Our Indian mom, Bhavani, took all of us on a tour of Hyderabad of Saturday June 18th 2011. We piled into a school bus and went to the Salarjung Museum, Kamat Hotel (for lunch), Himalaya Book World, Charminar, Mecca Masji, Chowmahalla Palace, and Golconda Fort.
The Salarjung was a pretty spectacular ancient Indian art Museum. Besides the fact that the display quality was not up to standards the art itself was breath-taking. There were old photographs of Indian kings and political leaders that were fascinating to look at. The mere fact that India still had kings in the 19t and 20th centuries astonishes my naive little mind. The world that they lived in, even today, boggles my mind. The richness of its history yet India's independence happened in 1947.
At 12 o'clock we gathered around this musical clock (not only our group but probably 80 other people) to hear and see the clock strike 12. Our group had no idea what was happened but at noon sure enough this little drummer comes out and hits the drum 12 times and then gets the door slammed in his face. Everyone else was so excited and we were all sitting there confused. This museum is known for the singing clock and people come just to see that. I thought it was kinda strange but entertaining altogether.
After the museum we went to lunch at the Kamat Hotel. I don't really know what I had to eat there I can't tell you the names of food except for rice. There was rice and some red spicy stuff, and some green spicy stuff, some green really spicy stuff, some more spice, and naan. :) One thing is don't like about Indian food is that you don't know how spicy something is before you try it and then you're sweating and your mouth is on fire and you can't do anything about it.
We went to the Himalaya Book store after lunch and I bought a notebook for my Hindi notes and a Hindi to English dictionary. You have to be able to read Hindi in order to figure out the translation. So far I am doing pretty well I can read the words by sounding everything out slowly :)!
Then we went to Charminar, which in English means four towers. It is the most famous monument in all of Hyderabad. We climbed to the top and got to look out over the city, the busy streets and the crowds of people; you could see everything up there. When we were being the tourists that we are and taking pictures we would have an audience of Indian men taking our pictures with their cell phones and watching us intently. I am getting used to it because it happens everywhere we go.
Next we went to the Mecca Masji, which is one of the largest and most impressive mosques in South India. We had to take off our shoes and cover our head and ankles. Only Muslims are allowed inside the mosque but we were able to walk through the outside "hallway" and the courtyard. In the courtyard I was asked by at least 10 people to take pictures with them. I said yes, of course, because it is so hard for me to say no to people. And let's be honest, it's flattering.
The Salarjung was a pretty spectacular ancient Indian art Museum. Besides the fact that the display quality was not up to standards the art itself was breath-taking. There were old photographs of Indian kings and political leaders that were fascinating to look at. The mere fact that India still had kings in the 19t and 20th centuries astonishes my naive little mind. The world that they lived in, even today, boggles my mind. The richness of its history yet India's independence happened in 1947.
At 12 o'clock we gathered around this musical clock (not only our group but probably 80 other people) to hear and see the clock strike 12. Our group had no idea what was happened but at noon sure enough this little drummer comes out and hits the drum 12 times and then gets the door slammed in his face. Everyone else was so excited and we were all sitting there confused. This museum is known for the singing clock and people come just to see that. I thought it was kinda strange but entertaining altogether.
After the museum we went to lunch at the Kamat Hotel. I don't really know what I had to eat there I can't tell you the names of food except for rice. There was rice and some red spicy stuff, and some green spicy stuff, some green really spicy stuff, some more spice, and naan. :) One thing is don't like about Indian food is that you don't know how spicy something is before you try it and then you're sweating and your mouth is on fire and you can't do anything about it.
We went to the Himalaya Book store after lunch and I bought a notebook for my Hindi notes and a Hindi to English dictionary. You have to be able to read Hindi in order to figure out the translation. So far I am doing pretty well I can read the words by sounding everything out slowly :)!
Then we went to Charminar, which in English means four towers. It is the most famous monument in all of Hyderabad. We climbed to the top and got to look out over the city, the busy streets and the crowds of people; you could see everything up there. When we were being the tourists that we are and taking pictures we would have an audience of Indian men taking our pictures with their cell phones and watching us intently. I am getting used to it because it happens everywhere we go.
Next we went to the Mecca Masji, which is one of the largest and most impressive mosques in South India. We had to take off our shoes and cover our head and ankles. Only Muslims are allowed inside the mosque but we were able to walk through the outside "hallway" and the courtyard. In the courtyard I was asked by at least 10 people to take pictures with them. I said yes, of course, because it is so hard for me to say no to people. And let's be honest, it's flattering.
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