The early morning walk up to the monkey temple was a rather exhausting one. We walked down the long winding road at 7 in the morning past the various other guesthouses, each with their own inviting advertisement. Once we got past all the shops selling all sorts of Indian souvenirs, we came to an unadopted road, repaired by the locals. Several houses flanked this narrow winding stretch, which housed not only the locals but also the abundant wildlife of dogs, cows and buffaloes adopted by them. Famished, as we hadn’t eaten anything, we stopped at a small shop to buy a dozen raw bananas, which left a sort of unpleasant coating in the mouth. Also, we filled up our dehydrated selves with as much water as the scorching temperatures rose further. Despite all these minor setbacks, we continued all the way till the winding and uneven staircase of the monkey temple, which easily had about four hundred steps. We somehow managed to keep our spirits up till at least he first half of the climb atop this hill on which was situated the monkey temple. However the climb just seemed like a never-ending one. After a couple of pit stops, our group’s number was reduced to a mere 7 from a group of 16. Reaching up to the top of the mountain was no less than conquering Mount Everest. As we heaved a huge sigh of relief, sucking up all the oxygen we’d run out of, we were absolutely mesmerized by the view of an entire valley of Hampi. The ruins of the Vijayanagara Empire stood strong and tall on the banks of the perennial Tungabhadra, surrounded by innumerable boulders of all forms and dimensions. This temple unlike other extravagant South Indian temples was a simplistic four-walled room with a conical peak housing a simple idle of Hanuman. This perhaps was the reason that there were minimal tourists and the ideals of the temple remained intact. Another reason for this could probably be the abundance of monkeys who aren’t entirely welcoming to visitors and often try an steal a banana or two or in our case a couple of shoes and jackets. Also, the long climb may seem a little intimidating for lazy tourists like me. So, after we successfully climbed down this temple, I chose to share an auto back to the guest house along with other lazy members of the group to reach the magical hut for breakfast an hour before the high spirited souls who chose to walk back the seven kilometer stretch.