Homeward Bound Hampi, India

Hampi, India

Urrrrrggg…. The alarm woke us at 4 which
was rather horrible. Got dressed and
walked up to the dining hall. The moon
and stars were still very bright in the sky.
The hotel had made us pack up bags with fruit, hard boiled eggs and a
water bottle which was very nice. We
took them to the train because no one was hungry at that hour.

Loaded our luggage into two range rover
type vehicles and off we went, through all the little faming hamlets which were
just beginning to wake up. The cattle
were all sleeping just outside the family huts.
In other times we’ve come across people squatting over the field ditches
at the roadside at this early hour! The
headlights pick them up in their private moment! However, we didn’t see anyone today, thank
goodness.

Hospet railway station is not the greatest
but also not the worst. The sunrise was lovely though! Our train was
meant to be at 0620 but it nearly always runs late as it has been travelling
from Calcutta over 30 hours away. We
waited at the point on the platform where our coach – AC2 – was due to be
positioned. And waited…. And
waited. A few years ago, when Bob and I
went to Hampi, the train was 7 hours late which was hideous. We decamped to a local 4 star hotel for the
day. Today, it was nearly 2 hours
late. But a pleasant surprise when we
got on board. Cleaner and fresher than
we expected and our berths already empty and with clean bedding all folded
ready for us.

Managed a bit of a sleep. The journey was tedious. The train got later and later as having
missed its slot, it frequently had to wait for other trains to pass first. In the end we were about 3 hours late getting
into Margao and we were very ready to get off by then. I do everything – and I mean EVERYTHING – in my
power to avoid the loo on the station or on the train. In fact the train loo was perfectly clean but
it was a squat over a hole to the rails and I did not feel equal to strip off
sufficiently to use it and then use it while clinging to the grab rail as the
train rattled and bumped along. Consequently,
I was a bit uncomfortable after 13 hours and looking forward to getting back to
Eve’s Resort. J

All our clothes went to the wash bag, we
had a quick but soooooo welcome shower, and then headed down to Salida for a
Last Night Celebration. Our gang is
losing 6 members in the last 24 hours.
Deb and David went late last night after dinner and John, Sue, Nick and
Jan go today. So, we had a massive
dinner and then a fantastic firework display on the beach.

Called in on Gloria on the way back. She is a lot brighter but still unable to properly
weight bear. Settled her in for the
night and then went back and crashed ourselves.
A great trip and glad to be back!