Chutneys & Jayabheri

Wednesday I had dinner with Rajesh at Chutneys in Jubilee Hills. I like this place - good food and nice decor. Rajesh ordered the Poori - basically a large bread filled with hot air - a bread balloon. It was very tasty - dipping it in the chole - chick peas in  spicy sauce.  They also serve their special chutneys - some spicy and some cool (coconut). We then had a smaller batura - sweeter than the other one, but tasty. We finished off with an Indian filtered coffee. It was a good evening - my new driver was waiting outside, which made a nice change from haggling with the auto drivers.




On Thursday our group decided to go out for a social event.  I suggested starting with drinks at my apartment then going on for dinner somewhere. We ended up ordering some food from a local place and had it delivered to my apartment, so it was there when we arrived. Chandra was stuck in a meeting, but had a nice evening with Sanjay, Abhi & Venkat. The food was really good, and the conversation flowed (as did the beer!).  Enjoyable evening.

Giant Ganesha..

Khairatabad Ganesha

After a quiet Sunday morning I met up with Sujoy & Sneha in the afternoon. They wanted to show me the huge Ganesha in Khairatabad - the biggest idol in Hyderabad, and probably in the whole of AP. The road leading to the idol was closed off to traffic and was full of market traders selling food,  balloons, tat and all sorts of stuff. It was very busy - kept my backpack in front of me after Sujoy warned me of pick-pocketers. As we approached the idol the crowds increased. We were swept past the giant Ganesha - about 75ft fall! Either side were 2 other idols - Shiva and Lakashmi (I think).  The sweet held in the hand will be auctioned - last year it sold for 800,000 rupees! It will then be broken up and given out.  I snapped some photos as we were ushered along. On the way back we passed a mosque - strange how 2  religions can co-exist together with no apparent problems - refreshing to see.

Durgam Churuvu Ganesha

The following day, after a long day at work (finished around 8:45pm), I decided to walk to see another famous local Ganesha - think it's becoming some sort of obsession with me! I walked past several IT companies and then ended up walking down a dimly lit dodgy area down some very rough tracks which I was happy to get out of. I ended up by a lake called Durgam Churuvu. By the side of the lake was another large idol - only 55ft this one! Each one if different - this one was very pink and slightly lop-sided! This one was also 'eco-friendly', being made from clay & sand from West Bengal. Eventually each idol is immersed in water, so there has been a drive towards those that do not cause harm to the environment. I took a few photos then hopped into an auto and headed back home.

Botanical Gardens & Charminar

Botanical Gardens

About 1 mile from where I ma staying is a botanical gardens, called Shri Kotla Bhaskar Reddy Botanical Gardens - nice and short.....It cost 15 rupees to get in and an additional 10 to use a camera - so thats about 50 cents total - not bad value I guess. The gardens were quite large - at one end was a large pond with water lilies and a large greenhouse of sorts that contained lot of tanks with water plants. A path guided you around the gardens. It was well maintained, and there was an army of women sweeping the paths. There were a lot of flowering plants - lots of red, yellow and orange, which seem to be India's favourite colours. It was nice to be away from all the traffic -  it was like an oasis of green. I spent about 1.5 hours walking around and taking photos before heading back home.

In the afternoon I decided to head for the old part of Hyderabad and visit Charminar again - I just love wandering around that place - so much to see. Since I have not yet got another driver to replace Rama, I had to go by auto rickshaw. I asked the driver to use his meter (it's rare that they do). He said it was about 12 km away and they charge 9 rupees per km - reasonable I thought. However, I had not bargained on 2 things - that the driver did not know the way, and that it was a lot longer than 12km! He had to stop several times to ask other rickshaw drivers, and I was trying to show him the way on my iphone. Eventually after about 1 hour and 20km later, he stopped by the Salar Jung museum, which was close enough to Charminar. The museum was closing in 1 hour otherwise I would have gone in.  I gave him 300 rupees and set off walking. I was right next to the Musi River, which looked so polluted. People here just throw rubbish into the streets without a second thought.

