We picked Hampi for our next stop off. We were in a little internet cafe in Palolem and were researching ways to get to there when we realized that the internet cafe also doubled as a travel booking agency. Lonely Planet recommended that we take Paulo Travels bus company to get to Hampi from the neighboring town of Chaudi, but the nice people at the travel agency assured us that for Rs 100 less than Paulo Travels we could ride in the sleeper bus operated by Island Travels which was sure to be nicer than Paulo. (Remember what I said earlier? ...if they're being nice, they're going to want your money. Well, this was one form of that, which we were about to learn.)
We were told to report for the bus at 7:30pm to ensure a prompt 8pm departure from Chaudi to get to Hampi ontime. Arriving at 7pm to the bus stand we joined an Austrailian couple who were also on the 8pm bus to Hampi. More and more people trickled in and before we knew it there were at least 15 people waiting. Some had tickets for a bus at 8pm, some had tickets for a bus at 9:30pm, others had tickets for a bus at 10pm, while others (ourselves included) had no tickets at all, but rather a reciept with seat numbers handwritten out from the travel agency.
7:30pm came and went, as did 8pm. Standing around at 9:30pm we started to wonder if our bus would actually come. Well, sure enough it did, and on the tails of the Island Travels bus was the Paulo Tours bus. Around 10pm all of us began to board the Island Travels bus – those with 8pm, 9:30pm and 10pm tickets as the driver, in his rough English, said that this was the only bus headed to Hampi tonight. Three poor travelers were left at Chaudi as the bus was filled.
Now, I've never been on a “sleeper” bus before, so I had no idea what to expect. It was comprable in size to a Greyhound bus, maybe a bit smaller and on the passenger side of the bus were single beds arranged as bunk beds. On the driver's side of the bus were double beds, also arranged as bunks. Aaron and I crammed ourselves and our two backpacks into the last double bunk above a British couple. We bounced and bounced (shocks are a luxury that I'm learning most motor vehicles in India do not have) our way toward Hampi.
On paper, our trip was due to depart Chaudi at 8pm and arrive in Hampi at 5:30am the next morning – a manageable 10 hour, overnight bus ride. Well, leaving at 10pm, making several stops, getting stuck at a checkpoint between the states of Goa and Karnataka, we got to what we thought was Hampi at about 9am the next morning. Our driver said that we only had 25 minutes here as we were to continue along to Hampi. This last stop was a bizarre one at that. We had turned off the main road, driven through a barren field, to a gate with a camel standing outside of it. We poured off, badly in need of a bathroom break and were immediately greeted by Indian touts with business cards hounding us to take their guesthouse or rickshaw once we arrived in Hampi and “not to forget them.” Inside the gate was a well tended, manicured garden with no garbage to be seen and staff in black and white attire ready for us to sit down at their fancy restaurant when all we wanted to do was use the toilet.
Back on the bus we drove another 20 minutes or so and arrived at the Hampi bus stand. Amazingly, those same touts that didn't want us to “forget them” were already there to greet us, in fact they followed our bus into the bus stand and ran or biked next to it until the bus parked. They were literally climbing up the side of the bus to try to hand me their business card through our upper window. We collected our packs and hit the ground running to avoid their hassle. Arrival: 9:45am...4 hours late.
No more Island Travels for us. We figured that the bus we booked was not “nicer” nor better organized. Also, I think it was set up in hopes that we would all sit down at the fancy restaurant at that last stop (mind you, the bus was filled with 20 somethings on backpacker budgets). Lesson learned, but we made it!
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