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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Belgaum rest day

After 6 days riding, it was nice to have a rest day. We were in a modern and comfortable hotel on the edge of town.
We walked through a busy shopping district toward the fort. En route, we encountered a religious procession with musicians, elaborately dressed men and an idol on a palenquin carried by four men dressed in white. People were lined up along the street waiting to pay homage. When it was their turn, they poured water on the feet of the nearest bearer, and then placed coconut and flower donations beside the idol. Everybody was in a festive mood, laughing and kidding each other. Respectful, but no church-like solemnity.
When we got inside the fort walls, we were surprised to encounter a very low density residential / institutional neighborhood with a few old temples and a military base. They were small temples, but they provided a first chance to go inside a Jain temple to see the black statues of idols, and the elaborately decorated interior of the dome.
Although the hotel offered a good formal restaurant in air conditioned splendour, we found a well run roof top restaurant next door offering Indian food, and attracting lots of well dressed locals, so we enjoyed a couple of dinners there.

About bovines

<p>Cattle and buffalo have  a different lifestyle in India than elsewhere. The difference is most evident in the cities, where cattle are roaming in the street scavenging in the garbage. We regularly come across cattle on city streets.  <br>
The cattle wander through the crazy traffic and everyone -- cars, buses, trucks, motorcycles, pedestrians and cyclists -- manage to avoid them. The cows take it all in stride, and remain totally calm, even as people touch and push them. They are treated with a mixture of respect and neglect. I saw boys hitting them with sticks, without elders stopping them.

They are part of the economy in numerous ways. One morning, I saw an elderly woman in the city dump a bag of garbage in front of a cow, and march home, having accomplished her mission. On the other hand, there are vendors who sell lovely fresh greens near the cattle for locals to buy and feed to the cattle, presumably to enhance their karma.<br>

Beef is never on the menu, but milk is very important to local diets, and manure is important for heating and cooking. One of the distressing sights is to see a woman sitting on the street scooping fresh cow poo into her bowl with her bare hands. She will then hand-mould bannock - shaped paddies, and set them out in the sun to dry.
There are quite a variety of bovine; not quite sure what's a buffalo v. a cow. There are some with big horns, some with swept back horns, some with painted horns, some with blankets against the cold, even one with a lovely decorative shawl.<br>
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In the country, cattle  live a more typical existence, tethered outside homes, being herded along the road, and grazing.  Bullocks are used to pull carts, power water pumps, and to plough fields.  </p>