Mosque

The walk to Charminar ("four towers") was not for the faint hearted. This is the heart of the muslim part of Hyderabad (controlled by the Nizams for a couple of centuries), and was crowded with shops of every kind, with people everywhere. Traffic choaked the roads and you had to be very  careful. As a westerner (taking photos) I stood out and a lot of people wanted to sell me stuff - just have to say no politely and move on. The kids often wanted me to take their picture and practice their English on me - I was happy to oblige.  Not too many Ganesha's here (him being a Hindu god), but I did see a couple.  I passed a mosque painted bright green - typical of muslim mosques. One of the streets off the main Charminar monument was filled with vegetable sellers - always like to wander around that kind of place.

Charminar at night

 Had a coffee in a place just by the mosque - was nice to have some peace for a while. I wanted to get some photos of the Charminar at night, so went out again at around 6:30 just as it was getting dark.  You always get a lot of attention around here - a lot of it annoying. One guy wanted to sell me some 'Raybans' -started off at 1,500 rupees. I told him I didn't want them, but he followed me until he got down to 250 ($5) - I still didn't want them, but shows how much you can haggle around here - even without trying! I got some good photos then decided to head home. I hailed an auto and he said 300 rupees fixed fee. I agreed and hopped in. Again it took close to 1 hour but at last this guy knew the way! I gave him 350 as it was a tough ride through the busy Sat evening traffic. 

Ganesha

Flower seller

Clay idols

Starting today (Wednesday Sep 19th ) and continuing for another 9 days is the Ganesha festival. Ganesha is a god, son of Parvati and Shiva, whose head was cut off and replaced with an elephant head. He is the 'remover of obstacles'. Suresh, who cooks me breakfast and cleans the apartment offered to take me on a walk to show me the preparations for the festival. We walked about half a mile down the road and saw several vendors selling colourful flower garlands made of orange and yellow marigolds, plus other assorted leaves and other flowers which will be used to decorate the Ganesha idols later in the day. I bought some flowers and a couple of clay idols - about $1 each.

Lord Ganesha

Back at the apartment complex Suresh showed me a giant Ganesha that was being prepared. I came back later and saw it all decorated and lit up. There were many offering of food and money around him - I gave 20 rupees hoping that would bring me some luck on my project at work! The people looking after the Ganesha gave me some lemon rice and some indian sweet which were offered to Ganesha then was given out to anyone who dropped by. Back at the apartment I placed the clay idols & flowers in the prayer room beside a picture of Ganesha & said a silent prayer for my family - well, no harm in trying.....

Borra Caves..

Entrance to Borra Caves

I woke up at around 4:30am not feeling that well. Went to the bathroom and.....well you guessed it. It was probably the chicken in bamboo - I was a little suspicious of it when I was eating it. I was expecting lean meat, but it was bones and all. I informed Venkata & JC that I wasn't that great and  would not be joining them for breakfast. They were concerned, as was I, since I was faced with another      15 hour journey in the car! I took some immodium and hoped that would work. The plan today was to visit the famous Borra Caves which was not far away. We arrived about 11am. I was feeling quite weak, but not too bad. I drank a lot of water as I knew I was dehydrated. The caves were spectacular. It was very deep with huge stalagmite/stalactite formations. There were a lot of very excited locals shouting loudly as they descended the cave. It was well lit but at one point all the power went out (in typical Indian style), which was a little unnerving as it was pitch dark and bats were flying around our heads! At the entrance to the cave monkeys had made their home, looking for easy pickings from the tourists. They had no hesitation in grabbing anything that looked to be edible from the hands of people.

Inside the caves

We finally set off on the long journey home at around 1:30pm. I settled myself in the back seat and tried to get some sleep. Not easy as we were still in the hills and  the roads were very winding and bumpy. Not to mention the local jeep taxi's trying to ram us off the road (they literally come straight for you at full speed!). After 2 hours we reached the main highway. It was pretty much the same road all the way back to Hyderabad. I slept a lot of it, thankfully, and didn't ned to use any facilities (thank god). We stopped for dinner and Venkata & JC kept asking me if I wanted more to eat - that was the last thing I wanted to do. I had some rice and a small amount of butter chicken. Eventually we reached my apartment - it was about 4am. I went straight to bed, exhausted but glad I went on the trip.  

