Hampi

<p>Our hotel is situated on a strip of laid back tourist facilities across the river from the religious and archaeological village. There is a backpacker feel to the  area: guest houses offering accommodation in thatched huts, simple little eateries offering a wide variety of menus.  Tourists are speaking a wide range of languages, and they  are dressed in a wide variety of styles, including fashionable light western clothes with scarf, colourful mix and match from the stalls that line the streets in tourist areas, hippie outfits and all types of western summer wear.
On the other side of the river, restaurants are not allowed to serve meat or alcohol because it is a religious centre, but no such restrictions apply on this side.<br>
The first morning, we crossed the small river on a specially adapted motorboat that operates as a ferry, and met our guide for a morning tour of the major sites. It was a good thing we hired him, because the monuments were spread out across a lot of rough terrain and there was little signage. <br>
The two most famous monuments are the Vitalla temple, with its musical columns, and the Royal Elephant stables. Each of the small, narrow granite columns in the Vitalla temple is designed to sound a different note when struck with a stick, so musicians entertained the court by playing music on the columns.  Throughout the temples, there are several beautiful statutes of Vishnu's bull, including a monumental one carved from a single stone.  There are many representations  of horses and elephants in bas relief.  The elephant stables were remarkable for their size and architectural design.

Hampi prospered for two centuries following 1350, serving as a trading, administrative  and religious centre. Within the rocky terrain, they built royal buildings, temples, and seven huge bazaar areas, each specializing in a different trade, including one believed to specialize in trading Arabian horses.
On the second day, we went by tuk-tuk to visit some small caves to see the ancient rock paintings. The "caves" were very shallow and low horizontal gaps between rocks, and the paintings were in places the water did not run down the rock face. In many ways, they resembled the Wari tribal art. I can't find any information about them on the web.

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