Hampi and the Hospet Hospital

Ruins in Hampi
Reservoir
View from the Monkey Temple
Village girl
Guy sleeping outside of his shop - this is what you see as you walk down the streets in the morning
Lakshmi getting her morning bath

Lakshmi still getting her bathAnd one more of Lakshmi, because she's so cute
Indians bathing and doing their laundry at the river
Esin
Cuneyt and Benjamin
Group shot - but where is Esin?
Sunset at the reservoir
View from the Monkey Temple

Another view from the monkey temple
Main temple in Hampi
Me and some sadhus
Village life across the river in Hampi
Man making deep fried chili peppers - delicious!
On the boat ride to Hampi - I love this photo!
Ruins in Hampi
Rock formations in Hampi
Village baby
Striking a pose

After 10 days in Gokarna, I finally managed to pack up the backpack yet again and move on to a place called Hampi. It is located inland from the Karnataka coast and is known for its rock formations and temple ruins. I came together with 3 friends - Esin and Cuneyt from Turkey and Benjamin from Germany. We had all been hanging out together in Gokarna and decided to go together to Hampi. There is a river running through Hampi and the main town is situated on one side - with the other side being mostly guest houses, restaurants and small shops. After staying in the main town for one night, we decided to move to the other side which was much more relaxed. In order to get there, you had to take a very short boat ride across the river for a mere 10 rupees. We found a great place with a shaded garden, an incredible view over the river and nice swings to relax in. I was really getting into the groove there. I had decided to get up the following morning to go to the monkey temple - which was about a 30 minute walk from our guest house. I woke up bright and early and set off on the road. To give you a brief background - while I was still in Gokarna - I developed a most disgusting and painful reaction to my numerous mosquito bites. Instead of just acting like normal mosquito bites where they just itched and then went away - these got really infected. About a dozen of them got very swollen and filled up with pus. They became extremely painful - to the point that it was hard to walk on my one leg because there were so many infected around my ankle and foot. I was beginning to get a bit worried about them - not to mention that it was painful and the day before I decided to go to the monkey temple - I saw a doctor. He informed me that I had an allergic reaction and gave me some pills to take for the infection and gave me some cream to put on them. This all happened the evening before my morning walk to the monkey temple. So, where was I - oh yes, I woke up bright and early and set off on the road to the monkey temple. A few minutes into my walk, I got the feeling that something wasn't right. My kidneys actually hurt - I started thinking that maybe it was the pills that the doctor had given me. But, as I continued on, I realized that it was more than that - by the time that I got to the end of the road, I was so exhausted that I had to sit down for a minute. I decided to turn around and go back to the room. By the time that I got to the room, I had to crawl into bed immediately. Within minutes, my temperature was soaring - my skin was so hot to the touch - like an inferno. And then I got uncontrollable shakes/shivering. I was completely bundled in blankets and clothes and I was just shaking non-stop - so much that my teeth were chattering and I couldn't stop. I had a raging headache and both of my hands were numb - I couldn't get the feeling to come into them. The shaking went on for about 30 minutes or more and then it finally stopped. I made my way out to the restaurant and told the owners what was happening to me and they said that I needed to go to the hospital. I had just stopped taking my anti-malaria pills 4 days previous and I was pretty convinced that I had malaria - as I had every single one of the symptoms. At this point, my fever was at 101. The owners woke up my friends for me and Benjamin and Cuneyt accompanied me to the hospital. It was a horrific ride to the hospital for me as I first had to take the boat ride across the river and then a bumpy rickshaw ride from Hampi to Hospet - where the closest and best hospital was located. By the time that I got to the hospital - I could barely stand and my fever had gone up to 104 - within an hour. They immediately took my blood and tested me for malaria and other things - as well as took my fever. The doctor came back with the results and told me that I did not have malaria - that I had enteric fever. I wasn't sure what that was but he said that my fever was very dangerous and that I needed to stay in the hospital for 2 days and 2 nights. They immediately hooked me up to an IV and started pumping me up with stuff. The whole first day was a blur as I faded in and out of sleep and fought my