HAMPI ! The hippy side ~

Continuing from  Hampi- Heritage Side

DAY 3: My staying place was super cute and near to paddy fields. This day I am touring the Hippy side or the other side of Hampi or Anegundi village. I hired an Activa two wheeler and went on to explore. My first destination was a Hanuman temple where you have more than 600 steps to walk. With directions and an amazing long drive in the greens and fresh air, I reached. I walked all the steps and visited the temple. One good thing had been the view from that top. Breath taking!! Boulders everywhere and the rivers crisscrossing and green fields. All these times, I hadn't missed my phone which was broken and I was out of connectivity.

Somewhere around Hampi

Bobby's guest house. 

The amazing hills

:) Camera timer works

Fields and farmers

Hanuman temple

View!

Gorgeous that was ~

The boulders were just wow. Like how amazingly are they placed all over. How are they even formed like this. Then I drove more like a vagabond and visited two more temples, Lakshmi temple and Durga temple. The people at Durga temple humbly offered me lunch. It was a yummy sambar-rice meal! I was so content :)

Lakshmi Temple

Durga Temple

A Banjara lady

My free humble lunch at Durga temple

How perfect are they!

Taking it all in ~

The reservoir 

A late afternoon here was a bliss, plus it was drizzling :)

A lady in the farms

  
I proceeded to see one reservoir now. So I drove and drove. I lost my way and drove some more. Even driving there cluelessly was beautiful. I finally reached and awed at the place. It started drizzling and it added to the beauty of it.

On the way I paused and clicked some birds. A boy came and guided me to another place full of birds. There I saw plenty of Baya weavers making their nests. I got some amazing shots. I finally reached my hut. I met a guy named Jungle and he offered me to take to a hill nearby where all hippies and travelers are going to see the sunset. So we talked along and he helped me climb up the place. A lot of people had gathered and there was Gali. He waved and they all had various musical instruments playing. What a lovely feel. Over the hill, music and a gorgeous view in front and a mild sunset happening in the monsoon, I Loved it. This was one hell of an experience. We all were down by late evening and all chit chatted and I was welcomed to a jamming session that would happen in a restaurant near by called 'Nargillas'. I went and shyly took a corner seat. Then I was asked to share the table as it was getting crowdy. So two men joined up, one from Israel and one from Argentine. One smoked and other was drowning in beer but we all chatted well about our countries and what we are doing here and all that. Movies, food, and all rubbish, I ordered and enjoyed my lasagna. Too cheesy it was. Slowly the place was full. My time with those two strangers went quite well...some memories to add of Hampi!

I came to my hut, made a call to home and then sat around there for sometime. Gali joined me and we talked till late hours. Later even the hotel reception guy joined in. We three walked till the open the fields and I realized that Gali had his flute with him. He played. On top of it it was full moon. Full moon, paddy fields, bouldered Hampi and nothing but hustle of the wind and beautiful melodious flute music. It was a divine feeling. He played and we sat listening. After long we all got back and settled at our own places.

'Ashy Prinia' and the song for the beloved

Male Baya weaver making the nest for females in the mating season

Gali and the folks

Our beautiful sunset place

lasagna 

My memorable evening in Hampi

KNOCK KNOCK

Day 4: Somebody knocked the bamboo door of my room. Squirrels were around making noise. I opened the door and Gali was there, he was leaving somewhere and before going he gifted me a CD of his HAMPI music. That was nice of him. I later checked out, had dosa locally and then crossed the river for connectivity was from that side. I had to bid goodbye to Tungabhadgra river. I came this side. I had time in hand. I again went around Virapaksha temple and climbed further on left side of hills. I had missed this earlier because of rains, and now I was here again. More beauty. More ruins. I could see the overall Hampi site and the little iconic Hanuman temple with the slanting tree. 
I took a bus then to Hospet and called home from a strangers mobile. He was a poor shopkeeper and didn't even take money for it. I wrote this last journey while being at platform no. 1 , Hospet. ~

The Iconic Hanuman temple

Bye Hampi, I loved you :)

Year of Travel :)

This whole while I had been on a continuous adventure spree. Trying my best to travel every month to a new place and explore what it got for me! And I think I have done good. 

I literally worked-saved-traveled-repeated.

I tried covering all Indian sides; West, North, South, North-East and my own Eastern zone of India. I have really pushed my limits, tried new stuffs, took a little pain to see the world, challenged and surprised my own self.  I had many solo trips, one with friends group, few with sister and some organized tour. Truly the most loved ones were solo, because once you get the hang of solo-traveling and the freedom and comfort with it, there’s no looking back. I seriously got a boost of confidence like never before. I find myself as a changed person, while all these times I had been so much introverted. I still am but there’s a side of me who is wild and crazy.

