Hyderabad in 12 Hours

My first weekend In Hyderabad, I went sightseeing with Shikha, Vishal, Cory, and Jessica (she's from Portland).  We rented a car and explored the entire city.  I'm pretty sure I saw almost every historical site in 1 day.  It was a great day and we had so much fun seeing the city.

First Stop:  Birla Mandar aka The White Temple

We had to take off our shoes and walk around the temple barefoot.  My feet got very dirty.  The temple is made out of marble and was very big!  We couldn't take our cameras in with us, so we only have pictures from the parking lot.

Stop Two:  Charminar

I love Charminar!  It's a very busy part of the city.  It is especially known for their "bangles."  We climbed Charminar and had some spectacular vistas and then we went bangles shopping and boy did we go bangles shopping!  I love trinkets and souvenirs so India and me get along pretty well.  My wallet on the other hand may not like me so much, but I will definitely be lookin good when I get back to the states.

Stop Three:  Chowmahalla Palace

This palace was so cool!  I loved it!  No words needed.  See pictures below.

Stop Four:  Salar Jung Museum

We went here during the "hot" part of the day to try and escape the heat.  In these pictures, you can't see how sweaty and hot I'm feeling.  My college roommate lived in India for awhile and told me that wearing shorts is like being topless so I definitely didn't feel like giving any one a show.  No one wears shorts here.  I guess people's blood must be really thin otherwise how else do they survive?!!!.  We couldn't take cameras into the museum.  I only have a few photos from my phone.

At this point in the day, we needed a snack, so we got some ice cream which is called Kulfi in India.  Yum yum!

When you gotta go, you gotta go!  At this point of the trip, I really wished I was a guy!  

Late Lunch Break:  Ohry's

This was probably some of the best Indian food I've had my entire trip.  We got a lot of kabobs and naan and it was out of this world spectacular!  My favorite dish was the spicy chicken kabobs with cashews.  I definitely want to go back!  The food was great but the best part of the meal were the wine goblets.  For some reason, you just felt special when you drank your water from said goblet.  After every meal in India, they usually give you pan which is a "refresher" for your mouth.  To be quite honest, it taste like perfume and cologne and nasty soap.  I am not a fan.

The "pan"

Final Stop:  Golconda Fort

Forts are just cool.  Cory and Jessica left after lunch, but Shikha, Vishal, and me continued on!

Overall, this was a very successful day!  Seeing the sights were awesome!  I still have lots to do on this trip: Falaknuma Palace, Hookah, there's a Buddha statue that I want to visit, Kurta Shopping (yes, I will be buying Indian clothing), more Bollywood movies, and who knows what else is in store.  So stay tuned!