Well, today was as much, and even more, fun than I had anticipated. Out and about the city for almost 12 hours today, I think we hit most of the main attractions around Hyderabad. Many thanks to Ashik and his new bride, Isha, for giving us (me, Amy, and Helen) a beautiful tour of the city and haggling us some fantastic deals in the markets. I actually survived the day without a sunburn and thanks to my spf 55 I don't think I really even got much of a tan.
We actually started our day out by driving to a local park which contains a large lake with a HUGE statue of the budha in the central. For only 45 rupees (~90cents) each we took a boat out to the center of the lake to the little island that houses the statue. The entire statue is from one large piece of granite that was carved and then transported around 60km on a structure with something like 140 wheels. The entire feat is impressive, from the single piece of granite to the actual transportation of the statue. I still am not sure how they got the statue out to the middle of the lake.
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| Budha and me |
Next we headed to Chowmahalla Palace where the nizam (king of Hyderabad) and his family lived and entertained guests for centuries. While the palace and grounds were beautiful, the best part of the tour was the yellow Rolls Royce (behind protective glass) that was displayed along with a series (of inferior) vintage cars! It was at the palace that an occurrence that repeated again and again and again throughout the day began. A group of young adult Indian guys asked to have their picture taken with me. The funny thing is they have like 1 or 2 cameras and all take turns in the picture so it actually takes a few minutes to get all the pictures taken. It was hilarious, they actually asked Ashik for permission to take the picture. And I found out later that apparently they were stalking around behind us taking pictures that included me without me knowing. Apparently white girls are popular here!
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| 1911 made to order Rolls Royce |
Mecca Mosque was next on our list but my sleeveless blouse got us kicked out as soon as we crossed through security so I took a couple fast pictures and then we ran out and down the street to Charminar. Charminar, which literally means four towers, was packed and was surrounded by very busy marketplaces. Charminar, like all other places we visited, charged much for foreigners than for nationals. It only cost 5 rupees for Ashik, but was 100 rupees ($2) for each of us. I know, I know, still really cheap. But it's amazing how stingy I get when dealing with rupees!
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Amy and I surrounded by the pack of men waiting to get their picture taken with us!
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Our last stop was Golconda Fort. The oldest structure in Hyderbad, it housed the royalty at different points along its history. We climbed 329 steps to get to the top for some amazing views of the city and to walk around the ruins of the building that the royal family claimed as home. It was at the top of the fort that I got my good luck charm of the day....while (again) taking a picture with some Indian guys a bird pooped on my head. I knew I felt something at the time but Amy checked and nothing was there. Unfortunately, when I checked a few minutes later, my hand came back with some very dark bird poop. I guess the good luck was that I only got stopped once or twice more for pictures. I really felt like I spent half of my day posing for these requested photos. I'm not sure if it was the curly hair, the pretty green tunic, or the very white skin (most likely option), but I was very popular today!
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View from the top of the tower
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| Start of the light show that tells the history of the fort |
What fun you must be having (except for the bird poop. Hope it wasn't too hard to get off). Miss you & love you.
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