Me and some babas
Sharon and a rest day bhang lassie ;)
Matt bouldering
Tom bouldering
Kate practicing Poi on the boulders
Lewis bouldering
Me bouldering
Amanda
Evenings in the Goan CornerWednesday, October 28, 2009
Some Hampi Photos...
Me and some babas Sharon and a rest day bhang lassie ;) Matt bouldering Tom bouldering Kate practicing Poi on the boulders Lewis bouldering Me bouldering Amanda Evenings in the Goan Corner
More soon... Promise!
25.10.09
So its been a while but to be fair theres not alot to write. I mean, every day is amazing but now that we have settled into a routine it is easy to let time slide by without realising.
My shoulder is getting better slowly and I am climbing a fair bit now and have even bouldered up to 7A so there is hope for some hard sends yet! The climbing here is amazing. Sharp, crimpy, powerful, proud... awesome. Most days here are spent doing a lot of relaxing, blazing, swimming in the lake and then throw in some bouldering on the occasional sunrise or sunset and life is pretty darn good. More and more people are turning up here every day and the crew is growing and growing so its happy days. I will try and write a little story about life here in Hampi soon... promise!
So its been a while but to be fair theres not alot to write. I mean, every day is amazing but now that we have settled into a routine it is easy to let time slide by without realising.
My shoulder is getting better slowly and I am climbing a fair bit now and have even bouldered up to 7A so there is hope for some hard sends yet! The climbing here is amazing. Sharp, crimpy, powerful, proud... awesome. Most days here are spent doing a lot of relaxing, blazing, swimming in the lake and then throw in some bouldering on the occasional sunrise or sunset and life is pretty darn good. More and more people are turning up here every day and the crew is growing and growing so its happy days. I will try and write a little story about life here in Hampi soon... promise!
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Epics!
08.10.09
You know those moments where you just stop for a second and think either 'what the hell am I doing here?' or 'god I love my life!'...? Well it seems to happen about every 5 minutes here for me. Let me tell you about my last week or so.
We have a good little team here. Me and Dave down in the Goan Corner, Nick, Scott and Ellie up in Shanthi and Elka up the hill... apart from the locals and a small band of Israelis thats the whole population of Hampi Island at the minute. The monsoon floods cut us off from the rest of humanity and with constant rain, no electricity and food running out things were getting everyone down on our little inland island. But a little bouldering in between the rain and some good company keeps the smiles on our faces.
Then, mid floods, my friend Camille and her friend Sandy arrived on the other side of the river. After 2 days of their arrival and no communication being possible I sucked it up and escaped the island to the Hampi bazaar on the other side of the river... 1 coracle ride (A little round boat), 1 car rooftop ride and 2 buses later I got there and after bumping into Elka, also stranded now on the main side of the river, we found Camille and Sandy and had a nice night in the town. Next day Camille and Sandy were heading to Goa, so a short lived reunion but a nice one, then after meeting some nice new Israeli friends Elka and I changed our plans of trying to get back to the island and took up an offer of our local friend Kieran to come spend the night out at his house in the banana plantation.
About 10 of us all told headed out to the plantation, watched sunset from ontop of some huge boulders, ate a great dinner off banana leaves under the stars by candle light, played and sang music then slept under the stars. What an amazing night. I spent one more night in Hampi Bazaar with my friends Roni and Gal, sleeping again under the stars on a rooftop in the centre of town under a clear sky and full moon then I headed back to our island which was still flooded in requiring a 3 hour round trip to get to a place only 500 metres across the flooded river. Epic. One night in my own bed then last night we headed off to the Monkey Temple.
A week ago it was Ellie's birthday but she was sick and it was raining so the festivities were postponed. With nicer weather and the river finally down we all grabbed some gear and headed up to the Monkey Temple, a temple perched on boulders atop a mountain, to camp for the night under the stars. The Baba's told us we could stay in the boulders so we watched the sun go down across one of the most stunning views in the world then found a little niche between boulders to camp in. A little fire, some music and great company and we were all having a great time.
Then it rained. Rubbish.
The rain forced us all to seek shelter under the front of the hut the Baba's sleep in. The Baba's didn't seem to excited about their new guests but they didn't seem to mind too much once one that spoke english chatted with us. So an uncomfortable nights sleep being slightly damp and occasionally waking to find a half naked Baba standing over us watching us sleep which caused us all to wake terrified everytime someone opened their eyes, saw the watchful Baba and screamed in fear only for the Baba to chuckle, say sorry then amble off into the night time boulders leaning on his walking staff. So this morning we made it back to our once again accessible island ready for some rest and relaxation.
