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Photos and stories from many of my travels in the past 5 years

Philippines 2011: Flying over South China Sea for the first time

By Mithun Divakaran
/
Aug 06, 2011
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Philippines, Travel

Planning a trip to the Philippines began with the most unlikeliest of inspirations — an e-mail forward from my father. Not even a good official one, but one of those e-mails that had numerous ‘fwd: FW: Fwd:’ before the actual subject line of ‘can you believe Philippines has such beauty?!’ followed by numerous exclamation marks.

I usually disregard the images I find in such e-mails as they’re usually not from the country they claim to be but upon checking up some of the names of the places they showcased, I was quite surprised about how little I knew of their existence!

It dawned to me I knew very little about Philippines, this despite having grown up in the Middle East where (just like Indians) millions of them come to work. As a kid, all I knew about Filipinos is that a lot of them work in fast food joints or play in a band — and they don’t have the letter ‘F’ in their vocabulary. So I would often hear “500 pils” instead of “500 fils” when asked for change.

I learnt of Banaue and its famous rice terraces, the beautiful beaches of Boracay and Palawan, but the place that made me wish I was there was the remote island of Batanes. It was then, early 2010, I decided to consider making a trip to Philippines.

It was quite challenge really, because trying to study the geography of Philippines wasn’t easy.

Philippines country regions provinces map — (Image source: Wikipedia)

Philippines is an archipelago of 7,107 islands. Sure, many of those thousands are really tiny to even identify on a map but still, getting around the country isn’t easy. It requires some learning beforehand. Since it’s not a landlocked country like most of Thailand, you have to commute via road, ferry, and airlines just to get to certain places within the country.

I initially thought of clubbing Philippines & Thailand last year but it was proving to be quite expensive. So I decided to give Philippines it’s own time.

That time was early this year, when things weren’t looking too good at my workplace. We all knew what was coming our way with the fate of the office and so, instead of prepping up my resume and looking for another job, I researched more on Philippines instead 🙂 When things became official in March and we all knew we were going to be laid off, I booked my tickets!

I tried Air Asia first but at around INR19k, it wasn’t as cheap as I thought it would be. Plus the timings were inconvenient. I land late at night and my connecting flight would have been at 7am the next morning. No way I was going to spend that long at KL LCCT! So I checked all the usual Indian travel websites and got the best deal from Travelocity for a Malaysia Airlines flight at Rs. 26,153 ($584/€411) return. Yes, it was more than Air Asia, but it was going to be convenient, so I didn’t mind paying a bit extra for that. Also, I would get proper meals, land at KLIA and not the present ~~warehouse~~budget terminal. More importantly, the time I had to wait for my connecting flight was lesser.

Philippines Airlines had just launched their direct flight service to New Delhi (only), but it was quite expensive, so flying the Philippines national carrier was not a possibility.

Next came the visa. When I researched on the tourist visa, I was happy to find out Philippines offer a 21-day visa-on-arrival for a 147 nations! Great, I thought… until I scanned down the list and couldn’t find India one among those 147 countries -_-

So I ended up at the website of the Philippines embassy in New Delhi and found out I have to pay Rs. 2320 for a tourist visa (and for just 21 days). Since I couldn’t fly to Delhi just to get a visa, I had to get it done through an agent. Some agents wouldn’t even do it, and one moron even asked for Rs. 10,000 as service charges! But I walked into the nearby Thomas cook office in Koramangala (inside Raheja Arcade) and got my visa processed by paying their Rs. 1000 service charge. At Rs. 3320, this was the most I had spent on a South East Asian visa so far, and that too for a single entry visa. My multiple entry Singapore visa for 2 years cost just Rs. 1800 and my 1 year Malaysia visa cost just Rs. 1500. Thailand was free visa-on-arrival the two times I went.

My travel period was from 16th April to 4th May and I chose the dates keeping in mind the main focus of my trip was to photograph the Easter crucifixions in San Fernando. The rest of my itinerary would see me visit the largest American war cemetery outside of the United States, traverse throughout the Ifugao province for my fix of rice terrace farms, see coffins hung on hill sides, Cebu, see odd-shaped hills in Bohol and finally enjoy the natural beauty of Palawan island. I was looking for ‘interesting’ with this trip, so I ruled out Boracay — the nation’s most popular island destination, and the most touristy. Unfortunately, Batanes was out of this trip plan as well, simply because it was too expensive to even get there. No budget carrier (and Philippines has enough of them) flies to Batanes and even those that do only fly if they get enough passengers. Batanes is that remote an island.

