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  Hyderabad, India
Tuesday, December 11, 2007

After a lot of help and kindness from various Indians on the train, i got as bunk at 11pm on the first night, and from then onwards had a very comfortable journey to Hyderabad, where i spent a nightmarish few hours trawling the streets in the late evening with my bags trying to find a room, before eventually getting a shitty but cheap one amongst the staffs quarters in a hotel by the train station. Then had a wicked Thali to round off the evening.
Taking in the many sights of Hyderabad on foot was my task for the next day. A bustling city, with roads arguably crazier though definately cleaner than Kolkatas and fewer beggars though from my experiences much more annoying ones. I had one beggar follow me here for about 15 minutes, constantly standing in my way groaning 'uurgh' and pointing at food vendors or shops, trying to get me to cave in and buy him things. In desperation he even took his shirt off in the hope i would be embarrassed into giving him money to get rid of him. He really pissed me off!
Many of the buildings here are the work of Vincent Esch and make for interesting sites for those interested in Architecture or those who just like photos of impressive looking buildings (me being the latter). The pink granite of the high court giving it an unusual ornate look. The char minar, built between 1591 and 1612 by sultan Mohammad Quli Qutb Shah is seen as the showpiece of the old city of Hyderabad. By the time i arrived here the area was frantically packed with the usual vendors selling overpriced fruits, tacky tourist souvenirs and then the vendors who seemingly sell absolutely anything everywhere, along with the inevitable horde of beggars.

one of the nicer buildings in Hyderabad

An interesting site to photograph, though not much else to it really for me. The Mecca Masjid held a similar position in my opinion, as I'm not religious in the slightest so to me it is merely an interesting looking building (not meaning to be offensive to anyone here, its just there's no religious significance for me, though i appreciate its an important site for many people).
After wandering around more of the surrounding areas i returned to my hotel room, washed and found a place that was to become my restaurant of choice for dinner. Returned to the hotel to find a group of giddy Indian schoolgirls had just checked in and were obviously infatuated with the novelty white boy with the blonde hair and blue eyes. Once again the Ben photo shoot had to take place in the hotel lobby, before i could retire to my room.
Checked out the public gardens the following day where i was again approached by several groups of people, all wanting to ask all the usual questions about me and my life. Its as if i am a film star, which i found rather amusing as there was actually a Tamil film star here in the park, for they were filming a Tamil movie, yet many of the people were more interested in me than the filming.
Leaving the park, i went to the Birla Mandir or Venkateswara temple, only to find it had closed for lunch. The afternoon i had set aside for Golconda fort, so i decided the temple would have to wait till tomorrow.
After freshening up, i was about to depart for Golconda when a young guy from the hotel approached me and asked if he could come along with me to Golconda.

Like anyones gonna obey that

I got annoyed with him when he took charge (i let him as i figured he's living in the city and he is Indian, so he probably can get around better than me) and put us on the wrong bus so we had to get an auto for the rest of the journey. This in fact made for a memorable experience as we had 8 people inside one tiny rickshaw, where the seats are generally big enough to fit to in the front and two in the back, packed rather tightly. Hence i was comically hanging out of the side for most of the journey, much to my fellow Indian travelers amusement.
We made it to Golconda fort safely, one of many medieval forts throughout India and the site of the capital of the Qutb Shahi kings when they ruled the surrounding area from 1507 to 1687. Having a general stroll around we then went off down the road to the Qutub Shahi tombs, all of which are magnificent onion domed structures with fine sculptures and inscriptions throughout the buildings. They make for some nice photographs and we rushed around these before returning to the fort for what my guidebook described as the spectacular sound and light show. I felt rather bad at this point for getting a little angry with my friend earlier in the day for putting us on the wrong bus, as it turns out he is only here for the work, lives elsewhere and has been in Hyderabad about as long as me. I did apologise i hasten to add.
He couldn't afford the show (or didn't want to watch it, a little of both i think), so we said our goodbyes and he left as i went inside.

the high court i think

Billed as spectacular, i was really expecting something special here, especially as it incurs an extra entrance fee on top of that of the forts. One piece of advice for anyone going to Hyderabad. For gods sake do not attend this show, it is truly a waste of money. We were sat in the courtyard of the fort whilst lights of 3 different colours (wow, they have different coloured light bulbs!) lit up different parts of the fort as an unbelievably cheesy voice narrated a story to us. I wasn't the only one unimpressed, as many people were laughing at the cheesiness of the voice and left very early in the 'show'. Met a nice guy after the show and he helped me get the correct bus back to my hotel area.
Next day i went to check out the temple i had missed on the previous day. Built entirely of marble as recently as 1976 i believe, it is a stunningly beautiful building, though you'll never know from my blog as you cannot take a camera anywhere near it! Stunning views from the top of the city as well too.
Then it was back to the public gardens for a further accosting by people wanting to know me. First though, i was approached by a guy called Lateef, a businessman from the US who comes here because the production lines for his business are located here (and because he's from India so its his home so to speak). A nice guy and we talked for a while about all the usual crap, before he comes out with the fantastic question :-
'so Ben, have you ever had any homosexual experiences?'
'WHAT? What kind of a question is that to ask a stranger???' Politely i respond 'errr, no, no i have not'
'oh, its just that this area is famous with locals for being a gay pick up point during the day.'
Great, i always pick the best places to choose to go write my diary don't i! Anyway, he tells me that he has a wife and two kids (yes, maybe he's not trying to hit on me), then that they are divorced and he lives here in Hyderabad on his own at the moment (bugger, he is hitting on me).

and again

Thankfully he doesn't come on too strong, saying as i am also alone here in Hyderabad if i want to go for a drink sometime just to give him a call, giving me his business card and again stressing he lives alone. Nice guy, but i doubt I'll be taking him up on the offer (or taking him in any way for that matter!)
Sat against a tree to write my diary and pretty soon there was a crowd of literally 20-30 people of all ages, sitting around me just watching me write. This sot of thing i am used to now, though after about 1 hour the questioning was becoming too obstructive and i was never going to get my diary written, so i politely retired to my room.
Went for a meal in the evening where i have eaten for the last couple of days and the guys there recognised me and treated me like a local, sitting in front of me and refilling my bowls the second they were empty, without me asking. Was nice to be appreciated.
In the morning i thought I'd 'spread the wealth' and try the evil looking masala dosai woman instead of my usual guy. Its a good thing I'm a sort of believer in the whole karma thing now and a non violent person, otherwise she'd have a masala dosai on her head about now. When i asked her for one, she and her husband prepared the shoddiest dosai I've ever seen (I'd seen the nice ones the other people had too) and gave me no sauce of any kind to eat it with. When i protested there was no masala she then tore it to pieces showing me the tiny piece of masala inside. She'll get her comeuppance, Karma will make sure of that.
Talked to an Indian student for a while, well i say talked to him, but i have noticed that the way students talk to you here, its more like they are a reporter grilling a politician or something. I feel like i am under pressure all the time to produce the satisfactory answers for them, and many seem to have rather strong stereotypical views of English people which they almost try to force upon you, interrupting you when you try to correct them.
Talked to a very nice English lady back at my hotel, Charlotte, who was here in India tracing the roots of her family tree, an amazing idea if you ask me, then i headed for the train station to depart to Chennai.

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

the char minar	opposite mecca masjid	char minar 2	can you see the face here?
i thought it was pretty	char minar from afar (hey that rhyms!)	classic	looks more like yoda to me
view from Golconda	The indian guy from the hotel	Golconda	One of the tombs

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