Stop. Hammock Time.
Ellie before walking up to the Monkey Temple
Dave on the walk up
Its called the Monkey Temple for a reason
Yoga in the sunset on a mountain top... does it get better?
Sunset over paradise
You know those moments where you just stop for a second and think either 'what the hell am I doing here?' or 'god I love my life!'...? Well it seems to happen about every 5 minutes here for me. Let me tell you about my last week or so.
We have a good little team here. Me and Dave down in the Goan Corner, Nick, Scott and Ellie up in Shanthi and Elka up the hill... apart from the locals and a small band of Israelis thats the whole population of Hampi Island at the minute. The monsoon floods cut us off from the rest of humanity and with constant rain, no electricity and food running out things were getting everyone down on our little inland island. But a little bouldering in between the rain and some good company keeps the smiles on our faces.
Then, mid floods, my friend Camille and her friend Sandy arrived on the other side of the river. After 2 days of their arrival and no communication being possible I sucked it up and escaped the island to the Hampi bazaar on the other side of the river... 1 coracle ride (A little round boat), 1 car rooftop ride and 2 buses later I got there and after bumping into Elka, also stranded now on the main side of the river, we found Camille and Sandy and had a nice night in the town. Next day Camille and Sandy were heading to Goa, so a short lived reunion but a nice one, then after meeting some nice new Israeli friends Elka and I changed our plans of trying to get back to the island and took up an offer of our local friend Kieran to come spend the night out at his house in the banana plantation.
About 10 of us all told headed out to the plantation, watched sunset from ontop of some huge boulders, ate a great dinner off banana leaves under the stars by candle light, played and sang music then slept under the stars. What an amazing night. I spent one more night in Hampi Bazaar with my friends Roni and Gal, sleeping again under the stars on a rooftop in the centre of town under a clear sky and full moon then I headed back to our island which was still flooded in requiring a 3 hour round trip to get to a place only 500 metres across the flooded river. Epic. One night in my own bed then last night we headed off to the Monkey Temple.
A week ago it was Ellie's birthday but she was sick and it was raining so the festivities were postponed. With nicer weather and the river finally down we all grabbed some gear and headed up to the Monkey Temple, a temple perched on boulders atop a mountain, to camp for the night under the stars. The Baba's told us we could stay in the boulders so we watched the sun go down across one of the most stunning views in the world then found a little niche between boulders to camp in. A little fire, some music and great company and we were all having a great time.
Then it rained. Rubbish.
The rain forced us all to seek shelter under the front of the hut the Baba's sleep in. The Baba's didn't seem to excited about their new guests but they didn't seem to mind too much once one that spoke english chatted with us. So an uncomfortable nights sleep being slightly damp and occasionally waking to find a half naked Baba standing over us watching us sleep which caused us all to wake terrified everytime someone opened their eyes, saw the watchful Baba and screamed in fear only for the Baba to chuckle, say sorry then amble off into the night time boulders leaning on his walking staff. So this morning we made it back to our once again accessible island ready for some rest and relaxation.
Stop. Hammock Time.
Ellie before walking up to the Monkey Temple
Dave on the walk up
Its called the Monkey Temple for a reason 
Yoga in the sunset on a mountain top... does it get better?
Sunset over paradiseTuesday, September 29, 2009
Hampi...
28.09.09
What an amazing place Hampi is! The crew and I stayed on the main bazaar side of the river for a few days and checked out the town then crossed the river to the Hampi Island side where I promptly fell in love with the place and have decide3d not to leave at all and just stay here and boulder for 4 months. Being seperated from the rest of the holy city by the river that can only be crossed in 1 boat (if it is running at all) makes things a bit more relaxed over here. We moved into the Goan Corner which is open but only partially while they finish renovations for the busy season, so we have a nice newly renovated room with an amazing view but for the moment have to walk a mile or so to go get food, but its not so bad. I have managed to get out bouldering a few times and my shoulder is feeling good! I am bouldering one session every second day and still doing rehab work and other stuff in the interim and hopefully that will help build up the strength in it well so I can boulder hard in another month or so, just need to take care of it and not rush myself. But all signs are pointing to Hampi being great fun all round... between the bouldering, the amazing views, the great people, the swimming hole, the rafting with the crocodiles and the adventurous mid monsoon storm rickshaw racing, things are looking to be a blast here!!!
