Two temples on the first day in Hampi, and two already on the second day -- why bother seeing another temple?
Well, for starters, the next (and final) temple was up on a hill, so there would be some good views. Having climbed up to Shravanabelagola (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shravanabelagola) during my first trip, and Skandagiri (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skandagiri) during my second, however, I knew that these climbs could be difficult, and I was already tired from spending a few hours in the heat and sun so I was disinclined to join the group this time.
Our ride to the temple was uneventful, but bumpy -- sections of the road along this stretch were not in any condition for automated transport, and the autos had a difficult time getting through at the slowest speed I imagine possible for the things. Bumps, dips, and swerves were quite frequent along the route.
Once there, we discussed the climb with a few locals at a small shop (where we bought more water); we were told that there were 575 steps to the top, the first 100 of which were out in the sun, but the rest were through caves.
575 steps would have been tough on me, but I decided I was willing to try it, knowing I could turn around and return if I needed to. Hearing that most of the climb would be through caves, though... that sounded cool, both in the "groovy" sense and the "out of the sun" sense. I was in. I would join the group climbing up the hill.
However, everything we were told about the climb was nonsense, and my previous experiences climbing up hills in India did not help me much here either.
There were not 575 steps, there were no caves, and there was nothing special about the first 100 steps. What we found instead was a nice winding staircase, well paved (for India) and with a strong barrier, which took a semi-leisurely route up the hill through some shaded areas and under some giant boulders.
The most challenging part of the climb was the last 50 steps, where a hoard of monkeys waited to steal our food -- which they did, quite aggressively -- but overall we survived the climb. No cameras or shiny objects were taken, only food we had in plain sight, which wasn't much, just some bananas. The small girl in our party needed a little extra encouragement to get through this part, but otherwise we reached the top in one piece, just out a few bananas.
At the top we removed our shoes, as this hilltop was one of the reputed birthplaces of the monkey-faced deity Hanuman. The stone was hot, so for the most part I had to ran from shady spot to shady spot to keep my feet from frying -- and we all quickly accumulated in the foyer of the temple, where the cool marble floor and ceiling fan helped us cool off and recover from the climb.
After having spent at least 30 minutes sitting and cooling off, as well as fending off a few of the more aggressive monkeys (we lost another bag of bananas through the window), we were invited to lunch by the priests/monks who served the temple. (Apologies if they were not in this class, I did not get clarification at the time. I am applying a guideline of "if they live on the top of a hill, are generally different in appearance from most locals and appear to regularly wear a dothi, then they must be priests" in this case.)
Lunch was the most straightforward, simple, and yet the most delicious I had during the trip.
It was a simple rice and lentils setup, served South Indian-style on a banana leaf, with poppers and water. I found I could still eat sufficiently well with my hand; perhaps hunger makes one's eating skills sharper. At any rate, it was not too spicy, had a good flavor, and overall was quite good.
After lunch we descended the hilltop along the same main route we had used to climb up, rested a bit more at the bottom of the hill, then began our trek back to the coracles, autorickshaws, and our hotel. Our train was leaving at 8:20 that evening, it was about 4 PM, and we still had some distance to cover.
(On the way down the hill I remembered to start counting steps at about a third of the way down; I ultimately counted 237. Even if you double that, it is nowhere near 575. I think there about 350, with plenty of places to rest...and no caves.)
