Two beautiful ladies who we met on the
road leading inland from the beach to
the village of Benaulim
Sunset on the Arabian sea with lots of Indian tourists and
locals
walking up and down the
Beach of Benaulim or just standing around making conversation and kids
playing in the sand
All along the western shores of southern India
these lovely blue and
violet flowers decorate
the beaches
On board the train for Hospet, a mod-
erately sized city located in the far
eastern regions of Karnataka
|
Hampi is a truly
magical
place
and was once the capital of the ancient Vijayanagar empire, holding so
many temple sites and ruins that one
should need at least one week to cover the entire grounds. The way to
get there is by first going to the major town of
Hospet and then taking an auto, taxi or local bus the few remaining
miles. There is a stately run tourist bureau but also some rickshaw
drivers who can fix you in on their own private tours. We happened to
get
caught up by two agents at the same time which was a bit of a laugh and
led to some chaos for a day or two
|
A happy Muslim family just
arrived from
Andhra pradesh and like any normal Indian
citizens would do, instantaneously bidding us to take a
collective snap- shot of them (and us)
together
I think this
elephant's name was
Lakshmi,
the
goddess of good fortune and riches
Hanuman the "monkey god"
The goddess of Lakshmi, here in the form
of a statue in Hampi with
my own goddess
Carina posing in the foreground
Previous
page! |
Me on the brighter side of life after finally getting rid of
the cold I
got during the first phase of our trip, which was one in a series of
several
infections
Me eating a paper dosa in
Calangute, Goa. A paper dosa is a very large pancake
prepared to become crispy and dry. It's served with various side dishes
like
chili and coconut chutneys, minced potato and pees plus a spicy
sambar. And if anyone wonders, did he manage to get it all down? No
well
not quite. Had to leave about two decimeters behind, unfortunately! But
did I enjoy the meal? Well for me a part of the reason to go back to
India was for treats such as this!
My wife Carina inside the hanging root canopy of a Banjan
tree, this
shot taken in Benaulim
The railway station at Margao, Goa´s main
junction which connects with the rest of the subcontinent
The main gopuram in
the old
village of Hampi
with the festival grounds up front
|
A super statue of
Indias
most beloved icon "lord Ganesha", here carved out of
one solid rock and with the belly missing after the Muslim invadors
long ago carved it out and dropped it on to the ground below
|
Two traveling magicians swallowing stones, some of them as
big as eggs
and performing (for a fee) all sorts of
conjuring tricks
A few details of the
numerous ornamentations so well represented in the architecture
of the ancient Vijayanagar kingdom, in this case quite badly dented
from
ages of wearing wind and rain
The queen´s swimming
pool, or be it, bath tub with Carina displaying how she
would have done breast stroke had it been in days of old when the basin
was still filled with water
Click on
image
for the next
set
of PICS!
|
