From Puducherry to Hampi

After spending five days in Puducherry, it kind of felt like a vacation from India. The town's french quarters which we stayed at is incredibly European in it's appearance. Clean streets, french architecture and loads of french cafe's serving croissants with real coffee. Even the hotels are a lot better than other places in India I have been to. Similar to Nice for example, Puducherry has got it's own "french style" beach road with a wide sidewalk (sidewalks are incredibly rare in India) and palm trees every few meters.

After renting a bike, we drove south (15km) and found a stunning wild beach. With just a few fishermen and children playing in the sand, there was a beach long enough to be very touristy. However, there was absolutely nobody to ruin the peace. I was surprised over the water temperature, it was a lot warmer than on the east coast (Goa, Kerala) and more blue in the color as well. This truly was a slice of paradise, I recommend!

Now we're in Hampi, spent three nights already. This moon landscape that surrounds the village of Hampi is so breath taking that one could easily spend a couple of weeks here. I was really keen on doing some rock climbing here, since it's one the world's most spectacular bouldering areas. Unfortunatly, the boat that takes you across the river is not operating due to the high water level. On the other side one can rent climbing gear and meet fellow climbers of course. It seems that we will explore the temples here and walk up the hills waiting for the boat to start operating.

First day in Hampi was pretty stupid! We bargained for like half an hour to rent a scooter , got it for 100Rs and fueled it for 150rs. After realizing that there's no road up in the hills, we only went like 200m with the scooter to the roads end. When we came back from the walk, we realized that then key was gone! So this 200m scooter ride ended up costing something like 750rs

I'm pretty sick of Internet Cafe's to be honest, it's basically 32 degrees C indoor with low/none ventilation. I try to stay as little I can here. On the 1st we are going to Gokarna (Karnataka state), just south of Goa. I've heard so much good things about this place. After a week there, we will return to Hampi. Mila is then leaving for the UK and I will try to find some climbing to do.

Pistures of Hampi will come up from Gokarna, stayed tuned!