Hyderabad

A busy sightseeing week since the last post - starting with Mysore Maharajah's palace - a bit like a glorified version of the Royal Pavilion in Brighton - we had a whistlestop tour of Bangalore between trains en route. We've seen tons of temples and a few forts , the most impressive site being Hampi - huge 16th century abandoned city stretching over miles of bare rocky hills. We stayed at the site itself - in a atmospheric guesthouse with roof views over the ruins. Hampi's full of newagey types, but was actually very pleasant, even for aging hippies, despite 1-2 hour powercuts every evening. One of our modes of transport round the site was a coracle ride across the river - with 3 motorbikes and 10 people. Now onto Muslim architecture - much more restrained but on a grander scale, in Bijapur and now Hyderabad. Continuing north on Monday to Bhopal. Sorry no pics - we're on emergency (Indian) batteries.