Are you thinking about visiting Tawang Arunachal Pradesh? Most likely you want to go because of the rich Tibetan culture and the famous Tawang Monastery, which are great reasons to go! They are the reasons I was excited, and I was happy to see there was so much more than just a monastery to visit in Tawang India.

Tawang tourism isn’t huge although it is one of the most popular places to visit in the state of Arunachal Pradesh and Tawang Monastery is one of the most historical places in India to visit, making the journey up to the far NE India well worth your time.

I want to share some hotspots in Tawang and also the top hotels in Tawang with you so you can plan your trip. I went with Holiday Scout and if you’re looking for a Tawang tour, I can highly recommend them! Most of what we did and saw in Tawang wouldn’t have been possible going solo.

So first, the basics for visiting Tawang:

• Where is Tawang? Let me just share the map here but it’s the NW part of Arunachal Pradesh and while you’re here you are only 30-40 km from both Bhutan and China.

Smoojed in between Bhutan and China… then looked at the zoomed bit below to get the full idea of where it is in relation to the rest of India.

• When should I go to Tawang? It’s actually one of the best places to visit in India in December since December is the peak season of tourism and other places like the Taj will be crowded. The season here is Nov-March
• How’s the Tawang weather? The reason people come in the cold months of Nov-March is because the other months have monsoon rain. It is COLD. You have to plan ahead and pack properly! It was -2 celsius for us at night in November.
• What about Tawang Hotels, are there any? There are hotels in Tawang but not many. Arunachal Pradesh tourism in general is still growing. The infrastructure isn’t great (roads are bad, hotels are few). We stayed at Tenzin Guesthouse which isn’t even on Tripadvisor but our guide says is the best guesthouse in town. The other top two options are: Hotel Zax Star and Hotel Gakyi Khang Zhang

Tawang’s Best Kept Secrets | What to do in Tawang

1. Tawang Monastery.

The most obvious of things to visit is this famous monastery. It’s the second largest in the world, after the Lhasa one in Tibet which is not longer in use due to Chinese laws. That makes Tawang Monastery the largest active monastery in the world.

2. Craft Center and Emporium.

I love finding crafts and seeing how they are made everywhere that I travel. I wrote about the artisans I found in Mysore which people seemed to really like reading about so I’m going to write a whole article about the crafts in Tawang and combine that with what I saw in Ziro Valley, another area of Arunachal Pradesh. They make many types of hats, bags, paintings, hand-woven fabrics, and woven baskets, as well as knitting all kinds of things.

3. Indo-Chinese War Memorial.

A memorial for the war of 1962 where 4,220 Indians died fighting the Chinese for Indian territory.

4. Tawang Town Center.

One of our favorite things to see where the soldiers holding hands and guns. It’s normal for men in India to hold hands as a sign of friendship and gave us a laugh to see them in military get up holding guns while walking hand in hand through town. As usual the cows tried to get involved in the veg market while the women shooed them away before they could steal anything.

5. Tsun Gon Thog Jee Choeling Nunnery.

We were greeted by the adorable Sonam who offered us tea immediately. Going into her room and sitting by the fire we met two other girls who were traveling the area. It was the warmest we had been since arriving in Tawang the day before, sitting by the fire inside. The nuns were having a lively debate outside and would clap when it was someone else’s turn to talk. I never knew there were “female monks” in Tibetan Buddhism so found all of this so intriguing.

6. Ugyenling Monastery.

Also called the 6th Dalai Lama monastery because he was born here. This is an older monastery (1487) that isn’t as visited and is often neglected by tourists who come to only see the Tawang Monastery. The 6th Dalai Lama planted a tree which you’ll see on the right of the entrance. People believe if you steep the leaves like tea, and drink, you can cure illnesses. It was ransacked in the 1700’s and now is a simple and small monastery.

7. Thegtse Sang-ngag Choekhorling Monastery.

Th is the monastery of the Mon-yul kid-mo jong which means the “sacred land of happiness” located in a village in Tawang called Khin-mey, which comes from a Monpa (tribal) word Khi-ket Nyan-mey which means “place for listening to the dogs bark”. Legend has it, the villagers used to hunt and you would hear their hunting dogs from here, until a guru came and taught them Buddhism and not to kill.

This monastery is unique in that it is part of a different sect of Buddhism called Nyingma with a guru Nansid Zilnon where the monks can have long hair and can marry. It was the most colorful one we saw!

8. Crossing Sela Pass to get there.

Not actually in Tawang, but worth mentioning because this pass is quite famous in India and you have to pass by to get to Tawang. Getting to Tawang in itself is an adventure which I will write about!

9. Tawang cable car.

Brand new attraction in Tawang. I didn’t go across myself because it was on the other side. It’s a half hour ride, so we would have had to wait half and hour for it, taken it half an hour, then half an hour back… and we had too much to see! If you have the time though, the views look stunning.

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As we headed further North with Holiday Scout from Bomdila further into Arunachal Pradesh it got even more beautiful. There are about 10 main tourist places in Arunachal Pradesh to visit and Dirang is one of the smaller ones. I’m glad we stopped though and want to share the things to do in Dirang that we found during our two days there.

We basically spent one day there on our way North, then again one day on our way back down South. It’s a good stopover and there are a couple decent hotels in Dirang and a handful of attractions or places to visit in Dirang and Dirang valley. You’re also only 15 km from Sangti Valley which is totally worth a visit and this is a good place to come back to for rest since there is no accommodation in Sangti.

