Exiting Hyderabad

It has just taken me 35 minutes to get to this stage! the connection speed here is unbelieveable!!
Anyway, exiting Hyderabad was a busy old job. We rose early[ again ] because we expected traffic to be heavy.It took one hour and 25 km to get out.When we actally hit the road it was plain sailing but finding the right one was exhausting. Stopped for breakfast, sat down and broke a chair- much to the amusement of the staff. They then stacked 2 chairs together and reconed that would be o.k
People over here keep telling me I have a great personality- obviosly getting confused with phsique- which is also strange as Im really overweight and fat- anyway this always causes much laughter when it occurs-specially when I break chairs!
The ride to Raichur was a good one and we did about 250km till we hit town. The approach was terrible -potholes a foot and a half deep and loads of them. Unfortunately I knocked an old boy off his bike as negotiated one of them - I was committed to my route around the rim of this big hole and he just kept coming . It all happened at slow speed so no damage done-- he stood there swearing at me as we rode off-we didnt bother to stop - its policy over here. The hotel was great, right next to the fort with great views. The room was really clean, great bathroom, T.V. and the coldest beers yet.They even had flute music to wake you in the morning.
Early start the next day again - riding on absolutely beautifull flat smooth roads with the morning mist slowly burning off the fields. Heading towards Gangavatti[ what a beautifull name ] The air was full of the smell of fresh rice straw as the harvest was well under way, huge piles of paddy waiting on the side of the road waiting to be collected. The roads remained good untill about 30 km from Hampi, where we are now.We approached Hampi from the east which is a completely different direction from our usual way . We climbed the huge rock strewn hills and saw Hampi from above, surrounded in deep green bannana plantations. Hampi is an ancient city, now only populated by a few people, but it used to house 3 million ,and was the centre of an ancient empire. The main temple is still in use and gets visited by thousands of pilgrims. The rest of the area [ and it covers miles ] is full of deserted temples, palaces, bathing tanks, irrigation systems, bazaars and other amazing sights. It is one of our favourite places in India, its very Holy, very chilled out and very hot. We had a bhang lassi yesterday to celebrate the winter solstice and watched the sun set over the rocky hills turning everything an orange glow.
We are here till the 26th when we leave for Goa, I shall try to load up some photos of this magical place but Im sure its going to be impossible, what with the internet connection.Helens leg has now fully healed -thanks to the magic of lavender oil. Thats less than a fortnight - it was a real blistered up burn as well, glad thats all over.
Weve heard of a bear sanctuary a few kilometres up the road, we shall go and check it out, as weve only seen them being abused as dancing bears before and not seen them in their natural habitat.
Oh! we went to see DHOOM 2 in Hyderabad - its the latest bollywood blockbuster - and it was great. Good story, great chase scenes -lots of motorbike stunts, and some banging tunes. The title tune is being played everywhere and will stick in our brains for a long time.