What an amazing place Hampi is! The crew and I stayed on the main bazaar side of the river for a few days and checked out the town then crossed the river to the Hampi Island side where I promptly fell in love with the place and have decide3d not to leave at all and just stay here and boulder for 4 months. Being seperated from the rest of the holy city by the river that can only be crossed in 1 boat (if it is running at all) makes things a bit more relaxed over here. We moved into the Goan Corner which is open but only partially while they finish renovations for the busy season, so we have a nice newly renovated room with an amazing view but for the moment have to walk a mile or so to go get food, but its not so bad. I have managed to get out bouldering a few times and my shoulder is feeling good! I am bouldering one session every second day and still doing rehab work and other stuff in the interim and hopefully that will help build up the strength in it well so I can boulder hard in another month or so, just need to take care of it and not rush myself. But all signs are pointing to Hampi being great fun all round... between the bouldering, the amazing views, the great people, the swimming hole, the rafting with the crocodiles and the adventurous mid monsoon storm rickshaw racing, things are looking to be a blast here!!!
Monday, September 28, 2009
More Hampi Pics...
Some more Hampi photos for your viewing pleasure folks :)
Laura and Lois looking out over the Hanuman Temple
Laxmi the holy elephant
Will waiting for the river crossing
Waiting for the river crossing
Typical Hampi view
Lois walking to the boulders
Hampi bouldering
Will slacklining
A 24 hour what? Just what I needed!
Read the sign... we haven't seen crocodiles yet, but the locals reckon they dont bother you when your swimming... I hope they are right!
The swimming hole
Love this shot of Will haha
Laura and Lois looking out over the Hanuman Temple
Laxmi the holy elephant
Will waiting for the river crossing
Waiting for the river crossing
Typical Hampi view
Lois walking to the boulders
Hampi bouldering
Will slacklining
A 24 hour what? Just what I needed!
Read the sign... we haven't seen crocodiles yet, but the locals reckon they dont bother you when your swimming... I hope they are right!
The swimming hole
Love this shot of Will hahaSunday, September 20, 2009
Heading East
20.09.09
It's funny how your opinion of a place is entirely dependant on your experience. You can have a bad experience in an amazing place and form a bad opinion of it or have a good experience in a terrible place and have a high opinion of it. Goa was half half. It was a nice enough place and I had a good time with nice people. Day trips to different beaches, fun nights playing guitar and drinking Rum on my rooftop, general good times. But all good things must come to an end and with my friends Laura and Lois making a last minute extension to their time in India by changing flights we joined our other friends Dave and Will on a very last minute overnight bus to Hampi. Things started poorly.We all bused it with the locals from Anjuna to Mapusa then in some typical Indian style chaos Lois, Laura, Will and I ended up losing Dave and got herded onto a bus to Panjim where our overnight to Hampi would leave from. With all the bags aboard and no Dave in sight as the bus headed out of town Will lept from the bus as it slowed down at a round about to go find Dave and get him to Panjim while Laura, Lois and I were left with 5 peoples luggage to carry around then guard in the dark at the random back street bus station in Panjim. Finally the two boys turned up and reunited we all got aboard the sleeper bus to Hampi. Now I know I will be in Hampi bouldering for some months from November but this is just a fun 'tourist' stop with friends and a bit of a reconnosaince mission so I am familiar with the area when I come back. Today we have done sweet nothing apart from wander around town, register at the police station and buy the girls appropriate clothes... being a Holy City they cant really wear their skirts and singlet tops they wore in Goa without getting arrested haha.We will all hang out here for a week or so then I will head to the East coast to Chennai for a possible mission to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands! So much choice of destinations I dont know what to do!