Places to Visit in Dirang Arunachal Pradesh

Dirang was two hours North of Bomdila by road (which is the only way to get there). We went to our hotel first for lunch. We stayed at Pemaling Hotel Dirang which is the #1 hotel in Dirang…. out of one. Their brochure says it’s the oldest hotel in town built in 1999, but if it’s the only one, maybe that means it’s the newest too, ha ha. There is also B&B called Hotel Samdup Khang. I didn’t check it out myself, but at least there is a backup is Pemaling is full.

Ask for a room with a view! Surprisingly, this hotel didn’t have local Tibetan food but had “Intercontinental/Indian” style. We went for the Chinese. The food was decent overall, but to be honest it was the only option! Obviously there aren’t a lot of Dirang hotels to choose from but either way, I recommend the Pemaling. We didn’t have any problems.

The photos above are from one woman’s house who invited us in. She recognized Sange and asked if we would like some tea. I had been having too much tea so would just get hot water. We didn’t speak English so we kind of sat in silence drinking. You can see her loom where she is making traditional bags and shirts to sell.

Her kids were in the back studying with the older one teaching the younger ones. These smaller moments were some of the best and wouldn’t have been possible if we were walking through the village on our own. It’s good when in Tribal areas to have a guide who knows people.

1. Dirang Dzong

We wandering Dirang and went to a place called Dirang Dzong which is a tribal area with a 9th century prison. There are a couple of houses around it and the Grandmother of Sange, our guide, used to live in one of them! Some are 500 or 600 years old. Just a few feet from the prison was a Monastery. The prison seems large for such a SMALL town but apparently people were sent from other towns to Dirang. Sometimes this area is referred to as Dirang Fort.

On the left is the monastery, the right is the prison

We went inside one of the homes to see what it was like. There were SO many pots and pans hanging on the walls of the kitchen. Apparently, it’s really a sign of wealth (wealth may be the wrong term, but it’s like they are proud of them and want to show them off, like look how many I have!). The woman made sure we took a photo of hers.

the stairs

2. Kalachakra Gompa

This is the oldest monastery in Arunachal Pradesh, over 500 years old. It’s in a smaller village in Dirang called Kalachakra, hence the name. Not that many people come here anymore, except local Buddhists.

3. Himalayan Culture & Tradition Preservation Society

This is going to be the newest monastery in the area once it’s built. The man in the photo is a good friend of the Dalai Lama’s (current one, 14th). They went to school together since they were kids. As a trusted friend, he has been the one to open many new monasteries. He’s a well-known and respected monk. I told him I liked his hat and he said, “take it! I want you to have it”. I told him I couldn’t possibly take it and that he should keep it. The next thing I know he’s gone and found two more hats and given them to Anna and I. He said “oh and it matches your clothes”. Love it!!

This is going to be a learning center where even foreigners can come to learn. They want the locals to learn to pray as well so that it’s not always the monks doing the praying. People will learn Tibetan and keep their culture alive. They were working on the building while we were there: building, painting, and decorating.

4. Sangti Valley

Sangti Valley is the best on this list but is just a little bit outside of Dirang. About 30 minutes in the car with their bumpy roads. I took so many photos here and loved walking around seeing all the local people in this stunning area. There was a sheep farm on top of the hill looking into the valley. It was a gorgeous view! I’ll be posting about Sangti Valley next.

Overall, Dirang isn’t one of the top tourist places of India that a typical backpacker would have on their list. Dirang tourism doesn’t really exist yet. I hope you saw that there are attractions in Dirang worth seeing and that it’s really not the destination it’s the experience. If you’re coming all this way North, do make a stop!

Did you enjoy this post? Let me know in the comments or by sharing it with the social media links! I’d love to keep giving you travel tricks & tips so feel free to subscribe by e-mail in the big box below. Don’t forget you can follow me on facebook, twitter, instagram & bloglovin‘.

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Chamundi Hills in Mysore is THE hotspot of Karnataka. My tour guide from goMowgli said it’s basically sacrilegious to visit Mysore and not climb the hill, see the Chamundeshwari temple and giant Nandi, Mahishasura statue, and hear the ancient story.

I was being a lazy butt, so we drove to the top and on the way the story was told to me. I enjoyed it so much and knew I couldn’t tell it to you the same way it was told to me so asked my guide, Sunil, to please type it up for me so you could hear it the same way I did.

The Story of Chamundi Hills, Mysore

Before we get to the story, we have to set the context about Indian Mythology.

In the pantheon of gods here, we have the Holy Trinity: Brahma the creator, Vishnu the protector and Shiva the destroyer. These are the 3 gods that keep the universe working. Also, the 3 gods have 3 wives to help them out in their duties. Shiva’s wife is Parvati and both of them live in the Himalayas.

The legend of Mysore goes something like this:

There was a demon king in South India who fell in love with a Buffalo lady and they got married. They had a son who had a special quality – He could turn into a buffalo or a demon whenever he wanted. And true to his character, his name was Mahishasura – meaning the demon who is a buffalo.

Our demon was very ambitious and thus he meditated Brahma’s name for many years after which  Brahma became very happy and came in front of him and asked for a wish. M asked for immortality which Brahma promptly refused and asked him to ask for something else. So M asked Brahma to make him so powerful that no man can kill him. In a moment of stupidity, Brahma granted him the wish.

So M started killing the gods and conquering the world. The gods got very worried and went to Brahma for help. Brahma refused to help as he had already given M his word. The gods could not find any help from Vishnu either.