As days passed by, I felt a bit nervous and kept having second thoughts about spending a lot of money during uncertain times. Sure, the Philippines currency value was the same as the Indian rupee, so that really helped! But still, here I was, going on vacation when all my colleagues were busy job hunting. Plus, I was going to be visiting a new country, one that like Thailand (to the eyes of the ignorant) has a sketchy reputation. I knew what I was going to see, and I was looking forward to see if they live up to the hype, but still…

One ray of hope that eased me up a bit came my way two weeks before my departure date when one of my readers left me a comment telling me how much she appreciated my website and that I “should visit the Philippines sometime!”

🙂

That blessing of a reader couldn’t have come at a better time and after we got in touch, she would be of great help to me, even helping me out with some bookings. I felt much better knowing I had a local contact, which always helps!

Leaving Bangalore airport Malaysia Airlines flight to Kuala Lumpur — Now I was ready to fly!

Malaysia Airlines seafood meal Bangalore flight — I had pre-booked a seafood meal for a change and while the tuna and veggies were good, I couldn’t help but envy my co-passengers with their ‘regular’ meals enjoying their creamy desserts and chocolates when all I got was cold fruits. It’s as though Malaysia gimped on the rest of the meal given how much fish costs. Sucks

Kuala Lumpur international airport tower Malaysia — Selamat pagi* Malaysia! (*Good morning)

Kuala Lumpur International Airport KLIA gates — I landed on time and took this around 7:45am

Kuala Lumpur International airport duty free liqour Malaysia — This was my first time in Kuala Lumpur International airport as last year I flew Air Asia

Kuala Lumpur airport KLIA Harrods store Malaysia — There’s a mini-Harrods (Impressed with how sharp this photo came out)

Kuala Lumpur International Airport Cadbury store Malaysia — They have an exclusive Cadbury store here too

Kuala Lumpur International airport duty free Malaysia — I loitered around the Duty Free for a while

Post loitering, I found my gate and sat in front of it. I tried to catch some sleep but ended up going online to kill time for the next 4 hours.

KLIA grey skies Malaysia morning — It was grey skies even until noon in Sepang

I boarded my second Malaysia Airlines flight for this trip in the afternoon and I was now en route to Philippines.

Sepang city Malaysia flight aerial view takeoff — Selamat tinggal Malaysia!

Leaving Malaysian shores aerial view flight — Leaving Malaysian shores…

South China sea spotted clouds blue water — … and flew over the South China Sea for the first time

South China sea cloud over islands — Which was a welcome pleasant change of scene for me

I took a break from staring outside my window to eat some peanuts.

Malaysia Airlines salted peanuts allergy information — Well… duh 🙂

South China sea small hilly island aerial — Back to staring out into the blue

South China sea islands aerial photograph — Beautiful

South China sea huge cloud over islands aerial photography — Awesome

Malaysia Airlines meal packaging Manila flight — Okay, break time. Lunch had arrived!

Malaysia Airlines seafood meal Manila flight — Seafood meal again. Tuna steak and veggies again. ‘Regular’ meals came with Cadbury chocolates besides pudding for dessert. I got dried raisins. Seriously -_-

South China sea line clouds aerial view island — Meal done, back to blue

South China sea oval island aerial photograph — Submerged?

South China Sea boomerang island submerged aerial photograph — Needless to say, I really enjoyed this flight

South China sea moon afternoon aerial photograph — Hello moon…

It got cloudy after this, so I lowered the shades and caught up on some sleep.

South China sea mountains above clouds aerial photograph — Woke up an hour later to the announcement we were approaching Manila

Entering mainland Philippines shores aerial photograph — Hello Philippines

Philippines Manila aerial photography — Manila city

Manila port Philippines aerial photography — Manila port

Manila city evening aerial photograph — Metro Manila is the 8th most populous metro in Asia

Manila sunset from plane Philippines — It was nearing 5pm in Philippines

Manila Taguig city building construction Philippines — The flight was a bit early… which is never a bad thing (as long as the traffic control clears it)

About to land manila international airport — About to land

Landed Ninoy Aquino International Airport Manila Philippines — Ninoy Aquino International Airport

So after nearly a total of 8 hours of flying, I was finally in Philippines. Phew, long journey!

