A great time in Hyderabad!

This morning, for the first time in forever, Matt and I finally got the chance to sleep past 5:30! It was amazing! I woke up a little earlier than he, so I went down and had some breakfast, the highlight for me of course being the tea (chai) and coffee! I forget if I said this yesterday or not, but one thing is for sure, and that is that I am getting so spoiled on this trip with all the fantastic Indian food I get to eat!

We had a fantastic day with Padma today, a nephew of Doc's, who showed us around many of the city's historical sites and took us a few places to shop! We started out the morning with looking at the Buddah On The Water, which I found out actually spent close to 2 years submerged in the lake after it fell over during transport... also, it's the largest sculpture of one solid piece of rock! Pretty darned impressive if you ask me...

The next stop was the Burla Temple, which is set high up on a hill above the city giving it a great view as well as giving the city a view of its pristine white walls and spires... boy was the cement hot though! Here not only did Padma take us through, but he explained in more detail the basics of the Hindu belief, very interesting indeed.

Then we headed to Golkanda Fort, built about 600 years ago by the ruling Muslim Sultan of the time... he explained a few points of interest there, the easiest to explain being the echo chamber communication system and the water reservoir system... Also, this Muslim Sultan married a Hindu queen, so he had a temple built at the center of the fort for her to worship in... I thought that was something; while hindus and muslims were fighting it out in the north, this Sultan took a Hindu for his Queen, amazing... but the view from the fort was very impressive as well, also being at one of the highest points in the city, so we could see almost everything, including the old fort walls (which have since been disregarded and development has extended inside the historical site...).

Lunch was amazing... simply consisting of butter naan and a butter chicken curry, it really hit the spot! And wasn't too much either, to weigh us down in the hot sun and thick, humid air... but as we were leaving it was raining outside! Felt amazing! We then headed to CharManar (I probably butchered this spelling...), an old center of commerce for Hyderabad, built by a Sultan in honor of a lost love. The structure at the center, CharManar, was the most impressive, acting as somewhat of a gate, a centerpiece, call it what you may... but in any case we climbed it! Not as high as the temple or the fort, but it was a good view of the surrounding area nonetheless...

We finished the afternoon with a bit of shopping... for family and for ourselves as well! Matt and I each purchased a couple of more traditional Indian shirts, and we look good in them! :)

After saying goodbye to Padma, we spent the evening relaxing back at Rau's with his family... drank tea, played cards, called home (I think mom especially appreciated that!), and watched some World Cup action! It was a good night, time to relax and pack before our early train departure for Tenali, where Nagesh Babu and Kotisu will be meeting us. We once again feel as if we're leaving too early, but we have enjoyed our time here! Also very much looking forward to spending time in Chiluvuru... it's been 5 years, it'll be good to go back.

Well, Matt and I are going to watch some more of the England-USA game, but it's getting late, and the Americans aren't looking too good at the moment, so we may call it a night soon enough... but the Argentina game was great!

Pray for safe travels on the train tomorrow! We probably won't have internet access in the village, so you may not hear from me until Hyderabad on Thursday, but we may be making a trip to Vijayawada on Tuesday!

Blessings,
John