So they did the long hike up the Himalayas and went to meet Shiva. Shiva said he wished he could help but he could not as he was a man himself. At this moment, Parvati overheard the conversation and detected a loophole in Brahma’s boon. The deal was no man can kill him – a woman can though.

However, she was not warrior and she needed weapons to go kill M. So all the gods started giving her their powers and weapons. Suddenly she had so many weapons that she did not have enough arms to hold them!

So she grew more arms to hold them. Somebody even gave her a lion, on which she sat and did the long hike to South India.

Here, she fought M on top of a hill for 10 days, after which she killed him. These 10 days represents the battle of good over evil and is celebrated as the festival of Dasara all over India. This avatar of Parvati is called Chamundeshwari  or Chamundi and the hill on which she fought is now known as Chamundi Hill.

The capital of M is the present city of Mysore. It was originally called Mahishana Ooru – meaning, the city of Mahisha and over a period of time it changed to Mysore.

Feature image is via gomowgli, the tour company I was with to see Chamundi Hills.

Did you enjoy this post? Let me know in the comments or by sharing it with the social media links! I’d love to keep giving you travel tricks & tips so feel free to subscribe by e-mail in the big purple box below. Don’t forget you can follow me on facebook, twitter, instagram & bloglovin‘.

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I’ll just go ahead and apologize in advance about the shit quality of the photos of Dahi Handi in Mapusa, Goa, India. I wasn’t sure what to expect last year and didn’t bring my camera.

There are SO many festivals in India and some turn out photo-worth, while others are just kids throwing fire crackers and drunk dudes running around. Turns out, this was photo-worthy!

These are actually from last year, but I never got around to writing about it. I wanted to post this before the next one which is Sept.5 so you can arrange to go if you are in India at that time.

Don’t forget to pick up my Insider Guide to Goa and my Guide to India

General Goa Travel Tips

• Safety Tips For Solo Female Travel in Goa, India
• BEST Places to Visit in Goa in 3 Days
• 50 Things to Do in Goa
• Best Place to Stay in Goa

This holiday is for little Krishna as a child. As I’ve been told he was a naughty little boy (and as my Hindi teacher says, he was not mythical as some Hindu Gods are, but a real boy who I did not know). He used to sneak around stealing curd/butter from the neighbors.

To celebrate his awesomeness, this holiday has a special event where govinda teams work together to climb each other and reach a bowl of curd, which is VERY high up, but instead of curd there is money in it! Woo hoo!  It’s hanging from a decorated rope which can be lowered if after too much time it’s realized no one can reach.

It’s quite shocking to watch them work together. First a group of boys crouch in a circle with their arms around each other like football players in huddle. They stay squatting. Then another layer pile on top in a circle, and stay squatting. This continues for layers and layers of people. THEN the magic happens. One layer by layer, starting at the bottom they stand until finally the one boy on top reaches for the curd.

They do fall sometimes, and sometimes there are injuries or even death.

We watched about 45 minutes before finally someone reached the money! He grabbed hold while he team fell down and everyone yelled and cheered to the goan electronic music while he grabbed all the money then finally dropped down. He was a cool little kid.

There is a bit of controversy about this holiday that I’ll explain. In big cities like Bombay, the prize is up to 20,000 USD at each tower. Sometimes Bollywood stars or big companies give it. There are multiple towers happening all around town and LOTS of money up for grabs. You can imagine many people want a piece of that pie.

“In 2012, over 225 govindas were injured with one casualty; this was higher than the previous year’s 205. The government of Maharashtra banned children below 12 years from participating in 2014. The Bombay High Court later ruled in August that the minimum age should be raised to 18 years and height of the pyramid should be no more than 20 feet due to safety reasons. This was challenged by the organizers to the Supreme Court, which kept it on hold—allowing children above 12 years to participate.”

police with their bamboo sticks to smack the idiots aka bamboo massage

Because girls are lighter they are put in as the top kid oftentimes. The younger, the lighter = a better chance of winning.

The problem lies in families that raise kids to compete in this event each year. It’s their life. They practice and hope to win those millions. Some younger children work really hard each day practicing just to make their parents happy. Some call that child abuse and putting them in front of crowds to perform could be perceived as exploitation. There is an added factor of danger with so many injuries per year and occasionally deaths.

Personally, I think the ones in Mapusa were very cool. They weren’t too high and seemed decently safe. The kids partaking did look a little young but seemed SO happy to be a part of the celebration.

Did you enjoy this post? Let me know in the comments or by sharing it with the social media links! I’d love to keep giving you travel tricks & tips so feel free to subscribe by e-mail in the big purple box below. Don’t forget you can follow me on facebook, twitter, instagram & bloglovin‘.

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After spending about 10 days exploring this city with a tour guide, I sure as hell better be able to give you some kind of Mysore guide! If goMowgli taught me anything, it’s that even 10 days isn’t long enough to see this “royal” city and learn about it’s past. Actually, I’ve learned so much if I don’t share it all with you, my head might explode. Here are my top 7 things to do in Mysore you do NOT want to miss!

As of 2018, goMowgli who I toured with, are no longer operational. Instead, you can book on Viator to be connected with a local tour. They have this tour listed for Mysore. I’m trying to update all the goMowgli posts on this blog, but if you are interested in tours in India like this, check out my article on 18 epic adventure tours in India and consider booking one of those.

Don’t miss my full e-book for India, which you can buy here.

Why Visit Mysore

Sometimes called, Mysuru, Mysore is in Karnataka, India and was the capital city from 1399 – 1956 under the Kingdom of Mysore. This makes it a sort of royal city in India and its architecture and culture is one of the nicest in the country.

