Chapter 4: Hampi

We laughed, we cried, Clint almost died. The beginning of our Hampi sojourn had a nice mix of exploration of ruins, King Louis, and an elephant to bop you on the head. From there things progressed in stages. We liked to meet people and if the vibe was right we kind of merged into their clique. Our time in Hampi can therefore be divided into three stages:

At stage one, we were hanging with a kiwi and an American girl turned Aussie. We were all-pro tourism, visiting ruins and temples, swimming up the river (failed!), trying of Vegetarian food and exotic beverages like Lassi’s (which are a sort of milkshake).

Stage two was more of a French revolution, hanging with the Frenchies! We moved across the cursed river where it’s cheaper and less friendly. Upon arrival, Clint contracted stomach cancer and resigned to bed for at least 4 days, whilst Johan didn’t do shit really except avoid Clint and his foul temperament. The Frenchies were odd but friendly, throw in a little cliff diving and anti American quips which Clint dished right-back and they loved us. There was a Canadian too, who understood French but never spoke it back, very strange but hey- he’s Canadian.

Stage three involves a Dutch girl and a Swede. Clint may have lost the cold war, but America ravaged the Netherlands in all but 5 minutes (hey, it was a long time coming!). Finally, the draught is over…

Alcohol is prohibited in Hampi, which makes it quite peaceful but at times boring. But, there’s a bit of a bootlegging industry going on, particularly across the river. We did drink a little, but not too much as it gets expensive quick. The Indians have got a quite a racket going, for sure.

Lastly, Hampi is very, very cheap. For example, our room costs 100 Ghandis a night, which is about 1 ½ euros total. Food is also dirt cheap. We ate like kings most of the time (when Clint wasn’t doing the opposite). And yet we spent quite a bit more than intended. We are unsure as to how exactly this happened, but it has us worried, particularly in regards to the future of our Soup. Money is definitely becoming an issue and we need to watch ourselves. We’ve already decided to cut Pune from our list of ingredients, which coincidentally, was next on the list. So, now we are off to Mumbai. Stay tuned, malakes!