Last weekend a few of us ventured out to visit old city again.  CIEE had taken us around to some of the tourist spots in the are, but we wanted to explore a bit more.  We started off by climbing Charminar…

The name Charminar comes from Farsi and Arabic, and it means four minarets. Each the structures pilars contains a winding staircase.  The stairwell is probably about 3.5ft wide, and most of the steps are almost a foot high.  The view from atop Charminar is simply amazing.  One of the most interesting things about India in general is the juxtapostion of historal landmarks and modern life.

The entire area surrounding Charminar is filled with autos and street vendors.  You can find just about anything on the streets surrounding the structure.  We saw one vender with a pile of, at least, fifty used remote controls on his blanket.  Charminar is at the center of a 4-way intersection, but the majority of the shops and vendors are all on one road that leads away from the center of the city through a pair of gates. The main road is home to a wide variety of shops, but each of the side steets is dedicated to one specific type of vendor; fabric, shoes/sandals, jewelry, etc.  We wondered down one of the side streets where the food and produce vendors were concentrated.  After walking down the road for a few minutes we came upon a small farmers market in the middle of the city.  There were fresh vegetables, grains, spices, goats, and chickens.  Hyderabad has the largest Muslim population in the south of India, and meat is fairly prevalent in the city.  It was one of the first times that we felt as though we were seeing the ‘real’ India.

One of the best things about wondering around the city is that it’s virtually impossible to get lost.  As long as you’re in a well populated area (which is all of Hyderabad) there’s always an auto around the corner ready to pick you up and take you where you need to go.  Exploring the area much less stressful when you don’t need to look at a map to ensure you’ll make it back home.

Yesterday we were taken on a tour of the major historical sites around the city…

We started off at the Qutub Shahi Tombs.  The are has around 30 tombs, and a few mosques, from the Qutub Shahi dynasty; which lasted for around 170 years.  The structures vary in size, and the surrounding gardents are absoultely beautiful.

Next, we moved on to the Old City section of Hyderabad.  There we were able to see Charminar, an old hospital, and the Mecca Masjid.  Charminar is the center of the old section of Hyderabad, and the structure is over 400 years old; it was also built turing the Qutub Shahi dynasty.  The other building that is adjacent to Charminar was used as a hospital.  I’m not sure of the history of the building, but our tour guide said it had been used as a hospital at one point.

Just down the street from Charminar is the Mecca Masjid, which is the oldest and largest mosque in Hyderabad (possibly in all of Andhra Pradesh).  The mosque is currently under construction, but we were able to enter the grounds.  The girls all had to wear head coverings.  Luckily, we went on our shopping excursion the day before and most of us were wearing our new outfits; complete with dupattas (the long scarves worn with Salwar Kameez).

From Charminar, we walked down to Chowmahalla Palace.  The grounds are absolutely beautiful, and the entire time we were there my mind was buzzing with design ideas.  We had an hour or so to walk around the complex before we were brought into one of the side buildings for lunch on site.  We were served authentic Hyderabadi Biryani and Naan (which is very different from the naan back home) along with a few other dishes.

Finally, we headed to Golconda Fort.  Unfortunately, my camera died as we were leaving Chowmahalla.  So, I don’t have any pictures of Golconda.  We arrived and had a bit of a climb to the top, but from there you could see for miles and miles.  There was a small hindu temple near the top, and there were beautiful rock paintings of gods.  After spending some time at the top of the fort we made our way back down to watch a ‘Sound and Light’ show, which started just after sunset.  Colored lights and speakers were set all over the fort, and the show told stories of the fort’s history.

View from the bottom.

Light show.

7 Wonders of Hyderabad - Not exactly the best looking site, but it has a lot of information on a few of the places we visited.

More photos at www.flickr.com/photos/sheraray

**The photos of Golconda and the Mecca Masjid are not mine, but all of the others are.

They keep us pretty busy every day, and we have lots of meetings and activities.  The most noticiable thing about India when I first arrived was the smell (it’s cliche but true) there’s nothing like it.  It’s not necessarily a bad thing.  A overall musky smellinterupted by wafts of jasmine flowers.

The campus is HUGE.  It takes about 20 - 30min to walk from the Intl. student dorm down to the front gate.  There are wild animals everywhere, and everyone keeps to the main roads; cows, water buffalo, boars, peacocks, and dogs.  The dining area is great too; awesome indian cooking at every meal.

My first full day here (since I came at the end of the 1st day) was great.  We had a few lectures in the morning, and then they took us out on a bus tour of the surrounding.  We had a chance to stop into some of the shops, and get a real good look at the area.  When we got back to campus there was a performance by a band of local musicians.  Unity Fusion Band is a group of classically trained musicians that play a music that combines traditional indian and western classical styles.  I was able to get a 10min video of one of the songs they performed, and I’m hoping to get it up online in the next few days if the internet cooperates.

The second day they sent us out into the city with our soon-to-be language peer tutors.  We were given 100 rupees to break into smaller change, and we had to use as many modes of local transport as possible.  There are 3 and 7 seater auto rickshaws (autos), but that really means 8 to 4.  The buses could be compared to getting the T after a sox game at rush hour…all the time.  The CIEE program staff really do a lot to make sure that we’ll have the best, and safest, experience possible while we’re here.  They know all of our names, and have helped us get all sorts of forms and paper work filed with the state/local government.  They also have great suggestions about local shops and entertainment and can arrange transportation for us if needed. After our lil trek around the city we came back for lunch and then they took the group out to see a bollywood movie (ridiculous songs, and all) at a local theater…a group of us are already planning our Harry Potter outing in the coming week.

Today was the first real day where we had free time for more than half an hour, and then they took us out to Fusion 9 (a REALLY nice restaurant) for our welcome dinner.  Myself and another girl in the program got to cut the welcome cake (which was delicious chocolate) because we were the 1st and last students to arrive on campus.

It’s been a really busy couple of days, and tomorrow they’re taking us shopping for clothes.  So, there will definitely be pictures to come of everyone decked out in Salwar Kameez and Sari…

Operation get to Hyderabad according to the plan = maximum fail…hahaha

Flight out of Boston was delayed, which meant only 30min to get from plane A to plane B…not so much.  Spending the night in JFK airport and splurged on $6 wireless.

Everyone’s busy cleaning up the airport for tomorrow and i got to watch them zamboni the floors…they look like they’d be super fun to race.  I bet they have underground airport floor-cleaning-zamboni rings…I hope.

I managed to find a nice lil waiting/crashing area to hang out in until I can check in with my flight in the morning.  The only hitch is they’ve got the AC set to about -5000F…what I wouldn’t give for a slanket.  To be simultaneously wrapped in a blanket and have my arms free for reading/inter-webbing? ahhhhh to dream…hahaha