7 Things to Do in Mysore Not to Miss

1. Chamundi Hills

The holy grail of Mysore — you CANNOT visit the city without stopping here. It would almost be sacrilegious. This is sacred land for Mysorians and Hindus in general. Why might you ask? Well, that’s a story for another day… but let’s just say Parvati got 10 arms and defeated a monster = Dashara and Chumundi hills being a huge deal. Here is the full story of Chamundi Hills.

2. Ayurveda at IVAC

Although for Indians, Mysore is known for being royal, it is also known for four things to tourists: silk, incense, yoga, and Ayurveda. Although there are many places to get your Ayurveda on, I decided to spend 3 nights and 4 days at the famous Indus Valley Ayurvedic Center. I didn’t have the cash dollas to do all the treatments recommended, but if you are rolling in the money there is no better place to spend it than with oil or ghee dripping on you at IVAC.

3. Market Tour & Artisan Tour

Mysore market is the most organized market I’ve ever been through in India. The veggies were piled in perfect squares, the flowers were all in one place and the walkways were huge.

This is where you can buy all your perfumes (like Calvin Klein did and bottled it up!), incense, sandalwood oil, and yes… even silk! Be ready to spend a pretty penny.

Save time to see the Msyore artisans that are hiding out in the alleys making all the goodies. I couldn’t have found them without goMowgli and am so thankful to them for sharing the information with me!

4. Try South Indian Food

Eating in Mysore is going to take up a lot of your time. South Indian food is way different from the north where many tourists hang out, and it’s a far cry from Goan food. You’ll get to try tamarind rice, end each meal with curd rice (not my fave), and eat your thalis on banana leafs.

There are some cafes in Mysore that serve western food, but it’s not as sophisticated as other more touristy cities, so it’s best to stick to South Indian fare in Mysore. Dosas with sambar and chutney for breakfast and some Mysore pak for a snack in the market… wash it all down with almond milk! (for more on food, check out the best restaurants in Mysore).

5. Mysore Palace

This should be the first thing you do in Mysore, unless it’s a weekend in which case do anything OTHER than the palace tour. Saturday was packed full, especially because it was a holiday while I was there. Mysore was a place of royals and up until a month of so ago had a king of it’s own (but he’s passed away with no heir thanks to the Mysore Cure in Talakad.

all these people pictured have been caught pick-pocketing at the Palace

The Brits kind of changed everything up when they came to Mysore. The palace was stunning though. I did the audio guide, but actually goMowgli had taught me so much already over coffee and travels that I didn’t need the guide.

6. Folklore museum

This tiny little museum was very cute to talk through. In an old palace, it has the most random items from stethoscopes, to boats, and puppets. Strange, but more exciting than most museums. I couldn’t take photos in here and actually you’ll need to leave your camera and camera phone at the main desk or don’t bring it at all.

7. Brunch at Green Hotel

I stayed at the Green Hotel (which was once a palace built for 3 princesses) because it came highly recommended. People come here for lunch and to just hang and meet friends in the gardens. They’ve had farmers markets and vendor booths set up. A great place to spend the afternoon and the food was super. 

Read my review here or book your own stay here

If the Green Hotel is out of your price ranger or booked up, check here to see more options in Mysore

For more travel in Karnataka

• Complete Guide to Traveling in Karnataka
• Ultimate Bangalore Local Food Guide From A Local
• 8 Things to Do in HAMPI: Jurassic Park and the Flintstones

For general India travel tips and advice, check out this post on planning your trip to India and this post on how to dress in India. Plus, you can join my India travel Facebook group!

Don’t Forget These 10 India Travel Essentials

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The post 7 Things to Do in Mysore | A Complete Mysore Guide first appeared on Hippie In Heels.

The post 7 Things to Do in Mysore | A Complete Mysore Guide appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

Before the Chalukya ruled Badami and made all those cave rock carvings, Aihole was the location of the Empire with the capital in Pattadakal. I visited Aihole and Pattadakal these places with goMowgli on a three-day tour from Hampi.

Update: As of 2018, GoMowgli is no longer in operation. If you want a tour to Aihole and Pattadakal, check out this one from Viator which includes the nearby awesome caves of Badami which I wrote about here.

Aihole

Here at Aihole there are over 100 temples, but like Badami aren’t in the best condition. They are from the 4^th and 5^th centuries, made of sandstone, and have town people living here per usual, so what can you expect? I think knowing all that, it’s amazing how intact they are. This was the playground of architecture for the Chalukya. They did some practice here before shifting to Badami and making all those cave temples, some more than one story high.

cave temple

FYI it smells like bats inside! yuck

The one people rave about is the Durga Temple, where you’ll have to pay a very worth-it fee to see the temple, an optional more to see the museum behind. Other popular temples are the Ladkhan and Meguti. The first being the oldest, and the last the later type. There is a Buddha temple that has a great view that my goMowgli guide took me up to see. Because many of the idols are broken, most of these temples aren’t in use.

I was getting a little templed out to be honest, and actually really enjoyed just walking through the village here and taking photos of the kids and animals. It wasn’t hard since everywhere I looked was a sleepy cow or little girl who wanted her picture taken.

Pattadakal

This was another trial place for Badami in terms of architecture and was the capital of the Chalukya empire. Three main temples to see are the Jain Papanatha temple, the Mallikarjuna temple, and the Virupaksha temple with a huge Nandi next to it.

you can see numbers here where these stones were added later as renovation

Unlike Aihole which has multiple complexes spread around, here there is just one complex that foreigners pay 200 and Indians (I think) 30 rupees to get into. Temple wise, this one was my favorite. You can see where they experimented trying to find their own style with temples from the South and North of India. 

