a long day in hampi

we hired this guy kali to take us out on a sunrise hike to see the famous temples of hampi. well we ended up having such a great time that we signed on for a sunset tour as well. the day evolved into a long walk with a new friend who happened to be a really great story teller. we are so glad to have met kali, and to have had the opportunity to see hampi from a better vantage point than our initial introduction offered us. these photos are in chronological order, starting with the sunrise hike and our awesome experience feeding monkeys(!)







the view from the top of the hill


a temple at the top of a hill


this is the kali temple, it's thousands of years old

where our guide kali got his name

at the snake temple, you're supposed to touch the feet

down in the old royal courts of hampi



there's kali at the royal court


detailing on a column

pilgrims on the banks of the river come to wash away their karma

we took one of those round boats out onto the river

this is our photogenic boatman


one of the thousands of temples carved into the boulders


some of the gorgeous kids of harmony house, the children's program that kali co-founded, (see later katie post)



they like to salute

this photo was taken from the bottom of a royal bathtub--it was like the size of a swimming pool, jealous? yup.

that's kali chilling in an alcove meant for courtisans to toss flowers down into the water

and this was some kind of swimming pool i think...

this is where the king would sit to address the masses

kristen and katie investicate some carvings









those crazy hampi boulders

this is a statue of one of the incarnations of shiva--a half man half lion who killed a demon in a doorway on his knee at dusk--kali told us the story, but i can't remember how it all went.

for scale...

a sweet family we met at the big ganesh statue.

some local thugs

cow break

bye kali! we'll miss you!