Anjuna sunsets
Will on the sleeper bus
Dave getting cut throat shaved in Hampi
India, land of colour
The Hampi Bazaar
It's funny how your opinion of a place is entirely dependant on your experience. You can have a bad experience in an amazing place and form a bad opinion of it or have a good experience in a terrible place and have a high opinion of it. Goa was half half. It was a nice enough place and I had a good time with nice people. Day trips to different beaches, fun nights playing guitar and drinking Rum on my rooftop, general good times. But all good things must come to an end and with my friends Laura and Lois making a last minute extension to their time in India by changing flights we joined our other friends Dave and Will on a very last minute overnight bus to Hampi. Things started poorly.We all bused it with the locals from Anjuna to Mapusa then in some typical Indian style chaos Lois, Laura, Will and I ended up losing Dave and got herded onto a bus to Panjim where our overnight to Hampi would leave from. With all the bags aboard and no Dave in sight as the bus headed out of town Will lept from the bus as it slowed down at a round about to go find Dave and get him to Panjim while Laura, Lois and I were left with 5 peoples luggage to carry around then guard in the dark at the random back street bus station in Panjim. Finally the two boys turned up and reunited we all got aboard the sleeper bus to Hampi. Now I know I will be in Hampi bouldering for some months from November but this is just a fun 'tourist' stop with friends and a bit of a reconnosaince mission so I am familiar with the area when I come back. Today we have done sweet nothing apart from wander around town, register at the police station and buy the girls appropriate clothes... being a Holy City they cant really wear their skirts and singlet tops they wore in Goa without getting arrested haha.We will all hang out here for a week or so then I will head to the East coast to Chennai for a possible mission to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands! So much choice of destinations I dont know what to do!
Anjuna sunsets
Will on the sleeper bus
Dave getting cut throat shaved in Hampi
India, land of colour
The Hampi BazaarThursday, September 17, 2009
Go to India!
13.09.09
Namaste (again) bitches!!!
Ah India... the land of colour and chaos. I had a fairly uneventful flight from London sitting next to a nice girl who was flying on the same connections as me to India and direct to Goa, the beachside party capital of India where her fiance picked us up from the Military airport (getting out of a plane infront of an Indian perched amoungst sandbags pointing a 20mm machine gun at you is an unsettling introduction to any airport...) at Goa and drove us on up to Calangute where I waited for buses to the beach of Anjuna, in the end I grabbed a taxi and was all checked into a little beachside room and relaxing with my feet up and a cold beer in hand as I watched a gorgeous sunset, the sun blazing orange and red as it slipped into the distant horizon of the India Ocean.
Anjuna Beach is interesting... if squalid is interesting. Its a 'sort of' pretty beach but the years of it being a party capital have obviously taken its toll with dilapidated building falling apart everywhere, trash (although thats not unusual seeing as this is India) and an all over run down look... and being low season there are few people around which is nice as the few people here have the place to ourselves. I don't think I will stay here long, just a few days to chill, maybe a week then probably head south to Palalem or maybe all the way to Ghorkana... we'll see... but for now it's nice enough to just relax a bit here first.
16.09.09
So despite it not being the prettiest beach in the world I am slowly becoming quite enamoured by Anjuna. It has been a fun couple of days. I met some nice people and we all got motorbikes and headed off up the coast for the day to Arambol, a pretty beach about a 40 minute ride from here. We dranks banana milshakes, ate fresh seafood, body surfed in the waves and generally had a great day. Today we are off to try and find the famous Anjuna Wednesday Markets to do a little shopping and general time wasting for a lazy day. I am still not going to stay long here I think, but probably till the end of the weekend then off to somewhere new... I'll keep you all posted!
Namaste (again) bitches!!!
Ah India... the land of colour and chaos. I had a fairly uneventful flight from London sitting next to a nice girl who was flying on the same connections as me to India and direct to Goa, the beachside party capital of India where her fiance picked us up from the Military airport (getting out of a plane infront of an Indian perched amoungst sandbags pointing a 20mm machine gun at you is an unsettling introduction to any airport...) at Goa and drove us on up to Calangute where I waited for buses to the beach of Anjuna, in the end I grabbed a taxi and was all checked into a little beachside room and relaxing with my feet up and a cold beer in hand as I watched a gorgeous sunset, the sun blazing orange and red as it slipped into the distant horizon of the India Ocean.
Anjuna Beach is interesting... if squalid is interesting. Its a 'sort of' pretty beach but the years of it being a party capital have obviously taken its toll with dilapidated building falling apart everywhere, trash (although thats not unusual seeing as this is India) and an all over run down look... and being low season there are few people around which is nice as the few people here have the place to ourselves. I don't think I will stay here long, just a few days to chill, maybe a week then probably head south to Palalem or maybe all the way to Ghorkana... we'll see... but for now it's nice enough to just relax a bit here first.