fever. By the early evening, I was feeling much better but then the fever came back. It went on like this for 2 days and up until the morning that I got discharged. I questioned the doctor some more about my diagnosis and finally heard the word typhoid fever for the first time - which was more familiar to me than enteric fever. So, I got typhoid fever, even though I'd been vaccinated for it last year. I guess the vaccination is not 100% and you contract it through contaminated food or water. My theory is that when I had those open wounds on my legs and went swimming in Gokarna - I got infected from the sea water. I only say this because in India - people use the toilet wherever and whenever they need to - and although the ocean was clean in front of our hotel in Gokarna, where I swimmed - if you walked up the beach for a little ways - in front of the fishing villages - you could see piles of turds lined up all along the shore. So, not sure if my theory is correct but it seems that the infections on my legs and the sudden onset of the illness must be connected - or maybe not, who knows. Anyway, I am doing much better now as I am on antibiotics for the next 2 weeks. I did a lot of research on typhoid and it said that I could have the symptoms off and on for the course of my treatment but so far, i have been lucky - i've only had a headache. It was a very scary experience to be in a hospital in India - but I must say that they took very good care of me. It wasn't quite the Indian experience that I was looking for. The hospital was nice enough but nowhere near the standards of the hospitals at home, obviously. It may have been a bit better if I had been in a bigger city but considering the circumstances, I was happy to be where I was. By the last day there, I was almost climbing the walls - with nothing to do except stare at them while I laid on my rock hard bed in the heat - swatting at mosquitos and lighting the candle in between the power outages. Yes, this is India. I thankfully had an overnight guest on the first night - chunate came and stayed with me which was very nice adn then on the second night, I had a Canadian roomate who was also in the hospital with a bad case of diarrhea. I had planned to leave Hampi the day after I got sick and already purchased a train ticket and a domestic airline ticket from Bangalore to Calcutta but had to miss my train and re-schedule the ticket - as well as change my international flight from Calcutta to Bangkok. I shouldn't say "I", because the responsibility fell onto my friends who ended up helping me out so much through all of this. Esin, Cuneyt and Benjamin - you are the best and I am so thankful for meeting you on this journey! After returning to Hampi, I hung out for 3 more days to rest and see the sights that I had missed out on during my hospital stay. I finally made it to the monkey temple for sunset and it was well worth this journey - this time, I did it on bicycle. I also explored some of the ruins around Hampi - which there are hundreds, so I barely touched the surface. And I also made it to the reservoir for a nice dip in the cool waters and a lovely sunset. I got lucky to see the holy elephant, Lakshmi, getting her morning bath in the river, as well as getting a "blessing" from her in the temple. Lakshmi spends most of her day in the temple where you can go and feed her bananas or give her money. If you give her a rupee, she takes the rupee from your hand with her trunk, hands it to her trainer and then you stand there and wait for her to give you a tap on your head with her trunk. All in all, i absolutely loved Hampi. It was so different from anyplace else that I've seen in India. It was a good place to end my journey here in India and it definitely feels like time to move on - even though I'm not quite sure what the next step is. I am now in Calcutta and getting ready to fly to Bangkok tommorrow morning. I just picked up the Southeast Asia Lonely Planet here in Calcutta and i will be reading that during my airport time and flight and hopefully come up with a plan. It's a toss up between Laos, Vietnam or Cambodia - or a combination of one or two of those. It's looking like I'll have to spend a few days in Bangkok to smooth out the plans and figure out my visa requirements. So, from one crazy city to the next, I go. India has been an intense experience for me, all around. I completely understand why people say that one minute, you love it and the next minute, you hate it. I can now relate to that feeling. It's the most intense, chaotic, beautiful, disgusting, colorful, infuriating, noisy, dirty, populated and mesmerizing country in the world. And I hope that I added enough positive words in there as well because it's not all negative. It really is an amazing country and after visiting the south - I have a much more holistic and pleasant view of India. I'm not in a hurry to come back, just yet - but I know that I will.