Practical Information:

From Badami, Pattadakal is 20 km away and Aihole is 40 km away. You can take local bus. I was with goMowgli on this tour so used their hop-on hop-off services.

When leaving, your closest big hub is Hubli which is a crappy unique little city with well, nothing not much. The hotel I stayed at had terrible customer service, no WiFi (even though they actually had it and wouldn’t give me us the password), and no working electricity sockets in my room. There is a KFC which I didn’t see until on the way out, but if you’re touring Badami, Aihole, etc you’ll be eating hotel/dhabba food- which for me means sort of starving- so that KFC would have been ideal to fatten up a bit! Apparently Hubli has a really nice train station though- so there’s that…

Did you enjoy this post? Let me know in the comments or by sharing it with the social media links! I’d love to keep giving you travel tricks & tips so feel free to subscribe by e-mail in the big purple box below. Don’t forget you can follow me on facebook, twitter, instagram & bloglovin‘.

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There was once an empire called the Chalukya’s. Yes, I also didn’t know that. But I was about to find out a hell of a lot about them! Just a 3 hour drive from Hampi, it’s another awesome spot for temples and hiking, yet none of the tourists come here. Oh wait, I did see one guy, so there’s that.

They used to have their Empire in Aihole / Pattadakal but then moved it to Badami in 500 (ish) AD. This was part of the goMowgli Hampi Loop and after a night of sleeplessness in Hampi, we were off to Badami first.

Update: As of 2018, GoMowgli is no longer in operation. If you want a tour to Badami, check out this one from Viator which includes the nearby awesome caves of Aihole and Pattadakal which I wrote about here.

the entrance to the main caves

Badami Cave Temples Galore

People come here for one thing only, let’s be real. It’s to go see the cave temples then get the heck out! It’s a noisy run down city with not much on offer in terms of quality hotels and restaurants… but the thing is lots of amazing places in India are in towns like this (Agra home of the Taj Mahal, anyone?).

Badami means Almond in Kannada, named from the color of the stones. Unlike the massive granite boulders of Hampi, these are made from soft sandstone so they haven’t all held up as well, not to mention they’re about 10 centuries older.

I’m almost hidden if it wasn’t for this purple shirt! (that my dad got me 5 years ago at Gap, thanks dad!)

Badami used to rule it all: Tamil Nadu, AP, Kerala, etc but as the story always goes, someone took them over. Interestingly enough, they were secular people so in the caves you have a Hindu temple (Shiva and Vishnu), Jain, and Buddhist. The archaeological museum isn’t huge, but it has some seriously old tools in it I found very interested to look at.

Cave 1 is for Shiva, cave 2 is for Vishnu, 3 is for both, and 4 is for Jainism (that’s what they are actually called, by number). You have more natural caves that are simpler. They are all overlooking an amazing lake called the Agastyatirtha Tank which is where you’ll see the Bhuthanatha group of temples on the other side of. Guides will also show you the South and North fort.

view from one of the 2 main hills, to the other with the famous lake between

If you choose not to go with a guide or tour group here, you may miss things as they’re kind of spread out and not kept up with well. You could easily accidentally only see half the area and miss some of the good stuff. If you’re going to come all this way, I recommend doing it right and having someone explain things to you or at least lead you where to go.

The Mythology here can get confusing especially when trying to understand the history of the Kingdom, but even if you skip the museum it’s a great place to hike and just look at the ancient carvings and sculptures. You’ll end at the Buddhist cave, which has a super tiny entrance you have to squeeze through.

To be honest, even with the goMowgli guide here, it was difficult to understand all the carvings which always tell a story, but it was still very worth seeing. Usually an temple tells a story that interlinks and I can follow, but here there where many stories from Shiva, Vishnu, Krishna, and Parvati (and more!) written on the walls with carvings.

Secret Cave Paintings and Wandering beautiful blue streets

When you’re all done for the day and you have some extra time, it’s nice to walk into the alleys where everyone seems to paint their white houses with blue doors/ blue frames all around.. or a light turquoise /green. It’s so gorgeous! They must have thought I was nuts taking photos of doors.

Practical Information:

•  To tour you’ll need about half a day. It’s a little tiring and monkeys are manic, more so than usual.
• As always with goMowgli you have your pick of where to stay, but do know pickings are slim! We stayed at a Lonely Planet recommended Hotel Rajsangam which was basic. I asked if there was “garum pani” and I was brough a bucket of boiling hot water. Rooms were spacious and WiFI was in reception. BUT there were light up stars and a planets on the ceiling bringing me a very peaceful night!

• If you want something luxe, I looked up other options and it seems Hotel Badami 2 km outside town is super legit with a pool. GoMowgli can help you find this place if you’d rather!
• If you aren’t with goMowgli, you can arrange a tour here from Hampi or you can get here by local bus. The bus stand is actually just across the street from the hotel I stayed at.

The post Why You’ve Got to See the Badami Cave Temples first appeared on Hippie In Heels.

The post Why You’ve Got to See the Badami Cave Temples appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

Back to Hampi! The old Vijayanagar empire was the first stop on the Hampi loop of the goMowgli tour. We start in Hampi and then onward to cave temples at Badami, and the temples of Aihole and Pattadakal for a 3-day tour.

Important: Make sure to read my 8 Things to do in Hampi post because this one goes into less detail since I’ve written about this place before.

