Geocaching is a treasure hunt in which people use GPS coordinates to find hidden containers. It was conceived shortly after the US removed selective availability from GPS on May 2, 2000, which made civilian positioning accurate enough to place a small container precisely. The first documented cache was hidden the next day by Dave Ulmer near Beavercreek, Oregon, and was found twice within three days. Its contents included software, books, money and a can of beans. The activity was first called gpsstashing, but the name was changed to geocaching after people said stash had negative connotations. Caches have since been placed in unusual spots, including on the International Space Station and on Mars, through a trackable item attached to a Mars rover.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.