Gone are the days when these kind of stories could finance a trip across India. This particular story Hampi: Ruins Forgotten in Time appeared in Lifestyle + Travel in a special segment on India in around 2005 and was republished several more times in travel magazines across Asia. Here is the entire pdf, also featuring Benares and Kerala.
It was my second or third visit to Hampi, my first with photographer Aroon Thaewchatturat. From Hampi we headed to near-by to Hubli to visit a notorious devadasi temple – a Hindu temple where women are enslaved to serve as dancers and prostitutes to the Brahmin priests. I will re-post that story shortly.