By day 2 we were getting used to being tourists in India and were wowed by every aspect of what we saw. Our cameras working over time; we did not want to miss a single shot. We spent the entire second day in Hampi - the capital of the Vijayanagra Empire built between 1336 – 1565 and on the third day we visited the Badami caves that date back to 600 AD; they made of almond colored sandstone and get their name from the stone; almond in Hindi is Badam. The city and the caves were spectacular – I could imagine a civilization flourishing in these surroundings by the banks of the Tungabhadra river.
As we were exploring Hampi I could not help but compare it to Machu Pichu. We had visited Peru earlier in the year. Both were built around the same time – one was a learning and religious center way up in the mountains and the other was a sprawling capital of an empire that had temples and monuments at every turn. Machu Pichu is made from stone and is a glorious salute to Incan architecture and engineering. While Hampi has beautiful carvings adorning every aspect rich with art and culture. Sadly, I also noticed was how the Indian government had maintained Hampi; plastic bottles everywhere, graffiti on the walls tarnishing history that goes back thousands of years. In comparison, The Peruvian government has taken the maintenance of Machu Pichu very seriously; restricting the number of tourists that can visit and not allowing visitors to carry anything that would tarnish the the premises. Both are UNESCO World Heritage sites that I was fortunate to visit in the same year. Below are some pictures.
As we were exploring Hampi I could not help but compare it to Machu Pichu. We had visited Peru earlier in the year. Both were built around the same time – one was a learning and religious center way up in the mountains and the other was a sprawling capital of an empire that had temples and monuments at every turn. Machu Pichu is made from stone and is a glorious salute to Incan architecture and engineering. While Hampi has beautiful carvings adorning every aspect rich with art and culture. Sadly, I also noticed was how the Indian government had maintained Hampi; plastic bottles everywhere, graffiti on the walls tarnishing history that goes back thousands of years. In comparison, The Peruvian government has taken the maintenance of Machu Pichu very seriously; restricting the number of tourists that can visit and not allowing visitors to carry anything that would tarnish the the premises. Both are UNESCO World Heritage sites that I was fortunate to visit in the same year. Below are some pictures.
3 comments:
Very cool pics!
Wow. Most amazing pictures of my home state. Its high time you got that whole photo exhibition gig going :) Thanks for sharing. Keep them coming. Its time for you to go on another vacation ;)
Thanks Arvind :) Glad you like them; next up GOA :)
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