Versive

Okay the picture thing is really getting to me now. The dilemma I face is that, unti I catch up on what has already happened, what I commentate on in the here-and-now bears so little relevance to my mind that I may as well not bother doing anything. Plus, these fucking keyboards keys always stick and the process of re-editing everey single line is in itself an exercise in personal restraint; making me wan to kill things but just about having the wil power to save lives. Goddam this is annoying though!!

Annyhooo - Here is the news: a bunch more pictures are available for your viewing pleasure, just bear in mind that most are gonna be wihout proper explanation:

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%20things/Picture071.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%20things/Picture070.jpg

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The four-pillared templed gates at Ramazanhana:

Some things:

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%20things/Picture065.jpg

Some goats:

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%20things/Picture064.jpg

A rather impressive gateway somwhere out on the Hampi hills:

Yet another temple ruin:

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%20things/Picture061.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%20things/Picture059.jpg

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And some weird gateway I came across while trekking through to the Viittala temple:

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%20things/Picture058.jpg

And scenic pillar scenes, too:

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%20things/Picture056.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%20things/Picture055.jpg

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I'd like to finish this short entry with a little carving of Nagini, the snake god purloined so effortlessloy by J.K. Rowling as the name of her bad guys's (Voldemort's) chief snake creature thing, in the finest spirits of unimaginative plagiarism. But still, it's quuie well done, really, for soething over 1600 years old don'tcha think?

Ta ta For now..

Is anyone actually getting the Star Wars jokes in these photo post titles? I hope so. They take so long to think up

So, here we are again at Hampi - I will skip the architectural stuff (well, most of it) and concentrate on the scenery. If anyone wants any more of anything leave a comment below, I have any amount of images of ancient carvings, palaces, trippy scenery etc.

Okay I lied, all the scenery stuff is on the next album - so this is mostly temples, carvings and architectural loveliness. Archeologists please adjust your seats for maximum comfort.
Demolition engineers please leave the room

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So, this is the old Krishna temple ruins with the big water tank from the last photo post seen just behind the pillared structure, and the ancient Krishna Bazaar off on the right. Please note the impossibly balanced rock to the left of the picturre - Hampi's a lot like that all over the place:

You can see a lot mroe of the bazaar here, if that's your sort of thing:
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%20things/rory075.jpg

Temples, sculptures, carvings etc, right here:
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%20things/rory069.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%20things/rory068.jpg

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http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%20things/rory065.jpg

This one is quite cool actually:

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%20things/rory064.jpg

As is this one, great piece depicting an elephant:

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%20things/rory063.jpg

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Alright, this guys is cool. A statue of Yoga Narasimha, the fourth incarnation of Lord Vishnu, if I'm not mistaken (their gods liked to make frequent loosely scheduled appearances), bit of an ugly bastard but this is a monolithic statue almost 7 metres tall (23+ feet) a few kilometres fom Hampi town, all carved from one piece but unfortunately the ravages of time have broken off most of his arms (and he did have quite an adequate supply, as usual). Still, it's quite a piece of work nonetheless:

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These next few are from the Vittala Temple, Ramanzana complex and Elephant stables, all of which I had to pay twenty-five times as much as an Indian national to get into to look at, so you'd better bloody appreciate them, a'ight?

These are the pillars that support ther Vittala temple - there are hundreds of these, all carved to the same level of detail. Some piece of work eh? They're at least about 7 feet tall as well:

Dragon carvings that edge the stepped entrances to most of the more imortnat temples - these are probably the best preserved of them all, again, lovely peices of work:

Inside the Vittal temple compound, one of the many ceremonial halls complete with the `musical` pillars`:

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Those climbers/jugglers/stoners I met in Palolome them again in Hampi, Darrol, Adam `Fucking` Wherley, and Reuben:

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%20things/rory050.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%20things/rory049.jpg

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I may have mentioned something about a moniolithic Ganesh stature, and here he is. Perfectly preserved, and housed in his own little temple - a great addition to the atmosphere around Hampi:

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Just a view across the paddy fields out the back of Hampi village, nice reflections in the water, I thought:

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A couple of Egrets in the paddy fields - had to wait ages to get close enough to them, and even then the focus wasn't quite up to it on my little digital camera. Still, I got a lot more wildlife later one -

Hampi Virupakshur temple complex from the side of the lower tower, or Gopuram:

A bouldered hill:

Sule Bazaar:

A lathe-turned pillar I snuck a photo of in a museum:

Sule bazarr ith yet another bouldered hill in the background:

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The stone chariot in the Vittala Temple. The wheels used to actually turn and life-sized carved elephants were once attached to the front - now sadly removed and/or destroyed. Still, the chariot is pretty damn cool! :

The main Vittala Temple - the musical pillars all produce different notes when struck,, and songs used to be played on them for important ceremonies and royal weddings. Each pillar i differently sized and none of them actually connect with the roof - only the others inside do the job of supporting the actual roof. It is in the middle of a major restoration now, and I couldn't go inside:

That stone chariot again:

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%20things/Picture104.jpg

And again:

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%20things/Picture103.jpg

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Another of those step-flanking stoneworks - another brilliant peice of artwork I think:

Some spooky temple:

- And I thought this was quite a cool shot, inside the Vittala complex with a withered tree and one of the few remaining monks wandering beside the partially ruined temple:

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Some of the best, best preserved and most ornate carvings in all of India, or so they say:

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And just a few more photos of pillars and shit like that and we're done for the day - yay! (is anyone still actually awake out there?)

My word, but I had no idea how many pictures of this stuff I had. Honestly, I'm going a little crazy with it all.

The moral of the wotry? Keep up to date with my photo postings, don't leave it until there are over a thousand with nothing done to them!!
I'll try and spare you most of the rest, don't worry...

Shanti!

Oh god, this is just genius funny. You need to be a bit of a Star Wars geek to appreciate it but hey, it's pretty sweet anyway:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ9sJVJMiYM

Hoping at least a few of you will get the joke in the name; it kinda fits rather neatly with all my bad star wars jokes about the names of the photo posts recently, too - thanks to the guy from The Secular Backlash and in turn his blogging mate Pharyngula for the link.