Gokarna & Hampi

Hi again everybody. A lot has happened since my last update, but rather than relate everything, I've decided to concentrate on the highlights: specifically, the interesting people we have met and the uniquely Indian experiences that we have encountered.

For a frame of reference, we spent a week in Gokarna, a beach town in northwestern Karnataka with a quaint little market, a handful of important Hindu temples, and a string of beautiful sandy beaches, some miles long, others tucked into little coves. The first few mornings I took to walking along one of the long beaches, where fishermen would use mango-wood canoes to set shore nets. Then children would haul in the nets, sort the fish, and take them to market. It was such a beautiful, simple way of living, and I wondered for how many centuries of mornings they had been doing it.



Gokarna is also a very holy place, and many Indians were quite fond of bathing in the ocean. For Hindus, water is the ultimate purifier, and bathing in the ocean combined with a Pooja at the temple is a great way to wash away your sins. The men generally go in their shorts, whereas the women go fully clothed (for decency). You can imagine the Indians' surprise, therefore, at seeing white women suntanning in bikinis. This occasionally causes problems, as young Indian boys frequently find themselves wandering up and down the beaches.

On one day we took a walk to two more remote beaches, which are only accessible by a narrow trail that winds along the coastal cliffs. At the farthest of these beaches we found a small homemade sailboat. Naturally I was extremely excited by this find, and bent to inspect the craft. She had a mango hull like the fishing boats, but it had been enhanced by the addition of six-inch gunwales, painted red. These seemed to be somehow sewn and glued to the main hull. The boat also had two outriggers, also painted red, and a red centerboard that fit through a hole in the bottom of the boat. To prevent the boat from sinking, a box had been built around this hole, which when sailing would fill up with water to the level of the water outside the boat. I don't have a picture of the craft, but check Kyle's blog as he might post one.

About this time we heard an angry shout from a hut farther up the beach, and when I approached I was greeted by Gur, the young suntanned long-haired Israeli first-mate, and Wolfgang, the quiet middle-aged Austrian captain. They were engaged in carving a diggeridoo, but paused long enough to answer my questions about the sailboat. As it turned out, Wolfgang was a carpenter who spent his winters in Gokarna, and he had decided to construct the craft with no previous knowledge of boat-building and no reference to any books. Amazing.

Well, we spent a few more lazy days in Gokarna and then we caught a "sleeper" bus to Hampi. I say "sleeper" because without intravenous anesthetic it is laughable to think you could sleep on any vehicle moving along Indian roads. Maybe, just maybe with the help of sleeping pills and earplugs and some calm music you'd find yourself dozing off, and then you'd have this overwhelming sensation that you were falling and you'd open your eyes and guess what? You WERE falling! Because the bus had hit a bump and now you're in the air and WHAM! you hit the bed and oh well, so much for sleeping.

Hampi, anyway, is the most beautiful place in India that I've been so far. Imagine the landscape of Joshua Tree, but with a beautiful river running through it, and the banks of the river occupied by rice-paddies, banana plantations, coconut palms, and ancient Hindu ruins. It's magical - like walking through the Ramayana. And as it turns out, this place is part of the Ramayana; it is Kiskinda, the monkey kingdom, from whence Hanuman and Sugreeva came. And it is also the former capital of a great Hindu empire (sometime around the 1500's), that was eventually destroyed by the a nearby Muslim empire (religious wars are not news, after all).

So on the second day in Kiskinda I had a little adventure. I decided to set out on my own, to see what I might see. First I climbed up some granite boulders, where I saw this view. Then I noticed this lizard and decided to stalk it as slowly and quietly as I possibly could. Well, I got this close before it ran away.



Then I went down into the next valley and attempted to cross the river but was thwarted by these guards.


Eventually I outwitted them and continued on through peanut fields and banana plantations, where (of all places) I was approached by a man a bag who was selling home-made cakes. Well, naturally I couldn't refused and ended up with one banana and one coconut. I made my way towards the Hanuman temple, which is perched on a ridge at the top of many stairs. I enjoyed the view for awhile, then found a nice overhanging boulder to crawl under and read in the shade while the midday sun passed overhead. As I was about to continue wandering I heard some voices...underneath me! Well, I thought this deserved some investigation, so I hopped down a bit and lo-and-behold - caves! Thus began an underground exploration, the highlight of which was the formation pictured below.






When I reached the bottom of the stairs I decided to cross the river to explore some ruins I had seen from the Hanuman temple. Summoning my vast knowledge of river crossing, I chose a spot where the channel was wide and fast (and thus shallow). Well, I soon learned that shallow doesn't matter much when the rocks are slippery. This isn't the best picture, but maybe you can tell that my left pant-leg is shredded, and that my clothes are soaked up to mid-torso. Thankfully, my bag didn't get wet, and I finished the crossing with it on my head.


On the other side I found some interesting river formations (remember, this is hard granite), and the ancient ruins I was seeking. I also found a sari that someone probably lost while doing laundry, which I fashioned into a turban to keep the sun out of my eyes. It almost worked.




Evening time was spent exploring and photographing the ruins, and I made it back to our lodge just as night fell and the sliver moon came out of hiding. It was a wonderful day.


The next day was also wonderful, but I've told enough stories for now. Anyway, I'm sure that Kyle will tell of it in his blog, so check there.

Love,
Josh