Arrival Ninoy Aquino International Airport Manila Philippines — How’s the airport? Quite old and in much need for an upgrade. Well, at least Terminal I was in.

I got my passport stamped, got my bags rather quickly, converted some dollars and I was out in around 15 minutes. The first thing I wanted to do was get a local SIM and fortunately Globe was handing out free SIMs (though they were mostly for OFWs*).

I hired a pre-paid yellow taxi (which would later turn out to be a mistake) and asked him to take me to Kabayan Hotel in Pasay, which was close to the airport. I chose Kabayan as it was a popular recommendation online. Plus, I didn’t want to spend too much time in traffic just to get to touristy Makati.

But despite how close the hotel looked on the map from the airport, getting there still took nearly 45 minutes in evening traffic. It cost 250 pesos ($5/€4) which is far more than what I thought it would cost. Anyway, I went to the hotel reception, booked a single room for myself and checked in.

Kabayan Hotel single room Manila Philippines — My A/C single room, PHP950 per night ($22/€15)

Kabayan is pretty cool. They have rooms ranging from dorms all the way up to deluxe rooms and from prices starting as low PHP610, they are very popular. And get this, you get complimentary breakfast and lunch! They also have free wi-fi among other great amenities.

Kabayan hotel rooms Manila Philippines — The toilets and shower rooms are down the hall and in between (clean and well kept)

Oh by the way, they don’t use the word toilets much in Philippines, instead it’s ‘Comfort Rooms’ or ‘CR’ 🙂

I stepped out again because I needed to buy some credit for the Globe SIM so that I could inform my family of my safe arrival. Since I was out, I decided to grab dinner early. It soon struck me just how much fast food Filipinos eat. Mc Donalds and homegrown Jollibee was everywhere — and they both had multiple branches within meters of each other — and all of them were doing brisk buisness! As the fast food chains are too chicken to sell beef burgers here in India (due to religious politics), a good ol’ cheeseburger was what I was craving. I picked up a burger from Jollibee, a doughnut from 7-11 and some water.

The area I was in was quite a busy part of town as it was a major hub for transportation, so you get everything you need as far as convenience stores, supermarkets and eateries go. It’s also a very noisy area, mostly because of the jeepneys.

But Kabayan does a good job of cutting out the noise once you’re inside the hotel. I took a nice warm bath and then had my dinner. I called my aforementioned reader (whose name is Aimee) and we spoke for a while. She told me the pre-paid yellow taxi at the airport are priced way more than the usual taxis I could have gotten had I just walked a bit further out. Also, there were frequent airport buses that drop people to Pasay and back. Oh well, rookie mistake.

Kabayan hotel single pad LCD tv Manila Philippines — Unlike many hotels in this price range, Kabayan has a good selection of channels which even included Zee TV (the only Indian channel though)

Given that I hadn’t slept properly in nearly 24 hours, I called it an early night.

I couldn’t wait for tomorrow to begin!

——–

Please note: In this series of posts, I won’t be mentioning conversion rates for Indian rupees as both Philippines Peso (PHP/₱) and the Indian Rupee are more or less on a 1:1 value ratio. So Rs. 100 is like PHP98. Therefore only US dollar and Euro conversion rates will be mentioned.

*OFW = Overseas Filipino Workers; similar to NRI (Non-Resident Indian)

Other posts in this series:

Philippines 2011: Day 1 — Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, Fort Bonifacio

Philippines 2011: Day 2 – Banaue rice terraces; trekking to Batad village

Philippines 2011: Day 3 – Banaue town; heading to Sagada via Bontoc

Philippines 2011: Day 3 – Sagada’s Lumiang burial cave, Sumaguing cave, Hanging Coffins of Echo valley

Philippines 2011: Leaving Sagada for Baguio, and arriving in Angeles city (Days 4 & 5)

Philippines 2011: Day 6 – Good Friday in San Fernando, San Pedro Cutud Lenten Rites

