Hyderabad

The photo above was one of many selfies we had taken with the locals in Hyderabad. 

Hubs and I were in Hyderabad from 29 Oct to 7 Nov 2019. A good 9 days, at least for me. Hubs had to work. I had a long list as to where I wanted to explore and visit. Hubs joined me during the weekends.

This particular blog entry is about places and people that I had the opportunity to  photograph when I was in the car!!! Not the first photo of this blog entry though. The photo above was taken at Charminar, a historical place in downtown Hyderabad. I was ready to photograph its granite, limestone and marble structure. 

However, what I was unprepared for was, to be asked to take selfies with the local people! Everywhere we visited, be it alone or with Hubs, the locals would ask to take photographs with us. I remember when we visited a palace, a little girl came and asked me something in the Tamil language. I did not understand what she wanted so I shrugged my shoulders. She walked away with a sad face and then a man (her father, I think) yelled across with a camera in his hand. He said, "Photo! Photo!"  Ohhh, I quickly beckoned the little girl to come over, with a hug gesture. She ran over to me smiling and speaking at top speed!

I was fortunate to have a personal driver with me each day from the hotel and they obliged me when I said I wanted to visit here, there and everywhere. However, there were bazaars which they were reluctant to let me down to walk around.  Even when Hubs was with me, the driver would walk with us like our bodyguard. The drivers kept wanting me to go to the malls but I wanted to see Hyderabad. I was more interested in finding out how much a horse costs!

I learnt in Hyderabad that women wore sarees everyday. It is so refreshing to see the colorful sarees everywhere I went, even at the zoo. 

I learnt that nobody wears shorts and singlets in Hyderabad. In my 9 days there, and the sun was scorching hot everyday, nobody wore shorts.

I learnt that everybody wears slippers there and people seldom wear covered shoes.

I learnt that Hyderabad's nasi briyani is super duper delightful.

I learnt that pearls here are cheap and of good quality. 

That is why Hyderabad is known as the City of Pearls in India.

I hardly see tourists walking about in Hyderabad. I noticed that a lot of people are there for business, therefore, the hotels are filled with Europeans and Americans. Even when I explored Ramoji Film City, and that area was giant-sized, I only noticed ONE European girl walking together with an Indian girl.  No wonder I looked like an alien to the locals.

That's why they wanted selfies with me!

What do I think of Hyderabad?

I would want to visit Hyderabad again if I had the opportunity. It is not clean. Some sights are really not pretty. Nonetheless, they have wonderful food. In addition, the local people who crossed my path were kind and friendly. This city has plenty of history and beautiful ancient architecture.

I was flabbergasted when I saw Miss Camel walking along the streets of Hyderabad. 

Lots of interesting boutiques

Back lane

The traffic was horrendous and the honks were just as terrible.

The bazaar that sells bangles and gold and sarees

Assortment of nuts caught Hubs' eye

Not easy to cross the road

These 2 doggies were patiently waiting to be fed. After the man washed everything, he actually fed the doggies. I was impressed.

A bamboo stall by a main road

This lady was trying to sell a mobile phone, by a main road.

Loved to see ladies wearing such colorful sarees

Medical hall

Virinchi Hospital. I thought it was a museum!

Selling carpets

The oldest pearl shop in Hyderabad

Horse carriage for rent

Horses for sale

I made my driver ask how much did that horse cost. 2 Lakhs. That's about RM12,000.

Market

Took me a while to figure out what is a 'pan' shop in Hyderabad. Tobacco!

Grumpy-looking cows

Look at the amount of sand along the road. For the life of me, I could not comprehend why is there sand. Everywhere. Maybe that's why my drivers were reluctant to let me walk. Well, I did walk some and oh yeah, I was covered with sand when some motorists or a big ole lorry fly by me.