Early in the morning, before my hike around Hampi, I met this woman selling this dye. It is used by people worshipping in the temples as they often put it on their forehea ds before they enter Ten minutes into the hike and I was into these amazing boulders. You can see Virupaksha temple in the left corner. It was cool and a perfect time to do some exploring This is a glimpse of the main road through Hampi. There is a town regulation that no motorized vehicles enter the town...and that is a blessed, quiet thing. What would hap pen if more small towns had rules like this? The slab of rock on the grass might have been scrap rock from a carving. The reason I think this is because I noted the square cuts along the edge. these cuts were chipped out and then a small wooden wedge was inserted. Then these wedges were expanded by soaking them with water and this line of expanding wedges would often split the rock in a n eat, straight line. Interesting I thought Another twenty minutes up and down to the the temple of Achyutaraya. I was loving it because I was the only human visitor at this hour and could watch the and hear the bir ds play and chirp as I gazed at the amazing sculptures The view through a doorway at Achyutaraya temple Early morning contemplation before the pillars of Achyutaraya V. M. Diresh, his two youngers sisters and his grandmother are visiting Hampi also. We talked for a while, mainly in English through his father and a bit in Hindi and the kids' beginning English With my young guide-postcard hawker I rode to the King's Scales. Do you know why these are called the King's scales? After a 2 km hike from town we came to the Vittala Palace, a World Heritage Monument. Inside the Vittala Palace, I am standing next to the stone chariot. What an incredibl e place!! Mr. V.M. Diresh's family with aunty and grandma for a little Hampi vacation. We met on my mid-morning ride and had a great little chat!