This is the first of my attempts to catch up on my traveling around all these amazing places.
So Hyderabad is in the southeast of Delhi, which you can see from the Lonely Planet map below. It is known as an up and coming business/tech center, sort of like the next Bangalore. Many international corporations are building huge offices there, as you will see.
Char Minar is basically the symbol of the city. It literally means 4 towers. Sandip's cousin Malay was kind enough to be our tour guide at this and other sites you will see below.
Char Minar through a gateway.
A view from the foot of Char Minar. Don't you just love sepia?
View from top of Char Minar. You can see the vendors set up along the road, and the magnificent gate.
Us at the top of Char Minar.
Around Char Minar
Near Char Minar are interesting side roads that we explored both on foot and in car. Hyderabad has a large Muslim population, as you will see from some of the photos in the old town below. Also, one of the cooler places was the bangle market, which was completely overwhelming!
Typical side street with vendors along.
Store after store of bangles. Mom would be in heaven.
Close up of some of the more simple sparkly ones.
We asked this guy for directions. He is actually hand making a pot at the footsteps of a nearby mosque.
Street vendors
We saw this guy going door to door on a street. Not sure what he was doing, but what fabulous colors!
Chowmahalla Palace
Full disclosure here, I had to look up the name of this place. Ok, so this was the palace of the former Nizams (basically rulers) of Hyderabad. India was many different kingdoms, and the Nizams ruled from the early 1700s to independence. It was a really nice palace.
Sandip hiding behind dragons on the cannon in front of the main palace area.
Us and the palace. You can see chairs in the background-they are setting up for a concert of some sort.
Inside the main receiving hall.
The palace grounds.
Golkanda Fort
On Sunday we all went to the Golkanda fort and had an amazing tour guide. It was built by a Hindu king, and taken over by Mughals. So you can see the blending of Hindu and Muslim which is kind of cool. It was our old friend Aurangabad (kid of Shah Jahan, builder of Taj Mahal, imprinsoned dad, killed off his siblings-kind of a bad guy in history) who actually conquered this fort, though he had help from an inside traitor. Once you see the pictures you will know why he needed help.
Oh, the day we went was a holiday, though neither Sandip nor I can remember what it was. All I do remember is there were tons of families there bringing a small kitchen worth of food to cook on premises, and there were live chicken beheadings near the Hindu temple. Seriously.
People cooking their meals.
Near the entrance of the fort. The acoustics are such at that if you are at the top of the fort (300ft higher than the entrance I might add) you can hear the people coming in. Such a clever design.
All of us at the fort.
I think this is the mosque, but not sure.
The Hindu temple near which these sacrifices were taking place.
At the top of the fort.
Looking down from the top.
That is the entrance I was talking about. This picture is taken from the spot at which you can hear the people coming in. Just absolutely brilliant.
Oh another cool acoustic thing I didn't get a photo of was the judgement hall. They brought people in to plead their case before the king. If an accused tried to draw a sword or bow and arrow to attack the king, the acoustics picked that up too. Needless to say those folks didn't make it out alive
I think this is the harem,. but I am not sure
Other Random Stuff
We are standing in the middle of a road where the international companies are building. Literally vast openness and lots of building cranes. This road has NO ONE on it, though we both suspect in 5 years it will be impossible to take a photo like this because of all the traffic.
Oh., there is also a lake with a giant Buddha statue in it.
