Hampi, India (Karnataka) - Moped Diaries, Part II

Before heading north to see some of the classic sights of India, we decided to stop into a town called Hampi which we had heard good things about from a couple other travellers. It was a good move. It turned out to be an unbelievable place, which has received surprising little hype given how cool it is. The town is quite small and remains very rural given how great a tourist attraction it is. The town is set amongst ruins from the Vijayanagara empire which was apparently one of the largest empires in India's history, roughly 1300's to mid 1500's. The hole area is surround by jungle amongst massive boulders which were used for the huge temples. Below is the main street of Hampi....

T and I walked up to see a view over the town on our first day...
And like all south American villages where all the kids play soccer, everyone in India play cricket...

T and I got blessed by an elephant...so we got that goin for us, which is nice.

The monkeys hang out on the main tower, waiting for the ladies selling bananas to let their guard down so they can make off with bananas. I saved them the trouble..

In Hindu religion, cows are often considered to be sacred, and thus beef is not eaten anywhere in India. As well, cows cannot be killed for the same reason. We're not sure where they all came from then, but for some reason, every town place we've been to is full of stray cows, like you have stray dogs. Literally cows all over the place, eating garbage, lounging around, getting in the way of rickshaws. This fella here was just looking for some love....

And once again, we headed out on the open road on the mopeds. There really was no better way to see all the ruins which are littered throughout the surrounding area.

The some of the ruins were very impressive, and unlike a lot of other places you may see ruins, they were free to enter and we seldom saw another person inside.

It was nice buzzing around because the roads were all but empty. The traffic we encountered was the odd heard of goats.

After a siesta to pass the afternoon heat (it was really, really hot), we headed out to a waterfall we heard about. The trail there was a beautiful walk through palm trees and banana plantations.

As it turned out, the "waterfall" was more of a fast moving river, but it turned out to be really cool. The rock had been carved into really cool shapes over the years.

After that, we headed up to a temple on the highest peak in the area for an awesome sunset.

The monkeys in the area also like to enjoy the sunsets up there.

There was a snake charmer outside our hostel the next day which was pretty cool.

Now remember kids, don't try this at home...

Our rickshaw driver to the bus station was Mr. Paul. He had very professional business cards..

Us with the Irish boys...good fun lads...hopefully do it again in Thailand. Grape!

Pete (Aka "the body Maloney) decided to stay behind in Goa to be with a lady, and we actually never got a picture with him. All we had was this one from the bus to Goa. Apparently he sleeps with a bag over his head, hostage style, when he's on buses.

Palolem, India (Goa) - Moped Diaries Part 1

After a very short 17 hour bus ride from Mumbai, we arrived at Palolem, a beach town in the province of Goa. The bus tickets we bought were for a sleeper with AC. We got neither, India Travel Agents 1 us 0.This beach is supposed to be one of the better party beaches in India although it still seemed tame. Regardless we had an awesome week.

Hugh our Irish buddy suggested that we rent mopeds and tour around the mostly rural area, defiantly a good call.

Paul was really hoping that the mopeds came with a leather one piece suit. It didn't so he decided to go shirts off, that's just how he rolls.

Riding around on mopeds allowed us to see allot of the area that wouldn't have gotten to see. Added bonus the four of us on mopeds looked pretty rough.

Along the way we ran into this temple and had a look inside.

This lad is the third Irishman of the group Dermott. He was a big fan of the mopeds as well.

Sweet bucket T

Along the way we stumbled upon this small secluded beach. It was a bit of a trek to get to but completely worth it.

That just screams badass

Another week in Paradise, I'm getting used to this.

The Beards

Not sure who's idea it was, but at some point prior to the tour we all agreed to grow our beards for the entire 30 days. Though it wasn't the plan at the time, Mark hadn't shaved since new years, so he figured why not let her go, so he was looking at a solid wood chopper beard by the end of it. When we were in Dubai, a guy even asked him if he was Muslim.

Mark in all his glory. The shirt and the axe are a nice compliment...and of course...the crazy eyes

Alan here knows a thing or two about beards.

T had a pretty solid (and slightly ginger) beard by the end...

Which is more than can be said about me...

Our buddy James also got on board a little way through. We had a head start, but a solid effort in only 2 weeks (okay..it's way better than mine).

And what's left to do when the month comes to an end??? Shave ridiculous facial hair of course. T and I started off slow with goatees for a day...T all of a sudden looked like a 35 year old blue collar worker.

I just looked stupid...

And now for the final products. Though a little reluctant at first, we managed to convince T to go with the never before seen mouth donut....

I went with the dirty stash and chin tuft.....greasy. To top it off I added the greasy pony tail...nice.

James went with the half beard, and matched the hair to it. Business on the left, party on the right.

There was only one option for Mark....an ultra thick neck beard...gross.

Thanks to Sibylle for putting up with the beard...and my ensuing sleazy shenanigans when I had my mustache.

Lookin good boys....lookin real good.