I felt the beaches, I explored the mountains, I visited temples, I scuba-dived, I trekked, I went villages, I went cities, I was at archaeology sites, I went for bird-watching, I went to watch wildlife. I met folks, I let myself loose. I traveled in summer, winter and in rain. I photographed and I communicated.

Traveling had been soothing to me. Traveling had been healing to me. And traveling had been my rescue world. 

If a budget women traveler can do it, then certainly you can do even better. Don’t think of saving a lot and then going on a tour. Start now. Go out. It doesn’t take much even with all the plannings and stuff. I’d be happy to help anyone who wants to go exploring, or any information I can give out of my adventures. Specially women travelers, you can drop an e-mail for any travel-related query. 

I couldn’t give much of my time putting travel stories in the blog, but I have written all in my notebooks and this year I’ll be penning down all travel tales for you all. 

India is beautiful. Go explore.

Solo wildlife trip!

Hey everyone,

I'm back to share my second solo travel tale. The first had been Pondicherry, Tamilnadu and this is in my own State: Odisha.

I had been planning to go a new wildlife sanctuary since a long time but it never happened because of fear of remote places, no company and expenses. But finally I saved some money, got some guts, Google-d stuff online, made few calls and settled everything! The place to go was 'Kuldiha'.

I had heard good reviews of the place and seemed particular closer to Bhubaneswar i.e. my city. 

To read my more detailed trip report and pictures check the link --> Wildlife trip to Kuldiha

I have a passion for bird watching in their natural habitat and with this place I had great hopes! Two and a half days with Mr. Manaranjan Das, my tour guide (who is also a birder) went excellent! I explored a beautiful new place. A complete raw and pristine forest with a positive vibe that energizes you. Forgetting the clumsy busy world, I enjoyed this calm green! At the peak hours I enjoyed plenty of bird calls and had some amazing bird sightings like Malabar Trogan, Pale-capped Pigeon, Vernol’s hanging parrot and Heart-spotted woodpecker. One late evening I was lucky to see a cow Indian Elephant drinking water with its calf. What a peaceful sight and it fills you with a feeling of awe. How beautiful is nature and its ways!

One night we stayed in 'Kuldiha' rest house which is deep in the forests with no network and limited electricity. It rained heavily that night, and guess what! I had a tent for night stay. Exciting!! I enjoyed the gossips with the locals having black tea and snacks. The next day after rains was extremely fruitful in bird watching. I saw Indian Giant squirrels, Spotted deers and some fascinating butterflies, insects and lizards. With birding I also have an interaction with the habitat; the trees, leaves, soil; everything is a part of it. You learn nature's behavior although it's quite unpredictable and that's the fun part; it surprises you!!

I felt like I challenged myself to go solo again and accomplished it. I have more confidence in me and the ways to deal with people and places. My overall view with Kuldiha was very nice. It's safe and people are nice plus within one and half hour you're close to cities.  

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Selfie and the view from my vehicle

Me with Mr. Manaranjan Das and his wife who also had great interest in birds!

Doggy love and the nice guest house at Panchlingeswar, Balasore

Crested Serpent Eagle

Elephant and it's calf going for a drink

Shrike

Malabar trogan

Oriental turtle dove

Indian Giant Squirrel

Peninsular rock agama

Spotted deers

My tent! How adventurous :) 

***

"I was little scared to do this solo trip in a wildlife sanctuary but with Manoj bhai's help and hospitality all my fear turned into joy. Bird watching went good and all other amenities were taken care off. You don't need to worry about food or stay. It's a good place and a lot of things like water-falls and hills are nearby to see. I'll come again for that and of course birding too. Hoping to see more Elephants and Bisons as well"


You can reach Mr. Manoranjan Das at: 9937332552
www.kuldihasafari.com  
 ***

Last day when I was dropped in the city I decided to check out a nearby beach which is quite famous. So I changed two auto-rickshaws and within one and half hour I was in Chandipur beach. It was hot but the place was nice! Beaches are always peaceful and serene. I had some fresh coconut water and came back to Balasore railway station. After 3 hours I took my train and was in home in next 3 and half more hours. :)

Chandipur beach and Great Egret birds

My solo time towards beach

Hoping for a comeback to explore more ~

Diwali happiness!

Hey friends :)

Diwali is near and I'm very happy as I had got a big diwali gift order for my hand-crafted sling tote bags!

It has been a pre-order from a lady who is a birder and wanted eco-friendly bags to gift her folks in this beautiful occasion. She found me from Facebook. :)

It took me around a month to work on this huge order and I worked really hard towards it. A happy customer is all I want! Sharing some pictures from my work!!

Paper bags I made outta envelopes!

More!

Flamingos

KIngfishers

Flycatchers

Hornbills

All wrapped up like this!

Gifts are ready!

 

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