LivED: My Solo Trip To Hampi, A Soulful Experience

Liv’ED It is an ED original style where we write about our personal experiences on experiencing and reviewing any app/place/website which gives us a feeling of coming back for more.

Growing up independently is actually pretty cool! Living alone in Hyderabad for almost two years gave me the leverage to make independent choices. Be it going for a trip alone or choosing a dress for the annual function of the office, I lived all of it. In this blog, I will be sharing the story of my solo trip to Hampi. 

Solo Trip

Well, the idea of a solo trip is pretty in these days. I remember, taking a solo trip was in my bucket list since I was just 19. Thus, when I got the leave approval during the Christmas holidays, I thought of fulfilling my long-time wish of taking a trip alone. 

Solo trip in India

People in India have different notions pertaining to solo trips. Therefore, I got quite a mixed response from people when I told my friends and family about the vacation plan. While my boyfriend (please add ex before the word boyfriend) was a little skeptical about it, my mother, on the other hand, was very cool with the idea of me taking a solo trip. 

Honestly speaking, I too was a little afraid and skeptical about the whole idea because of the regular brutal incidents that take place around us. But I chose to take a leap of faith finally and decided to live my dream.

My solo trip to Hampi

To be honest, I did not have to arrange most of the basics related to my solo trip. My boyfriend (I hate to add ex before the word boyfriend but anyway add it) arranged everything on my behalf.

Starting from the bus tickets to the arrangement of my homestay and packing my bags – he did everything when I was busy taking late-night con calls. He even dropped me to the MGBS bus stop on the day of my journey.  It is good to have people around us who support us, no?

Day 1:

It took me some twelve hours to reach Hampi by bus. First I reached Hospet and from there I took a local bus to reach Hampi. Luckily my room was booked near the heart of the city, i.e very close to the Virupaksha Temple and River Tungabhadra.

We all know Bengalis are really passionate about travelling and at my homestay, I met an old Bengali couple who were fulfilling their travel bucket list, too. 

On that day, I took a stroll to the nearby places and visited Kadalekalu Ganesh, Monolithic Bull, Achyutraya Temple, the ruins of Hampi Baazar. I remember the view of sunset still at the bank of Tungabhadra. I don’t know how to express my feelings here with just some words and pictures. 

All I remember, during the time of sunset I was sitting on a small rock, watching the Tungabhadra. The place was quite empty and a group of people from ISKON were chanting their Krishna naam. The ambience was so peaceful.

In general, I hate eating alone. But at Hampi, I had no other choice but to eat alone. Thus, I convinced myself to have my dinner alone and guess what? I liked that. 

Day 2:

Well, I was fully charged during my Hampi trip and lived the most of it. On the second day, I walked for almost 7 kilometres and visited places like Queens Bath, Lotus Palace, Elephant Stables, Hazar Rama Temple, Lakshmi Narasimha Temple, Underground Shiva Temple, Zenana Enclosure and so on.

The day was exhausting. 

During this day, I also interacted with some strangers who too were (probably still are…) travel addicts. They suggested I visit Kanchipuram of Tamil Nadu and suggested some names of travel adventure groups. 

Also Read: These 7 Movies Restored The Faith Of The Audience In Bengali Cinema After Ray, Sen And Ghatak

After spending the whole day outside, I dragged myself back to my room and took some rest. But I was adamant enough to go out again.

Thus, I went to the bank of Tungabhadra again just to witness the sunset. Virupaksha temple is situated at the bank of the river. So I went inside the temple in the evening. 

The walls of the Hampi ruins and sculptures are unbelievably beautiful. They are so mesmerising that no word can define their beauty. While I was loitering around the temple, I discovered, the full moon in the sky. 

Amazed by the grace of Nature, I walked back to Tungabhadra again. I was all set to spend a full moon night at the bank of the river. At that time, the bank was empty. There were merely three to four people around. I was watching the moon, the river and a hill nearby.

There was a cold breeze touching my face and I once again heard from a distance the  Krishna Naam, which was being chanted by ISKON people. The river was flowing at her own rhythm and I remember feeling overwhelmed by the beauty of such sight and crying alone. Hampi was incredible!

Day 3:

My third day in Hampi was a tiring but remarkable one. As I wanted to have the best of Hampi, I was reluctant to miss the sunrise from Matunga Hills. Therefore, I trekked the hill wearing basic Bata shoes and ended up hurting my feet. 

But thank God I did so, because reaching the top and witnessing the sunrise was amazing, and I relished every bit of that moment. On that very day, I visited Hippie Island and visited places like Yantrodaraka Temple, Durga temple and the beautiful Sanapur lake. 

As I do not know how to drive, I took a bike with a rider, and Ganesh, my rider was a wonderful human who ended up becoming my photographer at the end. 

He also told me the historical significance of Hippie Island which was supposed to be the kingdom of Bali and Sugriv of the Ramayana. I was already aware of the ruins of Vijaynagar, but Ganesh helped me to connect Hampi with our Mahakavya too.

Hampi was not just a solo trip for me. It was a whole new experience that I am going to cherish for the rest of my life.

Image Source: Blogger’s click

Source: Blogger’s own experience

Find the blogger: @UrmiKhasnobish

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