Finding the Unicorn

After almost 2 full days having a look around Hyderabad the thing that stands out most for me is the noise of the traffic!! The noise of it all is just amazing.

But lets go back to what has happened since my last post….

After a massage I picked up my bag from the Suk and thinking I had another 2 hours to kill decided to just “check” my flight time anyway. Boy am I glad I get “feelings” that tell me to check things. As usual the “feeling” was a good thing because it was actually time to be leaving the Suk in a taxi – not time to hang out as I had thought. I hightailed it to the road and found a taxi driver, haggled for about 20 seconds and was on my way. I know the amount was still too much but it also happened to be right on peak traffic time.

This flight had none of the hassles of the last flight. By the way – I can’t believe Thai airways don’t have individual screens throughout their planes – especially for longer flights of 6 hours or more. I was seated next to an nice young Indian guy that has been studying in Australia.

We interrupt this spiel for an announcement – we just had power failures in the building with the exception of the computers. They must be on some sort of back-up plus generator or something. The lights go out but the computers don’t even blink. That’s power in India for you.

Back to the story… The flight was without incident and I have now had a taste of customs but I have to say that I have seen worse. Maybe Hyderabad is better than other airports in that respect. I caught a taxi to my first hotel and wondered how the driver could see anything through the windscreen. The Hotel was fine but has definitely seen better days. I shared a large room with a couple of timid cockroaches (I’m just thankful there aren’t any grasshoppers to be seen – yet). No need to use hot water for my shower but it was there none-the-less. My only gripe was that the mattress was like sleeping on a carpeted floor – absolutely no give. The hotel I am at now has the same mattresses too. I have been wishing the whole time that I had brought my inflatable mattress – my lower back is not liking my choice of beds. Laura, if you decide to come over, please bring my inflatable mattress with you!

Yesterday I was up early. Thirst and the mattress drove me to it. I didn’t have any bottled water with me, it was too late to get some when I arrived. So I asked for a place close by to have some breakfast and was directed to a restaurant around the corner – Rs50 / AUD1.50 for a buffet breakfast – that was already bustling with customers. They put a glass of water in front of me and it took me about 30 seconds of mind wrestling until I gave in and just went for it. I drank my fill!! Not even 12 hours in the place and already I am breaking the “travel in India” rule #1. 2 minutes later I broke rule #2 and ate paw paw cut into pieces. I figured if I was going to break the rules once I may as well get it all over and done with and do the rest of them. Besides, it seemed that the locals trusted the place so I figured I can too. Just to ease Mum’s mind, I had a Lassi as well to help with the flora situation. I then went back to the hotel to try to sleep some more. As it is I have not had any trouble yet with my digestive system.

Later that day I bought myself some local attire which I wore for the first time today. It hasn’t done anything to lessen the staring, but I am finding the salwar kameez quite comfortable. I even feel quite comfortable having the shawl just hanging there. Also I have adjusted it’s use to allow for the backpack. The sunnies sorta stand out too – i haven’t seen anyone else use them.

The weather is hot and dry – much like northerly weather in Victorian summers. There is a persistent haze but that might just be because I am in a city. The dirty exhaust factor, while evident, really isn’t much worse than Brisbane.

Today I went to the Char Minar, Hyderabad’s main drawcard. I went up to the top and wandered around looking at the view of the rest of the area. Adjacent is the huge Mecca Masjid that has room for up to 10 000 people at a time. Apparently about 70% of the population in Hyderabd is Moslem. It is called Mecca Masjid because a few centrally placed bricks were made from soil in Mecca and brought here especially for it’s construction. Afterwards I went back through the gauntlet of beggars to a rickshaw and off to a place to eat.

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 28th, 2007 at 12:29 am and is filed under India, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.