Road to Vizag...

This weekend was going to be interesting. Venkata had arranged a weekend road trip to an area called Vizag, about 700km away from Hyderabad. Now given how Indians drive and the general state of the roads, some might think this was a tad foolish - but I was up for an adventure.  You have to take advantage of these opportunities. We were joined by Jayachand (JC for short), who would be sharing the driving with Venkata. We set off at 3:30pm on Friday.  It was nice to get out of hyderabad for a change and leave all the crowds behind. The scenery became more rural, and I saw lots of buffalo & goats being taken back to their pens for the night. Sometimes they were on the road, but this is normal in India. The road at this stage was good, but sometimes you'd get a car going the wrong way, heading straight towards us! Ventaka said this is normal - no rules in India! We stopped for dinner after about 6 hours in a busy town on the river Krishna. We had butter chicken with nan bread - really nice. It was dark now and we still had another 6 hours to go! I managed to get some sleep but not much.

Sunrise over Araku Valley

At about 6:30 am we entered a region called Araku Valley - famous as a region of outstanding natural beauty and an indigenous local tribe who inhabit the area. We started climbing up into the mountains and had a great view of the sun rising. We also spotted some monkeys who seemed very interested in us - much to the dismay of JC, who quickly got back in the car! We continued to our hotel - The Hill Resort in the town of Araku. The location was fantastic - looking out over part of the lush valley, with paddy fields and jungle in the distance. We had a late breakfast, then had a rest in the rooms. After an hour we got back in the car and went for a drive, ending up at a tribal village. The houses were very basic, with old clay roofs. They grow all their own food, and keep goats, chickens and buffalo.

The markets we saw were filled with amazing looking vegetables - all organic of course. We returned to the hotel late afternoon. For dinner Venkata had asked then to prepare a local speciality - chicken cooked in a piece of bamboo on an open fire. They put out a table for us right by the fire. It was a great end to the day - sitting outside, chatting, drinking beer and eating great food. At one point a whole colony of large bats flew overhead.

Vegetables at local market

Preparing the chicken in bamboo

Talk of  recent tigers sightings in the area caught our attention.  Apparently one of the locals had seen a tiger cross a road beside a small temple where it drank from a pool before heading into the jungle further down the valley. We were considering heading out to that area to see f we could see it - probably the beer talking, then thought better of it. The chances of seeing it were negligible, plus the roads at night would be very dangerous. Still, it was nice to know that they were out there. 

Hotel heaven...

Staying at the Westin Hotel at Mindspace for 3 days had a lot of advantages, the main one being with Sarah of course, but I also had a bit of luxury after having a week in my apartment. It also meant that I could walk to Novartis rather than the daily stress of the Hyderabad traffic! On Monday after work I met up with Sarah and other colleagues of hers in the bar of the hotel.  It was a good evening, and was pretty late by the time we went back to our room  (1am is my guess). Back in the room I tried and failed to watch the US Open final - shame really given the result!

Sarah left early Tuesday morning for work so I snatched an extra hours sleep. Went  for breakfast and met up with Bill & Sheila from Novartis. Had another long day to work - got back about 8pm (an 11 hour day!) feeling knackered and hungry! As I arrived Sarah & the others were also arriving after their team-building event - so we all went to the bar again! Said my goodbye to Sarah at 7am the following morning, who was flying up to Mumbai, then went back to bed! Looks like I may be moving apartment soon - fingers crossed!

Out and about at the weekend....

Taramati Baragati

Saturday I met up with Sujoy and his girlfriend Sneda. We went to a nice place for lunch - very posh Indian restaurant. Sneda ordered the food, which was served by a waitor all dressed up in traditional Indian costume and holding a skewer with flaming chicken! After lunch we headed out to Hussain Sagar Lake, famous for it's giant 40ft buddha on an island in the centre. Cameras were not allowed since someone was caught taking pics of girls recently, so we had to leave our SLRs with a security bloke. Luckliy I had my Canon compact! We took the boat our and looked around the statue for a while, taking some photos, including one of me looking like Lady Diana all on my own. We then went to Taramati Baragati which was a kind of arched building built in 1625 on top of a hill. On our way I saw a bloke crawling accross the street - not sure why! The views from Taramati were fantastic, and the sunset was breathtaking. On the way back we saw a buffalo that had been hit by a car, with about 20 people standing around it, probably thinking 'now what do we do?' They then took me back to my apartment - all in all a good day!