Guide to Hampi

I always tell people it’s one of the coolest places in India because it is, which is why it’s packed during season (Nov-March). I have also described it as part Jurassic Park, part Flintstones because you can totally picture both dinosaurs walking around or people living in the little nooks and crannies of the rocks.

It was such a poppin’ place and kind of ruled all of India in the 16^th century that people would buy their rice and such with semi-precious stones. Umm, wtf! That’s insane and I wish we still did that now; I’d be selling rice.

A little Story about Shiva

The Hindu epic, Ramayana takes place in part in Hampi, making it a very famous place regardless of the stones. Shiva and Parvati were married here (I hadn’t realized she was his second wife, and his first Sati (check spelling) had committed suicide via fire- which is still happening in some villages in India today- because her father didn’t approve of her and Shiva’s love. Shiva was so angry that he started getting up to trouble. It gets even more complicated knowing the Indian cupid shot Shiva with an arrow hoping love would make him nice again and he then fell for  Parvati… who was Sati reincarnated. But Shiva being the destroyer he is, used his third eye and burnt cupid because let’s be honest, who wants to get shot with an arrow? All in all it’s good, because later they had a baby called Ganesh!

Vijayanagar was defeated eventually as the story always goes, and now people are trying to conserve all they left behind- which is one of the 7 wonders of India. Since the last time I was here I noticed instead of rickshaws taking you around, you had to take a little golf cart thing and lots of shops near the temples were completely gone. It’s a UNESCO Heritage Site, but it’s also the home of locals (and a few sloth bears) so they are still working to keep everyone happy.

On Being in Hampi a Second time…

I’ve visited Hampi before with Ben 2 years ago when I’d known him only a week! I’ve always remembered it in my head as being one of my favorite places on earth. While Hampi is still as majestic and unbelievably beautiful as always, I realized in those two years I didn’t relate as much to the backpacking style anymore.

two years before in Hampi with Ben

waiting on the boat that crosses to the chiller (backpacker) side of the river

On the whole goMowgli tour, which was obviously very off-beat, this was the first “tourist” place and I was dying to get out and back into the “real India” rather than crappy restaurants serving tea and calling it coffee, everyone playing Bob Marley, and little shops selling all the same trinkets (oh wait, this sounds a lot like Goa! Actually, I avoid places like this in Goa- but it’s harder to do in Hampi). So, I won’t say Hampi’s changed but I have. It is the PERFECT place for a backpacker and regardless of the Bob Marley and hooka craze, I’ll be bringing my parents here when they visit because Hampi has that charm where everywhere you look it’s interesting, photo-worthy, and unexplainable.

What to do in Hampi

Read up on my trip to Hampi last time here for lots of information on where to stay, eat, etc in Hampi. It’s important to know the cool side of the river to stay on is the one without the temples and that the boats stop taking people across at 530 PM. No exceptions. This time I stayed at EverGreen and I don’t recommend it.

There’s way more detail on these in the other post but as a reminder these are the main things to see in Hampi:

• Museum of the Vijayanagara Empire.
• Virupaksha temple (Lakshmi the temple elephant bathes at 8:30 if you want to go watch and get blessed)
• The view from Anjanadri Hill

• The Hemakuta temple which has the monolithic sculpture of Narasimha (Remember how I said Vishnu had 10 reincarnations? This was one.)
• The Nandi statue
• Vitalla temple which is from the 1500’s and was used for music. Kids were throwing rocks to make music on the pillars and now it’s under heavy construction. This is where you’ll see the famous stone chariot. You need a ticket here.

• Royal Center: Lotus Mahal where the queen used to chill & some elephant stables.

• Renting a bike to ride to the lake for a little cliff jumping– didn’t do it this time because it was rainy, but loved it last time I was here. You can take a coracle ride in the lake. Beware of crocs.

Because I was on the tour with goMowgli, I just kind of turned off my brain and followed them around- nice! After a day here of sightseeing, we just chilled out with the rest of the rest of the tourists, as that’s all you see here (and yes, I’m aware I’m one of them!), and had a pretty good pizza at German Bakery. I was excited to start our day early as we headed off to Badami… more temples, but a completely different vibe. Talk about a 180!

Practical info:

If you’re on the tour with goMowgli, as always you get to pick where you stay. I recommend a place I stayed before and will take my parents called Shanti on the other side of the river; or one called Mowgli next to it. Amazing place. Costs a little more but so worth it to have a quiet night. As part of the tour, the guides here are included and there are no extra “paid” activities because chillin’ by the lake is free! If you’re not on the tour, you can get here by bus easily, or by train but the train will bring you to Hospet about 20 km away where you can catch a rickshaw. Done train and bus to Hospet, both are okay.

Did you enjoy this post? Let me know in the comments or by sharing it with the social media links! I’d love to keep giving you travel tricks & tips so feel free to subscribe by e-mail in the big purple box below. Don’t forget you can follow me on facebook, twitter, instagram & bloglovin‘.

The post Guide to Hampi | Second Time in Hampi first appeared on Hippie In Heels.

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You’re gonna need your Wheaties in the morning to get up the stairs to this statue! This is one of my 8 favorite day trips from Mysore.

The statue in Shravanabelagola is the biggest monolithic statue in India (meaning it is made from one stone only) and one of the 7 wonders of India (with 47% of voters choosing this as number 1). It was built in the 10th century AD.

The man pictured is Bahubali. At one point him and his brother fought for control and Bahubali won finally after a staring contest (the Jains don’t believe in violence!) but realizing he didn’t like having conflict with a brother, he gave the kingdom over and began to meditate standing in the same place- so long that life began to grow on him as you can see in the statue.

