After a 10 hours terrific bus ride we had to stay in Hospet, which is 12 km away from Hampi. The boat between our hotel and Hampi bazaar does not run later than 6 pm.

Next morning we e took a rickshaw to get to our boat and check into our hotel. We went to the Virupaksha Tempel and were fazcinated how wonderful teh stone carvings looked.

It was kind of a time travel. You could almost see how marvelous these temples must have been 500 years ago. The landscape was absolute strange with all the big stones and banana trees. The Elefant Point, Lotus Mahal, the old temples and the landscape of Hampi; just heard stopping.

We packed again and jumped on the next bus to Mysore.

23..12.2010-03.01.2011

Our night train left Mumbai with one hour delay which made my parents wait at the airport in Goa. It was a happy moment of reunion at the airport. We had a villa organized via internet and were looking forward to see it live. We were not disappointed when a 100 year old house appeared in our view. Just amazing! It had all we needed. So we were sure to have 11 relaxed days.

Jingo and his almost 80 years old mother treaded us just as family and had the villa decorated for Christmas. We got invited for a Christmas Ball. They came in dresses you cannot imagine in India. They were dancing ballroom and did the chicken dance. How funny!

We went through the streets of Panjim, the market in Mapusa, some nice cathedrals in Old Goa and spent some days on the beaches north of the busiest ones. We also wanted to see the busy city of Calagute. We felt like ants in at home. Thousands of Indians, still dunk, were lying in between bottles and other rubbish. We were quite shocked about this as nice is different.

New Years Eve we went to the ballroom dance again and were surprised to see some women in very short dresses. It was a wonderful evening with very good music.

We can highly recommend this villa and left for Hampi, Mysore and Ooty.