dreamy images from the night train, bangalore to cochin

Hampi Children's Trust

Upon arriving in Hampi we met a wonderful guide, Kali Das, who also happened to be the co-founder of a non-profit called the Hampi Children's Trust, which works to help get the local children in to school, instead of being forced to beg in the bazaar from tourists. We were fortunate enough to get to spend a little time at the organization and meet some of the kids, and were deeply touched by the work that is being done. We wanted to share with you all the good work they are doing:

A description of the organization from their myspace page (their actual website is under construction):

The Hampi Children’s Trust ( HCT ) is a non-profit organisation , based in the ancient historic town of Hampi. The aim of the Trust is to promote + improve the educational prospects of young children ( aged 4 to16 years ) living in Hampi Bazaar who currently do not receive an education , primarily because their parents do not allow them to attend school , preffering instead to send them out begging for money from the many Westerners who visit Hampi during the tourist season .Without a formal education, the prospects for these children is bleak .The idea for the Hampi Children’s Trust came about in November 2006 when Tim Brown – from England – and Kali Das – born + raised in Hampi, to collaborate for a solution to the poverty “ hidden ” beneath Hampi’s glorious surface , + especially by the number of very young children who weren’t attending school, being sent out onto the main street to beg for rupees instead .

The HCT’s initial aims are modest , with the first project (funded by Tim and Kali themselves ) beginning in April 2007 . We are employing a cook and buying food ingredients , in order to provide for 30 children with 3 meals a day , 7 days a week , providing school uniforms and essential materials, and enrolling them at the small private school at the far end of Hampi Bazaar main street . We have also developed an after school programme for this group of children , in order to try and give them a structure to their week + to help developand improve their basic essential ‘ life-skills ’. We hope to expand this scheme in the coming months to include more children, this is , obviously , dependent upon the HCT receiving some income , in the form of voluntary donations , from those people – both locals and foreign tourists + travellers – who aresympathetic to , and supportive of , our aims + objectives .

If you would like to find out more information about the organization please feel free to email us. It costs about $200 USD to sponsor a student for one year- we've set up a donation link on the sidebar if anyone is interested in giving.

train and station photos

cat break

CATS

CATS

CATS AND PAPAYAS

CATS

HAPPY BELATED HALOWEEN!

the mellower side of hampi

this is our favorite restaurant in hampi--mango tree, the namesake tree can be seen in the background

the view from mango tree. this is where we spend a lot of time sipping chai, ginger tea, or lime soda and eating masala dosa and fruit, curd, with muesli.


#1 cutest moment so far: we were at mango tree one afternoon when this ridiculously adorable little girl came up and gave us flowers, then we gave her a pen and she gave us kisses on the cheeks.



that's her dad in the background

this is hampi at night

kristen and katie's room

the courtyard at our hotel

Train from Goa to Hampi

On Tuesday we took our first Indian train from Goa to Hampi, which turned out to be quite an experience albeit pretty lovely (although not very Darjeeing Limited-ish- those types of trains don't really exist we're sorry to say).

12 hours later and we were still smiling

Some nice views we were able to get from the train since they are open air.

Some pit toilet action. Yeah- that would be blue sky at the end of the toilet. They ask you to try and not use it close to the stations.

hampi festival days or as close as i've come to being molested in public

we arrived in the "laid back" town of hampi a few days ago--we didn't realize it at the time, but this was a special time to be coming to hampi... it was the second day of the annual hampi festival--a three-day extravaganza that involves singing, dancing, and celebrating hampi's unique history as the former royal seat of india, all this surrounding the beautiful temple ruins that were all lit up with psychedelic lights. when we found out about the festival we felt lucky, we were excited to experience the beauty of the culture and all that. what we didn't count on was about 2 million indian boys and men from surrounding villages, who have quite possibly never seen a white woman in real life, and who were stoked on the possibility of taking advantage of the choked streets surrounding the stages. i have never been so poked, prodded, followed, grabbed, or groped in my life--and i cocktail-waitressed for years down by the board of trade. it was seriously pretty traumatic. we did get some good photos, (we were brave), but it's too bad we didn't get a chance to experience the beauty of the cultural festival--i can't help thinking how different it would have been if we'd been men.





what you would call a brodeo--this seriously happened in a matter of seconds while we were standing outside an internet cafe

yeah, they're all trying to get a photo of some white girls.



this was the crowd on the way to the second stage


there was some singing and sitar playing at the second stage... you'll have to trust me on this one


camping by the second stage



this was where kristen got shoved. hard. by an old lady in the crowd.


this was about as close as we got to the main stage--it got real grabby, we were linking arms for protection and solidarity, but there were too many teenage boys and middle-aged men with creepy wandering hands, and eventually we had to head back, but not before i threatened to cut a guy, (who probably didn't understand any english other than "hi!", "camera?", "backside", and the requisite "coming from?").






an effigy gets wheeled by on a wagon


it was almost worth all the terrifying harassment just to get this picture of a stone cold....tiara wearing dude? .....almost.


it seems so much less scary during the daytime.....
today most of the crowds have returned to the surrounding villages, and it's a relief to be able to walk around without being accosted by horny dudes. the town itself is quite peaceful and quiet. tomorrow we are going to a sunrise tour of the ruins.