Our human companions have not yet taught us how to make the black box light up so we can write when ever we want, so we have to wait until they make it light up and then we came write some about what we have been doing. They have not lit up the black box lately, so that is why we have not written. Oh! So much to say! We had lots of excitement when the little human like things came up to our balcony and wanted to play! They put a great little show for us, but they made a mess of things on the balcony! We wanted to go play with them, but maybe that would have been bad! Then just a few days ago the buzzing things that fly around outside came back and started to make a new home, but then they were gone again the next day and we don't understand where they went! Our humans went away last weekend and they want to write all about that. Maybe we'll say more later.
We humans did go away leaving fairly early Friday Feb. 6 and returning Sunday the 8th. We road in our car with our driver to an area west and a bit north of Bangalore to see some old temples and a coffee growing area. Bangalore is REALLY spread out and with the construction and traffic the trip to get outside the city was probably an hour's drive. The total time to reach our hotel was about 4 hours driving time.
Our first major stop was a site named "Sravanabelgola", but when you hear it pronounced it doesn't all that much like its spelled. The place is famous for 2 things.
The first is the huge "Gomateswara Monolith" at the top of a solid stone mountain and the second is the number of people who die while climbing the 620 steps (count- 'em!) up to the statue! We were able to park close to the steps leading up. There were no lines of people waiting to watch the people dropping dead, so we checked our shoes (yes, you are expected to go barefoot or with only socks!) and began the long climb. We left the city about 45minutes late, so it was starting to feel hot at the mountain. We climbed and climbed... and climbed... and climbed and that was 80 steps... so we climbed and climbed. Finally, after a few more than 500 steps were were within an outer wall of the temples at the top. Up here there was a temple that we entered and were greeted by a guy who told us a little about it and then asked for a donation to support the repair of the temples. Our driver, Joseph, had told us the fees were very small- maybe 20 Rupees (40 cents). 
Joseph had not been to the temples in many years so he walked up too. He got into a bit of an argument with the guy asking for the donation and then told us to give him 50 Rupees. He later said that the donations are meant to be really donations, but the guy was insisting that we give 1500 Rs. Fortunately, we let him do the arguing and we found out later what it was about. In any case, we got a slip of yellow paper as a receipt, which came in handy later when another guy asked for a donation. we just waved the slip and he said "ok". The view from the top of the mountain was fabulous, though the sky was hazy, so it interfered with the view. After the first temple, we hiked up more stairs to the main enclosure where there were many more steps and then more steps until we reached the main enclosure. At the top we walked through a metal detector that was unmanned, but we felt safe enough. We didn't have the feeling there were many terrorists climbing the mountain at this time of day. Once inside the main enclosure we looked around a little and then walked inside the final enclosure and there, before us, was the 57 foot tall "Gomateswara Monolith" . It is impressive that it has been carved out of a single piece of rock- looks like granite- The date given for the temple and monolith is about 980AD, but we don't know if that is really about the time it was carved or if that date is based on some other event on the mountain. The facilities are set up to handle a lot more people because every 12 years there is a huge pilgrimage to this site for ceremonies that follow. The last one was in 2005. We walked around the monolith and then outside the temple to see the many carvings that appear to be very old. It seems obvious that the monolith was carved in place a very long time ago. We then walked down the mountain. There is another temple complex on a neighboring mountain, but we chose not to walk up and down that one. At the bottom we picked up our shoes and were inundated by the usual souvenir salesmen. We bought a couple postcards, but it is always risky- once you buy one, then other sellers smell the rupees and swarm around. We saw this in Cambodia a year ago. We drove on to Hassan.
Our driver knew a bypass road so we missed the center of the city. He said we'd get stuck there and there was not much we would want to see. The guide books describe it as not having much to offer- except some h0tels. We continued west of the city on the "Belur" road to our hotel- the "Hoysala Village Resort". We picked this place based on the guide books which described it as very pleasant and with a good restaurant that serves some western style food. We had difficulty making the reservation. We had trouble reaching them by phone and the internet method of booking that they finally told us to use, failed miserably. We finally called and made the reservation by phone and took the guy's name. Check- in was no problem. We stayed 2 nights and found it pleasant. The restaurant was not so great, but adequate, and the staff was very friendly. There was a stone carver on the premises demonstrating his craft, which was interesting, but most of his examples were simple trinkets, though he had a few nicer ones. We wanted to see more, but he was not around when we were there at other times. The hotel also has a magician who plays a little music and does tricks. We saw hime 3 times as we passed by, but we did not have time to see his act until the last day- and then he was not there. We read that his act was worth seeing. Over the next couple days we learned that this hotel is a favorite stopover for tour groups. While we were there we saw a large French group and a small German group and an even smaller Italian group plus we two Americans. We read that there are not so many tourists in this area. We ate lunch.We next road to Halebid or Halebeedu or one of the other variations. Here we came to a large stone temple with quite a few people around- including some school groups.
At first the place looked un- impressive but as we got closer we could see that it was nearly covered in carvings! As we got closer we were awed by to intricacy of the carvings and the depth of the carvings in the stone- it is remarkable! The Temple dates from around 1200 AD. Inside was also quite remarkable. We learned that this temple is different from one at Belur in that it is larger because it houses 2 shrines (Don't know the proper name, so we say "shrine"). There are numerous columns inside that seem to be perfectly round. The guide books say they were made on a "lathe", which makes sense, but lathes in 1200 AD had to be rather simple.
Most of the colums had carving that could not have been done on a lathe. We took lots of pictures!The temple is an example of "Hoysala Architecture". The one at Belur and one we missed at Somnathpur- near Mysore are the other well known examples. We did not see stone carvings so intricate in Thailand or Cambodia. We learned that the stone is "Soapstone" which is easy to carve and this partly explains why they were able to carve to such depths. We road back to our hotel feeling tired from the climb up and down the mountain. Bad knees don't like walking on stone very much! It was great start to the long weekend!
Our driver spoke to the maid who was checking on Ziggy and Zoe and she told him that some monkeys were on our balcony and making a bit of a mess. We learned this when we returned. The driver didn't tell us at the time because he thought we'd find it distressing- and we would have been more worried. We don't think Ziggy and Zoe would win a fight with monkeys, though they might put up a good struggle once they recognized the dangers. We'll add more later.
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