Because he gave everything back to his brother, he is the ideal man in Jainism and even non-Jains look up to him. The place is visited by hundreds of thousands of tourists each year.

This Jain temple is extremely interesting as is the Jain way of life. Some wear only white, while others wore nothing at all. They are quite extreme. Did you know Buddhism was a compromise between Jainism and Hinduism?

The Jains sweep the floor before they step to avoid squashing even a bug, they only eat fruits which fall from a tree rather than plucking them, and would never eat meat as they won’t even eat a potato that’s been dug up and removed from it’s home the ground!

They believe in punishing themselves to reach enlightenment and will pluck out their own hairs. Woah. 

The Views of Shravanabelagola

This statue is about 2 hours from Mysore and is one of the many places I visited with goMowgli and recommend as great day trips from Mysore.

Did you enjoy this post? Let me know in the comments or by sharing it with the social media links! I’d love to keep giving you travel tricks & tips so feel free to subscribe by e-mail in the big purple box below. Don’t forget you can follow me on facebook, twitter, instagram & bloglovin‘.

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I absolutely loved checking out Somanathapura Keshava Temple- which is not something I usually say about temples. This is one of my 8 favorite day trips from Mysore.

I know that the temple is the main attraction here, but even more so, I loved just walking through the small walkways between homes in this village. We did do a temple tour and for the first time I actually enjoyed it.

Normally when I visit a temple I look around confused and leave. Because I was on a tour with goMowgli I actually learned what the temple sculpting meant. First time on a tour, first time learning about a temple, ha!

Somanathapura Keshava Temple

This place was incredibly interesting as some of the art told the story of evolution, while actually telling of Vishnu’s reincarnations (although I’m pretty sure a very devout Hindu would not see Vishnu’s reincarnations as evolution, and I don’t mean to offend anyone, but found it interesting how they mirrored one another).

The Hoysala used to run all of South India back in the day and built lots of places just like this. This one is one of the most conserved and is a heritage site.

You can see an the noses have been cut off by Muslim invaders who knew that Hindus couldn’t worship a broken idol. I personally loved the piece where Brahma’s wife has her foot on a stone which is being held up by an elephant trunk.

The columns inside where made by elephants walking in circles.

noses missing, columns made by elephants

do you see the elephant working very hard to keep that pillar up under her foot?

TIP: one of the perks of being with goMowgli were cool surprises. Here they pulled out some postcards and took me to this tiny post office to mail them out! I sent three.

We walked through the old streets and I got some amazing photos on the way. I even got invited into a class room and met some cute little kiddos.

photo edited to hide my parents address ;)

Practical information: this is 35 km from Mysore and is accessible by local bus, or as I went through the tour company goMowgli. This is one of many places I recommend as day trips from Mysore.

Did you enjoy this post? Let me know in the comments or by sharing it with the social media links! I’d love to keep giving you travel tricks & tips so feel free to subscribe by e-mail in the big purple box below. Don’t forget you can follow me on facebook, twitter, instagram & bloglovin‘.

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This small town has a few good reasons for visiting and you could spend a full day here. It’s just a 90 minute drive from Mysore. The drive itself was very pretty and I was happy to be going by car with goMowgli rather than bus so I could stop to take photos or to just look around. There is a Melukote Temple, Khadi being made, and Iyengars roaming about.

This is one of my 8 favorite day trips from Mysore.

The coolest bit might have been the Melukote Khadi Shop and the organic Khadi Farm we visited. I bought a good amount cotton to get some clothes made back in Goa. We watched the women work and I was truly amazed- I’ll post more on this later and how to get clothes made in India.

Yoga Narasimha Swamy temple

Also in Melukote, a town meaning something like ‘High Fort’ in Kannada … surprise surprise has a big fort!

The name of the fort is Yoga Narasimha Swamy temple but only ruins remain.  We didn’t go up as I was exhausted from the hike up to Bahubali that morning. I suggest you go up and not be lazy like me, but after seeing so many forts and temples I just didn’t have the will power!

The Iyengars

We toured the town, had lunch, and watched as the Orthodox Vishnu worshippers called Iyengars brought items from the temple to their homes for a puja. While Shiva worshippers draw lines horizontally on their forheads, Vishnu worshippers draw them vertically.

Everyone born in the town is a strict sect of Vishnu worshippers called Iyengar and the men have little ponytails in the back.

This is one of the many places I visited using Mysore as a base and is a perfect day trip from Mysore. I love seeing smaller towns outside the big cities and this was one of my favorites… ok, it might have had something to do with the khadi!

We were here most of the day and had a traditional lunch of tamarind rice which I have to admit was not my favorite. There are lots of places to eat here though, so have no fear you won’t go hungry. You can pick up snacks in town like fried banana chips and other sugary Indian sweets.

I visited this town with gomowgli, but all opinion are my own. 

Did you enjoy this post? Let me know in the comments or by sharing it with the social media links! I’d love to keep giving you travel tricks & tips so feel free to subscribe by e-mail in the big purple box below. Don’t forget you can follow me on facebook, twitter, instagram & bloglovin‘.

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This post is for those of you who want to get that “religious” experience while in India, whether it be Hindu or Buddhist, Muslim or Christian (although most are Hindu here). There are loads more than what is on this list and if you have a lot of time, I recommend these spiritual things to do in India while you’re here.

You can learn Eastern medicine, mediation, and take yoga classes easily on top of all this and you’ll end your trip feeling pretty well-rounded.

