Finally, a tour.
The Nizam's Museum [second photo]. By then, murmurs of "Let's go shopping instead" were beginning to pick up. I paid 150 rupees for the right to take photos of an assortment of royal artifacts belonging to the last Nizam of the Princely State of Hyderabad and Berar - Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII. Afterwards, I felt like going shopping too.
Secunderabad. The new city. A fleeting snapshot of an 18-meter granite Buddha statue looming in the center of the 24-hectare man-made Hussain Sagar Lake [third photo] that was excavated in 1562 by the same sultan who built the Charnimar. There, a unanimous agreement was made to have lunch first before deciding whether it will be the old Golconda Fort or to go shopping.
An unforgettable lunch. The famous Hyderabad Biryani certainly lived up to its billing and was excellently complimented by what I presumed to be chicken tandoori [fourth photo]. And in that air conditioned dining hall of the Lotus Palace Restaurant, it was decided to scratch the old Golconda Fort (to my severe disappointment) and go shopping instead (to my great irritation). I just can't see the logic in foregoing a chance of a lifetime for something that can be done later.
Later that night, I poured both frustration and vengeance on the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport's duty free shops. Then I realized I have yet to have an "MVI in India" photo. So my boss snapped the one below. With a tourism poster in the background. At the airport.
Good bye India. And thank you.
Guided. Rushed. In a bus dripping with the air conditioner's condensation. But a tour.
The 15th century Charnimar [first photo]. Sultan Muhammed Quli Qutb Shah's "Arch of Triumph of the East". Good shooting. But it turned out that I have to fight for a few photos amid the irrational rush.
The Nizam's Museum [second photo]. By then, murmurs of "Let's go shopping instead" were beginning to pick up. I paid 150 rupees for the right to take photos of an assortment of royal artifacts belonging to the last Nizam of the Princely State of Hyderabad and Berar - Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII. Afterwards, I felt like going shopping too.
Secunderabad. The new city. A fleeting snapshot of an 18-meter granite Buddha statue looming in the center of the 24-hectare man-made Hussain Sagar Lake [third photo] that was excavated in 1562 by the same sultan who built the Charnimar. There, a unanimous agreement was made to have lunch first before deciding whether it will be the old Golconda Fort or to go shopping.
An unforgettable lunch. The famous Hyderabad Biryani certainly lived up to its billing and was excellently complimented by what I presumed to be chicken tandoori [fourth photo]. And in that air conditioned dining hall of the Lotus Palace Restaurant, it was decided to scratch the old Golconda Fort (to my severe disappointment) and go shopping instead (to my great irritation). I just can't see the logic in foregoing a chance of a lifetime for something that can be done later.
Later that night, I poured both frustration and vengeance on the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport's duty free shops. Then I realized I have yet to have an "MVI in India" photo. So my boss snapped the one below. With a tourism poster in the background. At the airport.
Good bye India. And thank you.