Philippines 2011: Day 7 – Leaving Angeles City for Manila, Mall of Asia

Philippines 2011: Day 8 – Manila tour: Rizal Park, Intramuros, Manila Cathedral, China Town

Philippines 2011: Day 9 – Cebu: Fort San Pedro, Basilica of Santo Niño, Taoist Temple

Philippines 2011: Day 10 – Bohol tour: Chocolate Hills, Loboc river cruise, Tarsiers, churches

Philippines 2011: Day 11 – Arriving in Puerto Princesa, Palawan

Philippines 2011: Day 12 – Puerto Princesa Underground River tour, Palawan

Philippines 2011: Day 13 – Puerto Princesa to El Nido by bus

Philippines 2011: Day 14 – El Nido island hopping tour A and sunset at Las Cabanas beach, Palawan

Philippines 2011: Back to Manila, shopping, and my final thoughts about the country (Final post)

Hyderabad 2010: Day 2 — Golconda Fort

By Mithun Divakaran
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Aug 04, 2011
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Hyderabad, India, Travel

Date: 27th December 2010

Day two in Hyderabad started a bit late, on purpose. We were lazy to get out of bed and only decided to do so around lunch time. We took an aurorickshaw and headed towards Lakdi ka pul, as we were advised by our Hyderabadi friend that there are frequent buses from here to Golconda Fort.

We had lunch from one of the restaurants behind the main Lakdi ka pul bus stop, (edit: Ramesh tells me the name was New Paradise Hotel) and yes, we tried the biriyani from here as well. It was alright.

Post lunch, we took the bus that dropped us to Golconda Fort. The entry fee was Rs. 5 for Indians; foreigners have to pay Rs. 100 ($2.2/€1.6) I believe. No extra charge for cameras, but there is a Rs. 25 levy for video cameras/camcorders.

At the entrance we were approached by tour guides to whom we initially said no. But one young chap told us he’ll give us a brief introduction and overview of what all there is to see inside. Only after that need we take a decision whether to hire him as our guide or not.

Golconda fort entrance guards fort Hyderabad — A small 'guard's fort' outside the main enclosed fort

Golconda fort entrance tower Hyderabad — This is the main entrance

Golconda Fort map Hyderabad India — To the left and right as you walk in are artifacts like knives, armaments, and other relics

Golconda Fort entrance clap sound echo Hyderabad — From the spot where the girl is standing, if you clap, not only does it echo loudly in here, but it can be heard all the way up at the highest point of the fort. It was designed to work for the guards as a warning mechanism in the olden days. Amazing.

Golconda Fort guide Ramesh Loiyumba Hyderabad — This was our guide, at the end we decided to hire him. He told us the rate was Rs. 600, to be paid at the end of the tour.

Golconda Fort directions Hyderabad — All that we were going to be seeing inside

Golconda Fort guide Hyderabad India — The guide would stop at designated places and begin explaining the various design aspects and history behind this impressive fort

Golconda Fort school kids weight Hyderabad — Unfortunately, I don't remember anything what the guide told me about this tunnel

Golconda Fort iron weight Hyderabad — Apparently this heavy metal weight was used to test the strength of soldiers during recruitment

Golconda Fort iron weight Ramesh Hyderabad — Whatever it was for, none of us could barely even manage to lift it even a milimetre off the ground. It was that heavy!

Golconda Fort Nagina Bagh garden Hyderabad India — Nagina Bagh

Golconda Fort steps up Hyderabad India — We headed up

Golconda Fort way to Ramdas jail Hyderabad India — We were going inside here next

Golkonda fort priest Ramdas jail Hyderabad India — Ramdas worked as a revenue collector for the ruler at the time. He was jailed here for defiance and in the years he spent inside, he carved Hindu deities on the wall so he could pray.

Golkonda Fort temple Ramdas Jail Hyderabad India — Hindus today visit to pay obeisance to Ramdas

Golconda fort sunlight shining through Ramdas jail Hyderabad India — Ramdas got a pretty spacious jail... but not much ventilation

Golconda Fort above Ramdas jail Hyderabad India — This is from on top of Ramdas jail

As we stared into the panoramic view from atop Ramdas Jail, we asked our guide if there was a better vantage point from where we could see Hyderabad city. He asked us to follow him off the beaten path through some shrubs and thorn bushes outside of the walls of the fort.

