Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, located about 350 km northwest of Bangalore. Hampi is located within the ruins of the old Vijayanagara empire. The old empire was destroyed by a muslim invasion in the 16th century. The old temples, palaces and bazaars were all constructed in the 15th and 16th century. There are about 80 different sites spread out over a large area. To see it all would take days. Sunsets and sunrises from hilltops are suppose to be amazing. Unfortunately, it rained both days that we were there but the upside was that it wasn't as hot as it normally is (normal high is about 95 degrees F). You will notice that this entry has many photos. We took about 140 and selected about 25 for the blog.

This is a good view of a group of monuments in Hampi. I got this photo from Wikipedia site. It looks like the Virupaksha Temple area in Hampi Bazaar on the south bank of the river.







Below: photos from Vittala Temple










































































Below: Photos from the Royal Center




Lotus Mahal






Details of Lotus Mahal















Elephant enclosure. The big stone palace-like structure is basically the elephant stable. There are 11 separate "stalls".
































The Queen's Bath. It's more like a swimming pool.








































Gnesh (elephant god) Temple




















600 steps leading up to the Hanemon (monkey god) Temple.










Colorful cloth drying on rocks











a bunch of young bananas and a banana flower












Celebration of Holy Festival in Hampi












A photo op with some colorful characters.

Mysore is about 150 km from Bangalore. We visited Mysore one day by car. It was a long day, starting at 6:45 am and returning at 10:30 pm.




Breakfast stop on the way to Mysore.







A typical Indian breakfast: Dosai, Masala, Idly, Vadai, fresh papaya, watermelon juice, and coffee with milk and sugar.










Temples












Tipu Sultan's Summer Palace. Tipu Sultan was the ruler of the Mysore Kingdom in late 1700s. He opposed the British and died in battle with the British in 1799.









St. Philomena's Church. It looked very out of place in Mysore.










Some cows just wandering around in the parking lot of a temple.










A huge bull temple located about 2/3 way up a 1,000 step climb to a temple. You can reach both temples by car but believers climb the 1,000 steps and make a wish.








Maharajah's Palace







We finished our visit to Mysore by waiting until after dark when the Palace was lit with hundreds of thousands of light bulbs. The Palace is lit for only one hour each week from 7-8 pm on Sundays.

Madurai, India - March 12, 2008

We left Kodaikanal on March 12th. Our train back to Bangalore was leaving from Madurai at 7:30 pm. We hired a car for the day and headed down the mountain early in the morning. It was a 3 hour drive to Madurai. Jenn came down with us to spend the day, which was really great because we hadn't had much time to spend with her just the three of us.



We climbed 600 steps up to a small temple built on rocks, outside of Madurai city.










Below: View from the top of the temple steps. In the photo on the right, you can see the steps leading up.













Below: View of the Sri Meenakshi Temple from the rooftop of a shop.













Below: We went to the city's cloth market to look at silk fabric and scarves. Fabric stalls line one wall and the tailors line the opposite wall. Tailors can stitch garments for you in just a few hours. Unfortunately, I didn't have the time.
















Outside the East Gate of the Sri Meenakshi Temple.









Frank and Jenn eating a fresh coconut bought from the street vendor. Coconut juice was the perfect drink on a hot afternoon.










Inside the huge Sri Meenakshi Temple complex.
We had to remove our shoes at the entrance of the temple and walk around barefeet inside on stone floors.









I was blessed by the temple elephant, for Rs. 10.












Dinner and cold beer, at the rooftop restaurant with a view of the Sri Meenakshi Temple as the sun went down, was the perfect finish to a really enjoyable day.

Kodaikanal, India - March 6, 2008

Shortly after arriving in Bangalore, we made a trip to Kodaikanal to visit Jenn, our main reason for coming to India. We took an overnight train from Bangalore to Madurai which took about 10 hours. A driver met us at the train station and drove us up a twisty, windy mountain road to Kodaikanal. Leaving the train station, we drove through the town area with the markets and shops just opening up and the traffic already starting with the ubiquitous beeping of the horns. Once we left the town area and started heading up the mountain, the air got cleaner and cooler, the noise level died down and the scenery opened up to reveal the beauty of the hillside.

We checked into the guest house at the Kodaikanal International School then went to find Jenn at the elementary school campus. It was wonderful to see her with all her little students. It was obvious to see that the kids were really attached to Jenn and Jenn to them. There were many students from Korea who were boarding at the school, and they were all excited to meet me and confirm that Miss Ruskey was part Korean.

The day after we arrived there was a Field Day - school Track and Field and parents day. We enjoyed watching the events, mingling with students and staff, and getting a feel for Jenn's life. It also brought back memories from Jenn and Albert's field days (city track meets) when they were in elementary school.

Jenn has made many good friends and they invited us to dinners and generally included us in everything that was going on that week we were visiting. It was a wonderful visit.


View on the drive up to Kodaikanal










Jack Fruit Tree












Jenn w/ some of her students









Field Day at KIS








A group of Indian women walking along the lake. They all have long, black hair, and wear colorful, graceful saris or long pants with kurtas (long, tunic shirts).








Frank and Jenn at the tip of the "Dolphin's Nose" viewpoint that we reached by hiking down for about an hour from Kodaikanal town center.









Jenn's little house that she shares with two other teachers.








Below: We walked about 7 km in the countryside on our way to see the Pillar Rock, a tourist attraction with great view. We don't have a good photo of the view from the Pillar Rock because it was very hazy. We found the walk to get there really interesting and rewarding, making the trip worthwhile.













A family of monkeys with a tiny baby. Monkeys are everywhere and they are mostly not so cute. They are everywhere and they are actually very aggressive and kind of frightening.