working in Iraq) here yesterday. We will travel together in Tamil Nadu for two weeks. It took 21 hours to get from Hampi to Chennai, for I left at the unfortunate time of the start of the evening parade and the official beginning of the three days of festivities in Hampi. There are eight stages set up all over Hampi (I counted 3000 chairs at one site), and huge boards showing the schedule of events (but it is all in Hindi, we couldn't find one in English).

The night train to Bangalore was uneventful (yea!). The seven hour train ride from Bangalore to Chennai yesterday was interesting. At each stop food sales people would board, and then get off at the next stop. Each person would sell one thing, and there was quite a variety of food to choose from - samosas, idlis, dosas, veg biriyani, tomato soup, chai, coffee, juice, water, cookies. Beggars would board as well - blind men selling trinkets, a young singing girl with an accompanying percussionist, or physically disabled people crawling along the aisles. The most interesting were the transvestite beggars (three in all in my compartment) - big, ugly men dressed in saris, bare midriffs, padded (I assume) bras, long hair, and deep voices. They would stop in front of a row of people, clap loudly, and harass the people until they gave them money to leave.

Chennai Egmore Train Station

Shanty town near the train station

It is interesting being back in a large city again (it has been two months). Everything is more intense - smells, sounds, congestion, poverty. There are sidewalks! Though walking in the early morning you have to share them with sleeping beggars, bundled completely under blankets, like corpses. And the cars are actually paying attention to the traffic signals.

1/26 & 1/27: Last days in Hampi

I made my first cow friend last night. She approached me with her head down, so I scratched her behind her horns. We stayed that way for some minutes. It was very satisfying for both of us. I just figured out in my 4 trips and 19 months spent on the Indian subcontinent, this was my first cow friend.

Last night at the Mango Tree restaurant (a must for anyone going to Hampi) I overheard a conversation between a German man and the waiter. The German didn't have enough money to pay his bill. "Don't worry. Pay tomorrow," said the waiter.
"I can't," replied the German. "I am leaving tonight. Can you tell me where there is an ATM?"
"Don't worry. You can pay next year. Do you need money to get to Hospet (the town with the train and bus stations)?" And the waiter pulls out money. "100 rupees? 150 rupees?"
After the waiter left, I asked the man if they knew him well at this restaurant. "No," he replied. "I have only been here once before."

Ginetta and I at the roof top restaurant

Self portrait at my favorite spot (using the camera timer - I love the camera timer!)

The start of the festival commemorating the 500 year anniversary of the greatest ruler of the Vijanagar Empire - Krishna Deva Raya

Last Sunrise from Hampi

Ruins amidst the shops on the main road towards Hampi

Breakfast of fried chilies and coffee

Idli boys

Sunrise view from my favorite "secret spot"

Route to my "secret spot"

Head east on the main road to the temple

Go up the steps and follow the path another 100 meters between the two small temple ruins

Then after another 25 meters, follow a little trail to the left of the main path

Walk towards the cliff, then between the large rock (the size of a house) and the small rock

Follow the little path that curves around the house-size rock on the right

Follow it 5 meters between the shrubs and bushes to the cliff

I went there every day I was in Hampi. It was so hard to leave this morning. As I was walking back to Hampi, I had to turn around and go back to my spot one more time.

1/25 in Hampi

I still have nothing to say, so I will just show pictures of this amazing place - in my mind one of the most spectacular landscapes in the world. I walk around shaking my head, amazed and in awe at view after view. One guide book described it as "surreal," which doesn't really describe it, but I sort of like the description anyway. A friend heard it described as "the Flinstones landscape," which is pretty accurate.

Roof top restaurant boy and I

I spent the day with Ginetta exploring the north side of the river

We got fresh coconut water, and this monkey sort of just hung out, waiting for our coconuts

Really little monkey baby

sunset

1/24 in Hampi

Kiran Guest House road

Main street in Hampi

Two sadhus and a cow (everything is getting very crowded and exciting here as Hampi is gearing up for their big festival on January 27th-29th. Unfortunately, I need to leave on the evening of the 27th to meet my friend Sheila in Chennai)

morning view during breakfast from a river side restaurant

River temple

Katherine from New Zealand in the round boat we hired to cross the river

The scenery on the north side of the river is very different, full of rice terraces tucked in between the rocky surroundings

Walk up the hill to the Hanuman temple on the top

View while walking up the hill

Katherine and I from the top of Hanuman Hill

View from the top

View from the top from the other side of the hill

Old bridge from the ancient kingdom, collapsed during a very heavy monsoon 70 years ago

rice field

1/22 & 1/23 in Hampi

Historically, Hampi was called Vijaynagar - City of Victory. From the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries Hampi as the most powerful Hindu kingdom. In the late sixteenth century, after a six month siege, the Muslim army from the north conquered the city, destroyed the temples, and ended the Hindu dynasty.

View from the roof top restaurant at my guest house

River Tungabhadra and ruins (which are scattered everywhere)

Kids with my friend Ginetta from England (hidden in the very back)

Ginetta and I

Ruins (my favorite view from my "secret path" which I found two and a half years ago wandering through the hillside)

Carving on a pillar

Cows

Ruins

Sunset on the river