Golconda fort guide explaining tour Hyderabad India — Amidst a few cannons, we got a 'high level' tour of Hyderabad

Golkonda Fort high view Hyderabad India — (Panorama comprised of 10 shots)

Golkonda Fort bottom half panorama Hyderabad India — The bottom half of Golconda fort (Panorama comprised of 9 shots)

Golkonda fort view ruins Hyderabad — The palace ruins

Golkonda fort Ramesh Mithun Loiyumba Hyderabad — Asked our guide to take a photo of us

We continued up towards the citadel.

Golkonda fort Jagadamba Mahankali temple Hyderabad — Sri Jagadamba Mahankali temple

Golkonda fort citadel clap Hyderabad — Our guide demonstrated the amazing acoustic engineering of this fort. Not only could you hear the claps from all the way down there but he also demonstrated how the guards communicated from as high up as the citadel with the help of another guide down below.

Golkonda fort citadel Hyderabad — The citadel

Golkonda fort citadel no writing on walls sign Hyderabad — With this sign I knew what to expect...

Golkonda fort citadel wall writing damage Hyderabad — ...so imagine how awkward it was seeing (some idiot(!) with) my name etched on the walls here. Argh!

Golkonda fort view Hi-tec city panorama Hyderabad — Hi-Tec city in the distance (Panorama comprised of 6 shots)

Golkonda fort baradari hall writing Hyderabad — The 'writings on the wall' are here inside as well. How sad. A fort that survived for centuries couldn't survive the 'modern' Indian populace.

Golconda Sri Jagadamba Mahankali temple bullock rocks — The rocks resemble a bullock

Golkonda fort steps to palace ruins Hyderabad — We made our way down to the palace ruins

Golkonda fort stone wall Hyderabad — Pretty massive stone walls

Golconda Fort stone wall Hyderabad — Took this looking up against the wall

Golkonda fort palace ruins heritage Hyderabad — It's amazing to wonder what life would have been like back in those days

Golkonda fort palace ruins amphitheatre Hyderabad India — The fountain looks like a new addition to the courtyard

Golkonda fort palace ruins hall Hyderabad — But something far more impressive was inside here

Golkonda fort royal palace acoustic hall Hyderabad — Our guide told us of these "whispering walls" inside this corridor. You could speak in one corner of the hall and one could hear it faintly from the adjacent corner. I didn't believe but we tried it and it actually worked!

Golconda fort whispering walls Hyderabad India — The kids surely loved it

Golkonda fort palace ruins speaking walls Hyderabad — Definitely one of the best highlights in Golconda Fort

Golconda fort acoustic hall Hyderabad — The guide explaining the unique acoustics of this hall as well

Golconda fort royal palace lawns Hyderabad — We were nearing the end of our hour-plus long tour

We were finished with the tour, and our guide led us out of the fort.

Golconda fort clapping entrance tourists Hyderabad — Score of visitors were still trying out the 'clapping' effect

Golkonda fort guards fort entrance Hyderabad — There is a light & sound show once the sun sets, but we didn't feel like staying for it -- so we watched it on YouTube instead 😛

We had to pay Rs. 600 (Rs. 200 per person) at the entrance gate where the guides stood. But as we walked out, I could overhear other guides quoting Rs. 300 to some and Rs. 500 to other groups, and the groups spoke in Hindi or Telugu (the native language). It’s only when we exited I noticed there wasn’t even sign proclaiming how much guide charges were.

So we came to the conclusion the charges for a guide are decided based on how one appears! If you dress like an city slicker/outsider and speak English, you pay more. If you look middle-class (which all three of us are honestly) and converse in front of the guides in a local language, you’ll probably be quoted lesser. If you’re white… I’m sorry.

Golkonda fort old unique bus tour Hyderabad — A unique tour bus we saw while waiting for a ride back to Lakdi ka pul

I still recommend Golconda Fort as a ‘must see’. Easily one of the most impressive forts in India’s heritage. Unfortunately, one that badly needs some renovation and cleaning up. But I doubt preserving the city’s heritage ranks high as a priority for Andhra Pradesh’s politicians.

