Hampi

Hampi, site of the once great but now ruined city of Vijayanagar, is a hot and dusty place in central south India. It's a firm favourite on the backpackers' circuit but still offers a taste of the 'real' India. There are people scrubbing clothes and bathing down at the river ghats. Cows, dogs, roosters and monkeys share the dirt streets with women in bright saris carrying basket loads of everything on their heads.

Over the river from the sacred centre of Hampi Bazaar you can stay in huts arranged around gardens, with restaurants overlooking the rice paddies. Ours had a chill-out area of low tables and cushions where we passed a couple of lazy afternoons resting our sightseeing-weary feet. Every now and then a cow would wander across the rice paddy. Each cow had a white bird hopping along beside it (don't ask me what kind of bird). The bird would jump up and peck the flies or insects that landed on the cow. Seems a mutually-beneficial partnership.

Hampi has a whole lot of uninspiring restaurants and one excellent one: Mango Tree, which you reach via a path through a banana plantation. The atmosphere is lovely, with terraced seating so everyone gets a view of the river. It's a vegetarian restaurant but the choice of dishes on the lengthy menu is overwhelming. My mixed vegetable "mango tree special curry" was sweet and smoky.

We tried our first Indian street food in Hampi: idli (spongy and rather plain fermented rice cakes) dipped in spicy sambar and coconut chutney and served with deep-fried battered green chillies.