5 Spiritual things to do in India

1. Learn from The Dalai Lama in DharamShala.

This is a place in India where cultures collide and Hindus and Buddhist live together in peace. The Dalai Lama was exiled and took refuge right here in the northwest corner of India. Come and learn from him directly (but check his schedule first) or take a 10-day Vipassana meditation course up on the hill, and eat the best deep fried momos of your life once the strict class lets out. They say the 10 day vow of silence will change your life. The great thing is, once it’s all done you’ll find yourself in a town packed with tourists that aren’t having a spiritual experience. You’ll have to learn to balance back into your backpacking life without losing all you’ve learned just like you will in “real life” back home.

2. Visit Nasik for the Kumbh Mela.

Not for the faint of hearted, this pilgrimage led 100 MILLION people into the Saraswati river in Allahabad last year. There are five places the “amrit” dropped (elixir of immortality): Nasik, Allahabad, Haridwar, Chataradham, and Ujjain. That’s what makes these places holy. It doesn’t take place each year and rotates location. Nasik is up next during the year of 2015 with 5 different bathing days. With thousands of holy men all in one place you are BOUND to see things that shock you. Well, many are naked so that might shock you enough right there.

Caution: stampedes do occur. If you’re curious to know more, check out Inside the Mahakumbh, a National Geographic Documentary, which funnily enough features the Sadhu Rampuri, who is not only my neighbor, but my patient as I’ve taken on the role of his nurse lately.

3. Witness extreme devotion in Varanasi.  

Another important city along the river and also a place people go to wash away their sins, this city is also where over 80 people a day are cremated along the riverbanks. The city is the dirtiest in India and extremely crowded. On a bike rickshaw in heavy traffic I was bumped into by men carrying a dead body over my head. It’s a place that forces you to think about the complexities of life. If there is anywhere in India that you should make a priority, this is it.

 4. Get a Curing hug from a Guru in Amritapuri Ashram.

photos from Amma’s website

Get a hug from Amma, a saint and Guru to Hindus. She will give you “Darshan” or luck, fortune, and grant wishes after you tell her your troubles. She’ll fix everything with just a hug and special picked mantra. In 30 years, she’s hugged 33 million people per their request, sometimes for more than 20 hours straight she stays at her temple and hugs those in line. She does this every single day (since the 70’s). Amma now goes on tour so check her schedule. Yeah, these holy people can be hard to get in touch with… even though she’s got a Facebook and the Dalai Lama has been tweeting for a while.

 5. Stand where 3 seas (sort of) meet in Kanyakumari.

At the southern tip of the cardamom hills in Tamil Nadu, the Bay of Bengal, the Indian ocean, and the Arabian Sea meet on multi-colored sand. The place where the seas connect is called Thriveni Sangamam.The name comes from a connection with the goddess Devi and many Hindus pilgrimage here. It’s famous not just for the Hindu background, but because it’s commonly known this is where the three seas meet…. But if someone were to get technical, like those map people do, they’ll tell you only one sea is here: the Laccadive Sea, but like the rest of India does, I am choosing to ignore that. Here you can visit the temples and learn more about the history/mythology.

Yoga in India is also quite spiritual!

If you are interested in taking courses but want to pay safely and not get ripped off, you can use bookyogaretreats.com for retreats and bookyogateachertraining.com for YTT. These are owned by the same team and they only list the best of the best on there. There are reviews for other yogis who have been there so you can dive in and do some serious research. I recommend sorting by the “top recommended”.

The top places for yoga in India are Rishikesh, Dharamshala, and Goa.

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Every year in monsoon on June 24th, Christians celebrate Sao Joao in Goa in dedication to John the Baptist. There are lots of Christians in Goa because of the Portuguese influence so you see beautiful churches like in Old Goa. Because there is such a big bunch of believers here, they have a festival in Siolim that includes boat races.

photo source

On top of the legitimate festival, families take their kids to jump in wells all over the villages, or like last year they come swim in the pool. It’s a time for splashing, cannon balls, and squirt guns.

Apparently, on this day years ago, John the Baptist leaped in his mom’s belly when his mom was told of the birth of Jesus. He later baptized Jesus in the Jordan river. This holiday is particularly big for people newly married or with newborns.

Like most festivals in India, and especially Goa, this is done drunk. As I showed you in my story about visiting the waterfall, the men are wasted and dancing around in underwear. On Sao Joao there is also quite a bit of booze involved, kind of like Holi.

photo via Siolim Sao Joao FB page

Lots of Goans have big wells outside their homes, like my friend Ryance. We went up to his well to watch people jump in. I have bungee jumped and love to cliff jump, but for some reason I was really scared of this well. I guess I was afraid it wasn’t deep enough. Ben, who typical never does anything involving heights, took the plunge.

Locals make headbands and crowns out of palm leaves and exchange fruit with one another. One of the best things about Goa is that non-christians take part in the festivals like Sao Joao and Christians also celebrate the Hindu traditions. Everyone gets along and you never hear of any religious conflicts like you sometimes do with Hindus and Muslims in other parts of India.

playing at our villa’s shared pool

Interestingly enough, while doing my research about this holiday, I noticed almost all article say that young MEN partake, jump in wells, and drink. Not the women and little girls. Like everything in Goa, yes it was mostly men, but I did see girls partake. Village women typically never drink though.

Would you enjoy playing during Sao Joao?

For more information on all the festivals in Goa check out my 170-page e-book, Insider’s Guide to Goa. After five years of living in Goa, I am confident this book is the most comprehensive, up-to-date guide to Goa plus it has all my secrets inside. Click here to buy it now.

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