——

There is actually a day 3 and 4, but unfortunately, it just occurred to me as I began to write this series that I didn’t copy over the next days photos from the camera 🙁

Sucks, I know. But here’s what I did the next day, erm, in words. I went back to Charminar, alone, to do some pearl shopping for my mother. After visiting a few stores, my last experience made me reconsider buying pearls from here. The salesman quoted around Rs. 1800 for a cultured pearl necklace, but as I resisted, he came down to Rs. 1200, then Rs. 600! Then Rs. 500! Then Rs. 300! I walked away wondering what the true value of these pearls really were.

Oh, the best biriyani I had on this trip was at Hotel Shadab on High Court Road just as you are about to enter Madina Market near Charminar. I entered having not heard about the place before but took the plunge just looking at the sheer number of people inside. They have a very old seating area downstairs and a much fancier, air-conditioned ‘family room’ upstairs where tourists were sitting their respective guides. I ordered the chicken biriyani and though it did take around 10 minutes to arrive, it was worth the wait! God, was it so good!

I’m not a fan of Hyderabadi biriyani because most of the them I have had were usually dry and rather tasteless. Shadab’s biriyani was essentially a meal for two. You really get your money’s worth of quantity. I don’t know how they do it (considering it was already late in the afternoon), but the chicken was piping hot and so tender (extremely well cooked, you could tell from pure white colour of the meat). On top of the chicken, they layered the rice in two halves. One half being masala-coated and the other being the regular basmati rice. The rice was very soft and once mixed with the spicy-masala (and curd) it was delicious! Highly recommended!

At my table sat a local IT engineer who struck up a conversation with me and I asked him if the famous Paradise Restaurant was better. He told me he preferred Shadab’s to Paradise these days, as Paradise “used to be good,” but he also told me there are other small eateries spread throughout the city that serve very good biriyani that live up to Hyderabad’s reputation as India’s ‘biriyani cpaital’.

After lunch, my tablemate was kind enough to even drop me at Karachi Bakery, another Hyderabad institution I had plans of visiting. This bakery chain is quite famous for their fruit biscuits. So famous that they sell out hundreds of boxes by the hour and you often have to queue up for it!

Karachi bakery line for fruit biscuits Hyderabad — By the time I got to the counter, they had run out of the smaller boxes, so I got away with two big boxes instead

Day 4 was our friend’s wedding in the morning and post lunch, just to kill time, we took an auto to Banjara Hills, Hyderabad’s posh locality.

GVK one Shopper's Stop Hyderabad mall — Just about every mall was netted up because of the Telangana unrest

GVK One Hard Rock Cafe Hyderabad mall — We went mall-hopping but got bored rather quickly as the offerings were nothing impressive

Taj Krishna hotel Banjara hills Hyderabad — Taj Krishna Hotel

Kacheguda railway station at night Hyderabad India — In the evening, we walked to Kacheguda station and boarded our train back to Bangalore

After my second visit to Hyderabad, my opinion hasn’t changed — I still wouldn’t live here. In fact, all three of us were itching to get back to Bangalore city because we were quite bored here. Maybe it’s the Telangana issue that has tarnished the city’s status, but we just didn’t find the place ‘exciting’ to say the least.

Sure, there were two other sights we missed, like the historical Chowmahalla Palace and Ramoji Film City… but we just shrugged our shoulders and rode the happy train back to Bangalore.

Hyderabad 2010: Day 1 — Eat Street, Charminar and Mecca Masjid

By Mithun Divakaran
/
Jul 31, 2011
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Hyderabad, India, Travel

Date: 26th December 2010

After beginning this year with a visit to the UAE, then Singapore, Malaysia & Thailand later in the year, I capped off my 2010 travels with a trip to Hyderabad. The main purpose of the visit was to attend a friend’s wedding, but we (my usual travel buddies Ramesh and Loiyumba) decided to go a bit early to do a bit of sight-seeing.

This wasn’t my first visit to the capital of Andhra Pradesh. I first came to Hyderabad in 2002 to visit my brother when he worked there briefly.

In some ways I was looking forward to this trip because it was after a span of nearly 9 years that I got to travel by train again. We boarded the Kacheguda Express from Bangalore Cantonment station in the evening.

