And so off to Hampi for real.

3/2 - Back to the station. Shared the taxi with a couple of Californians, Rose was very chatty and so was Nathan in the end. They are off to Hampi too. I lost them in the station. I told them to crack on, I go at Gil's personal pace, but guess who I was sat next to on the train, Rose and Nathan. How weird is that? Not very. The tickets are pre-booked, so it was a bit.
There is some great scenery on the way to Hospet. It heated up on the train in the afternoon, so did the hanging out of the door trick. Tried the egg biriani on the train, it was average, but hit the spot. The train has loads of backpackers, Hampi, the final destination is obviously very popular.
Got talking to some Indian lads on the train, they are going to have to learn to talk Geordie, we got talking cricket, as usual, and it took me 2 minutes to understand a word the were saying. I suppose as we were talking cricket, I should have realised it was Lords.
The train turned up about 45 minutes late, but managed to make up about 20 of them. I may be turning native, I spent a lot of time hanging out of the door.
Pulled into Hospet. The Indians cannot wait for everyone to get off, before they force their way on, so proper people crush developed. I was struggling to keep my balance. REMEMBER THIS !!!!!!
I got hassled the instant I got off the train to take a rickshaw, but headed for the ticket office to reserve my onward ticket for a few days time. Good planning ay? Well nearly, it is Sunday, the office shuts early, which worked out well, as I had planned the route the wrong way, there is a quicker one.
I gave into the rickshaw man, it has been a long hot day, I could not be arsed to barter. He tried to organise taking me around Hampi tomorrow, but I stalled while I checked out his price in the Lonely Planet. It was a rip off, so I declined.
Asked to be taking to Vicky's lodgings. They asked Rs400 and it looked OK, so I went for it, a bit over charged, bu it is about 8 quid a night. Now remember "REMEMBER THIS" ? I went to pay, but my wallet had been pick pocketed getting off the train at Hospet. It was in my front pocket, which is really deep, but the crush meant I never felt a thing. It took a bit of gloss of things for a few minutes, I was ready to leave India for these few minutes, but knew it would subside if I waited. Cancelled the 2 cards that were in my wallet and went to try the one from my money belt. PHEW it worked, I had only got Kelly to check the PIN for me 2 days ago. Coincidence???
Better book my flight to Malaysia whilst I still have a card. I went to report the theft to the police in Hampi, he told me I had to go to Hospet. He ducked that one.
People in general have been really good to me in India, but it only takes one bastard like this to make you almost wipe the goodness away. I wont though, there are people like that all over the world. I reckon the Hospet station is targetted because of all the backpackers. I am over it now, for 5 minutes anyway. AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHH That's better.
Back to the tourist bit. Hampi is a magnificent place. The high number of tourists means it is splashed with commercialism, but only around the bazaar. It is a relic/ruins town and really very beautiful and quite unique in my experience so far.
Off to bed and see what tomorrrow brings.