Hampi

So here i am in yet another magical place or so it seems on the surface....Beautiful temples, an adorable elephant Lakshmi who i got a blessing from yesterday. She put her trunk on my head, holy men, but wait! Hello where you from? You want photo? Come i take photo of you, shanti,shanti. Thank you R's50 thank you and off they go for other new unsuspecting arrivals.

I went to post a parcel at the "post office" this morning after i woke early to walk amongst the ruins. It is beautiful in the early morning and really apart from the evening the only time to do it as it is getting close to 40 degrees. So i arrive at the "post office" at 9am and wait, and wait. Eventually someone who worked at the "post office" arrived but had no key. A few moments later the big man arrived and the office was opened. I was then told to wrap my parcel. I was taken down a dingy alleyway to where a woman started sewing a bag for me. She even sealed the corners with wax, well that's the first cloth parcel i have ever sent. That cost me R's50. Returning to the office i eventually realised after being asked for my passport details that the parcel would assuredly arrive sometime in the next two weeks "for sure", we'll see.

I booked my ticket to Varanasi and leave on Sunday night and arrive on Wednesday morning going by train and sleeper coach, you can guess the journey will be grueling. I have put some pics on Facebook but it is hard both from the point of view of security as they are paranoid after the Mumbai attacks and technically as the computers abilities vary enormously. While I'm on the subject it is very hard to get into a writing flow, for example this key board doesn't print H's unless you hit the key about 10 times. So check facebook for pic's and I'll add when i can.

I'd love some interaction on my blog so comments and suggestions are welcome.