The sleeper bus was really funny and surprisingly comfortable. It is made up of bed-sized cubbies lining the walls of the interior. I had an entire bed to myself and slept well through the night. We got into Hampi in the morning and took a rickshaw to the dock of a boat to go to Hampi Island. We were traveling with a German we had met in Palolem, Nick and a Finnish guy we had met on the train down to Goa, Valter. A boat took us across the river (it would have taken 2 seconds to swim across, but swimming was prohibited and it was too deep to walk with our bags). We were awestruck from the minute we got off the bus. Hampi looks like it was the basis for the town of Bedrock from the Flintstones. Massive boulders surrounded the small city and people made their shops on the foundations of old ruins. We got huts and unloaded our things before venturing to a restaurant that had been recommended by some other travelers. During our time in Hampi, it was hot. And the electricity shut off on the island during the heat of the day, so no fans were operating. We rented motor bikes and found an escape in a lake not far from town. We spent the hot hours of the days there bathing in the shade of the rocks and watching local Indians jump from rocks. Barring the heat, I could've stayed for weeks at a time in this town. It was gorgeous and had not yet been spoiled by tourism. I left after two nights there to return to the beach for my final three days in India.
On the way to swimming
View from our favorite restaurant
Puppies who climbed into my bed when I slept outside
Jon and Me
Sunset from the Monkey Temple
Jon giving an old Indian boat paddler a break
Sunrise
Hampi ruins
Walter outside his room
Jon on the sleeper bus
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