Day 1: A Tourist Attraction

Our first day in Hyderabad, Bill & I decided to see the city like any ordinary tourist would. We were going to have a car and driver all week, so after getting the obligatory brochure from the front desk, we set out to see Golkonda Fort, Chowmahalla Palace, and Charminar.

Golkonda Fort was supposed to be a tourist attraction, but instead Bill & I were. Everyone, and I do mean everyone, stared at us as we passed. As he and I stood looking at the view, we heard calls of “Hello! Hello! Hello!” Turning around and looking up we saw about ten smiling faces peeking over a wall above us trying to get our attention. “Photo? Photo? Just one photo?“ they asked. We smiled. We waved. They clicked away. That was the first of several photo shoots we were subjects of. My personal favorite was at Charminar where a twenty-something boy gestured to Bill to take his photo. Bill being the nice guy asked "would you like me to take your picture?" He offered up his camera and then stood right next to me and smiled at the camera. I saw that one coming a mile away. ;)

Surrounding Charminar are roads full of shops and bazaars selling all assortments of clothing, jewelry, burquas, sarees, and all sorts of other wares. We went looking for “Indian Princess Dresses’ for Cory and Sammy. I made the initial faux pas of not taking my shoes off before stepping into the first shop, but recovered quickly.

By the time we returned to the hotel, I was definitely suffering from sensory overload. During our car ride we saw: 3 camel riders trotting down the road, countless goats & cows, horses tethered at the front doors of shops, upscale stores, run down hovels, shanties, families of 4 riding on motorcycles, brightly colored sarees, women in burquas , schoolchildren in matching uniforms and many many other new and different sights.

On a scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high), I was at about a 7 on the 'fear of living in India' scale at the end of day #1.