16.09.09
So despite it not being the prettiest beach in the world I am slowly becoming quite enamoured by Anjuna. It has been a fun couple of days. I met some nice people and we all got motorbikes and headed off up the coast for the day to Arambol, a pretty beach about a 40 minute ride from here. We dranks banana milshakes, ate fresh seafood, body surfed in the waves and generally had a great day. Today we are off to try and find the famous Anjuna Wednesday Markets to do a little shopping and general time wasting for a lazy day. I am still not going to stay long here I think, but probably till the end of the weekend then off to somewhere new... I'll keep you all posted!
Waiting for a bus to Anjuna from Calangute
Sunset from my room... jealous much?
Street cows
The restraunt at my place, sunset views and cheap Banana Rum Milkshakes :)
Ah, sunsets...Saturday, September 12, 2009
Leaving on a jet plane...
11.09.09
So not much is going on at the moment... been a lazy week in London hanging out at the Hostel I am staying at, lunch's with my friend Ruthie, Dinner one night with my cousin Jess as well as lazy time with my new guitar... yep, I bought a nice new guitar and a hard case for taking it on planes, so now I can be a total hippie on the beaches of Goa with my guitar... can't wait :)
I fly out of London tonight so I will be on the Inidan beaches tomorrow afternoon... hopefully with more interesting news and photos soon!
So not much is going on at the moment... been a lazy week in London hanging out at the Hostel I am staying at, lunch's with my friend Ruthie, Dinner one night with my cousin Jess as well as lazy time with my new guitar... yep, I bought a nice new guitar and a hard case for taking it on planes, so now I can be a total hippie on the beaches of Goa with my guitar... can't wait :)
I fly out of London tonight so I will be on the Inidan beaches tomorrow afternoon... hopefully with more interesting news and photos soon!
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Paris!
6.09.09
So things went from bad to great to bad again.
After some amazing days bouldering in Fontainebleau my shoulder injury started playing up again and to top it off I have an injury in my other shoulder now too. So no more climbing for me for a while... back to the rehab action for me.
So Rob and I headed on up to Paris to help Sophie move into her new apartment and we hung out here for the weekend seeing some of the sights then for me its off to London this afternoon. I am sacking off Kalymnos seeing as I cant climb and instead I am going to go India and relax on the beaches of Goa and Ghorkana to rehab my injuries in the hope that I can boulder in Hampi later this year. Heres hoping!
So for now it is the end of the adventures of Rob and Duncan as I head to London and Rob is off to Kalymnos... but Im sure there will be more shenanigans together one day :)
Heres a few more Font photos and some from Paris...
Rod trying to fix the dent in our hire car
Rob at Bas Cuvier
More stereotypical Font slopers
Rob at Bas Cuvier
The Eiffel Tower
Outside the Louvre
The Arch de Triumph
Notre Dame
The Paris Underground
So things went from bad to great to bad again.
After some amazing days bouldering in Fontainebleau my shoulder injury started playing up again and to top it off I have an injury in my other shoulder now too. So no more climbing for me for a while... back to the rehab action for me.
So Rob and I headed on up to Paris to help Sophie move into her new apartment and we hung out here for the weekend seeing some of the sights then for me its off to London this afternoon. I am sacking off Kalymnos seeing as I cant climb and instead I am going to go India and relax on the beaches of Goa and Ghorkana to rehab my injuries in the hope that I can boulder in Hampi later this year. Heres hoping!
So for now it is the end of the adventures of Rob and Duncan as I head to London and Rob is off to Kalymnos... but Im sure there will be more shenanigans together one day :)
Heres a few more Font photos and some from Paris...
Rod trying to fix the dent in our hire car
Rob at Bas Cuvier
More stereotypical Font slopers
Rob at Bas Cuvier
The Eiffel Tower
Outside the Louvre
The Arch de Triumph
Notre Dame
The Paris UndergroundTuesday, September 1, 2009
More photos from Fontainebleau!
Cafe outside the old Palace in Fontainebleau
Mmmm... Cafe au Lait
Warming up at Franchard Isatis
Slopers...
Quintessential Font Sandstone
Slopey topouts are the name of the game
But there are also the slabs...
And the crimpy faces...
Rob in out little hotel room
Me with our "4 euro for 5 litres" plastic cask of wine and the Sangria we make from it :)
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