Kachiguda Express Indian train sleeper bed Loiyumba — Loi didn't wait too long to cuddle up in his sleeping bag and doze off

We arrived in Kacheguda station (not Hyderabad’s main railway station) at a chilly 5:45am. We had reserved a room for us three at Nand International, a nearby hotel, so we figured we could walk it there. But after walking for around a minute or two, we couldn’t spot the hotel and the auto drivers we passed by were telling us they could take us there for just Rs. 10. Figuring it was cold and we had luggage, we got in… and literally 5 seconds later, up the same Station road we were at, we were dropped at Nand International! Pissed at the fact all he had to tell us was to walk a few steps further to get here, we shouted at the auto driver — but relented from ruining our morning and just paid him Rs. 10 to get lost.

We checked in to our three person bedroom/family room.

Nand International three bedroom Kacheguda Hyderabad hotel — Costs Rs. 870 ($19/€13) per night for this centrally air-conditioned room

Since we were still sleepy, we crashed for a few hours.

Got up around noon, had tea and pondered about where to have lunch. In a city famed for its food, we weren’t keen on hitting up the street food joints near Charminar straight away. So we decided to go to a place called Eat Street.

Eat Street Necklace road Hyderabad India — Cost nearly Rs. 60 to get here by auto from Kacheguda Station Road

Eat Street is just some food court by Hussain Sagar Lake, one of the largest man made lakes in India. We passed through scanners (apparently security is pretty tight in Hyderabad) and walked in to a not-so-busy food court.

We checked out the various stalls, some open open for business… some not. You get your usual choice of South Indian, biriyani (of course), chaats, western fast food, etc. But despite being in the city famous for its biriyani, I wasn’t going to eat it from just about anywhere.

Eat Street biriyani fried chicken fries Hyderabad — So I had burger, fried chicken strips and fries instead. Lame, I know.

Ramesh and Loi both tried out the biriyani and they described the food as: “sucks” and “horrible”. So there.

Eat Street Hussain Sagar lake Mithun Ramesh Hyderabad — Loiyumba took this photograph using his camera

Hussain Sagar lake Hyderabad India — Hussain Sagar lake (Photograph by Loiyumba)

Hussain Sagar lake Buddha statue Hyderabad India — There are boat rides in the evening to go to the Buddha statue (Photograph by Loiyumba)

Post-lunch, we already feeling a sense of ‘boredom’ and wondered what to do next.

Hussain Sagar lake park tarot reader afternoon Hyderabad — We left Eat Street and aimlessly walked through the park around the lake

Hyderabad book fair 2010 stalls people India — There was book fair going on

Hyderabad book fair 2010 stalls India — It was the annual Hyderabad Book Fair

Hyderabad book fair 2010 stalls afternoon India — Considering none of us have the habit of reading books much, we left fairly quickly

Prasads Imax theatre Hyderabad mall — Crossed the road over to Prasads

The one good thing about Hyderabad is that they have an IMAX screen, and it can be found at Prasads on Tank Bund Road. The security was pretty tight before entering here as well (I take it’s because of the Telangana issue?). We checked out the mall a bit before going to collect our pre-booked tickets for Tron which was playing.

After checking out Prasads, we stepped out, took an autorickshaw and went to see Charminar, Hyderabad’s iconic structure.

Charminar market bazaar Hyderabad — There are many old bazaars leading up to Charminar... and traffic was very congested

We eventually asked the auto driver to stop and decided to walk it further up.

Charminar pearl bazaar shops Hyderabad India — Plenty of pearl stores here, Hyderabad pearls are quite famous

Charminar fort Hyderabad India — The road goes all around Charminar

Charminar Tiffin centre South Indian food Hyderabad — I ate from here on the third day, really good South Indian food!

Charminar literally translates to “four towers”. Minar or minaret being the towers or pointy structures you find in just about every mosque and char which just means four.

Charminar fort blue sky Hyderabad India — Built by ruler Qutb Shah in 1591 AD

Charminar fort entry visitors Hyderabad — There was a queue going half way around Charminar

Charminar fort street kids old coins Hyderabad India — Old coins for sale. Genuineness unconfirmed.