Charminar mosque

Sarah arrived in Hyderabad early Sunday morning. I met up with her at the Westin hotel around 10am. I was looking forard to seeing her again, and also having a bit of luxery for 3 days! We had breakfast and then chatted by the pool for a couple of hours - very nice & relaxing. I tried the pool which was pretty cold! After a brief lunch we met Venkata. He drove us into Charminar in the old part of Hyderabad. The streets were alive with activity! We part near the large mosque and wondered around the bazars. This area is famous for bangles, and Ventata helped Sarah haggle for one. There were shops selling all kinds of goods - pure sensory overload! We tried to gte into see the large Mecca, but Sarah was not allowed in as she was wearing shorts! I went in & took a few photos. A Muslim outside put some perfume of some kind on my hand - was pretty nice! I really like this area of Hyderabad - it's alive this people & amazing sites. Ventaka then took us past Hussain Sagar (on  the 'Necklace Road') on our way back to the Westin. Sarah and I had dinner with Rajesh at the 'Exotica' - on the top floor, open at the sides. There was a nice breeze and the food was great. We dropped Rajesh off and headed back to the hotel. Sarah had done really well given that she'd just arrived  that morning!

First week in Hyderabad.......

Well, it's been quite a first week in Hyderabad! This is the start of a 10 week experience in India - hope you enjoy my postings. I will try to update on a regular basis. This first post summarizes my first week......

The flight from the US on last weekend was fine - arrived in Dubai at some stupid hour. Wondered around looking at all the gold, a bit then hit the Emirates lounge for wine & nuts! Finally got to Hyderabad at 4am Monday morning, and was met by the Emirates driver, complete with suit & cap! Little did I know that another driver was also waiting for me - sent by the Athome Apartments where I would be staying!

View from apartment balcony

After having got lost in Hyderabad, we finally arrived at the apartment at about 5:30am. First impression of  the apartment was not that great - bit of a strange odour and very dim lighting. The apartment is big - a 3 bedroom place with kitchen, lounge and dinning room. I selected the room with the biggest bed, dumped my stuff and crashed.

Woke at about 10am and started unpacking. Moth balls in the closets - that was the smell - lovely! My first task was to get some bottled water & basic supplies - ended up with water, beer, biscuits & chocholate!

Showered and headed to work. the had assigned a driver to me - 'Ramakrisha'  - henceforth to be 'Rama'. He seemed a nice bloke but his English is not that great - but better than my Hindi! Hit the Hyderabad traffic - I forgot how bad it is - totally crazy!!

Back from work and I started noticing problems with the apartment (not just the smell). Almost no cutlery, no bowls, tiny coffee cups, and the door to the balcony had no lock! To be fair, these are now sorted - they seem to be responsive to my complaints. Had dinner at the restaurant - Indian veggie buffet.

Next day I didn't feel so good. Not sure if it was the dinner from the night before, or change in climate, jet-lag of all three. Spent some time on the bog - think you get the picture......

Wednesday went out in evening with Sujoy who kindly offered to show me some alternative accommodation. Sawn Suites was  not that great - think I'm better off where I am! We got a bit lost on the way back to Athome, but that was just part of a fun night. Very kind of Sujoy to give up his evening. He even stopped by to look at my apartment & made some suggestions for improving it - like getting rid of 2 old mattresses in a closet that were contributing to the interesting aroma!

Extreme Sports Bar

On Friday I went out for dinner & a drink with Venkata. Ended up a the 'Extreme Sports Bar'. We were the only ones there....but had a great night playing pool & drinking beer. On the walls there were flags from various sports teams - including Newcastle United! Good way to end my first week in India......