Charminar fort visitors queue Hyderabad India — We queued up, paid the Rs. 5 entry fee and entered

Climbing stairs Charminar minaret Hyderabad — You climb narrow stairs up one of the minars

Charminar stairs minar Hyderabad — The walls were quite cold

Charminar balcony view woman Hyderabad — You obviously get a better picture of the surrounding from up here

But walking through the halls, I couldn’t really help but not ignore something.

Charminar inside writing damage wall Hyderabad — The walls

Charminar wall damage inscribed Hyderabad — It's quite apparent how badly the walls have been vandalized the past few years by callous visitors

Charminar ceiling islamic architecture Hyderabad — At least the ceilings were hard to reach

Charminar wall names scratched Hyderabad — It's an appalling sight in many of our heritage monuments

No writing damaging walls sign Charminar Hyderabad — Despite the efforts to curb the practice and a law making it a punishable offence...

Charminar wall writing damaging wall Hyderabad — ... even to this day, to some worthless citizens of this country, it's still a joke. As if these historical monuments are just another building to them.

Laad bazaar bangles street Charminar Hyderabad — Laad bazaar a.k.a 'bangles street' -- guess why it's called so

Charminar main hall ceiling design Hyderabad — The open hall in between the four minarets

Charminar ceiling pigeons Hyderabad — Five pigeons

Charminar traffic view from top Hyderabad — Traffic is quite messy (and very busy) around Charminar

Mecca Masjid view from Charminar Hyderabad — Mecca Masjid, where we were headed next

Palace opposite Mecca Masjid Charminar Hyderabad — Nizamia Unani Hospital, opposite Mecca Masjid

Charminar circle view down Hyderabad — It was time to head back down

Charminar steps down minar tower Hyderabad — Down another minar we went

Charminar done, we decided to sit in a cafe to have something to drink.

Charminar restaurant falooda Hyderabad — Ramesh played it safe with Pepsi, while myself and Loi had *extremely* sweet falooda

Gajini-ki-shaadi film poster Hyderabad India — As seen inside the cafe

Gajini-ki-shaadi Hyderabad poster — Looks like there is a parallel film industry within Hyderabad making low-budget unofficial sequels to mainstream film releases 🙂

Excessive sugar intake complete, we decided to quickly step inside Makkah Masjid.

Nizamia Unani hospital opposite Makkah Masjid Hyderabad — The markets are quite bustling in these parts

Mecca Masjid mosque Hyderabad India — Mecca Masjid is the biggest mosque in Hyderabad and one of the oldest in India

You have to leave your bag and shoes at the counter and walk barefoot once past the gates.

Mecca Masjid sunset pigeon feeding Hyderabad India — People had gathered to see hundreds of pigeons being fed grains

Mecca Masjid evening pigeon feeding Hyderabad — Not very exciting... but still

Mecca Masjid pigeons flying evening Hyderabad — It's always such a photo moment when hundreds of them fly away at once

Mecca Masjid entrance hall Hyderabad — I decided to check out the mosque

Mecca Masjid prayer hall muslim Hyderabad India — The main prayer hall

Mecca Masjid prayer hall mosque Hyderabad India — Wonder what those honeycomb-like bags hold

Mecca Masjid side visitors Hyderabad — Went around the mosque

Mecca Masjid pigeons evening lamp posts Hyderabad — Pigeons, pigeons... there are a lot of them

Mecca Masjid pigeons electric wires Hyderabad — Needless to say, there's a lot of pigeon poop on the ground

We left the mosque and decided to call it a day.

Punch Mohalla Charminar Hyderabad — Took a rickshaw back to our hotel

Charminar bakery road Hyderabad evening — That's a heap of bread crumbs and rusk being sold in bulk. Not very hygienic in these conditions I would presume.

Once back in Nand International, I was quite cheesed off. Despite claiming to provide 24 hours hot water, when I opened the tap, I only got cold water. Went to the reception to complain and the man with a straight face told me it only comes on from 6am to 6pm. I then raised my voice and told him “well, that’s not what it says on your website!” and demanded I need hot water as it was quite cold (which it was outside). Only then did I get a bucket of hot water. So a big thumbs down for Nand International because of that.

Post rant, we concluded day one in Hyderabad with dinner at nearby three-star hotel restaurant where we had, yes, biriyani.

It was alright, but I would have much better biriyani in the next few days.