Attending weddings and being tourists

We had a very busy week, which is good.  We attended a wedding on Tuesday & Wednesday, it was fun and a great experience, we even attended in some street dancing!!!!  The earth shook a bit when I danced but no major damage was reported.  It was a great place to experience some authentic Indian dishes.  Tuesday evening was just vegetarian dishes and on Wednesday meat featured more.  

Thursday was Thanksgiving and we decided we should be some tourists for the first time we arrived in India.  We went to the Chaminar and Chowmahalla Palace in the Old City Hyderabad.  The Charminar was ok I guess,  you have to climb these little crazy steep steps in one of the towers and it felt really cramped but we made it.  From there you could get a nice view of what the surrounding area looks like.  There are lots of markets and crazy small shops around.  

The Chowmahalla Palace was occupied by the Nizam family for a bunch of years.  The buildings are badly maintained on the outside but inside they did a good job in maintaining the palace.  I am not going to give all the juicy history on the Palace and Chaminar but you are welcome to GOOGLE it.  :)  I will however add some pictures to give you an idea what it looks like.

Friday we went to a local "Arts & Craft" market and it is something worthwhile to check out for any visitors.  It is a typical market where every second stall sells the same thing with each person trying to con you into buying something.

Saturday we had some friends over for Chicken ala King, it was a nice variation from the spicy stuff.  I also made Kulfi for the first time, it is a Indian milk base dessert which you serve frozen.

Sunday was our wedding anniversary, yes we've been married 6 years and going strongly!!   We had planned to go to church and meet up with another South African family we have met before but our car service decided that it would not be.  They managed to be over an hour and ten minutes late and then arrived in a car in the worst possible state you could imagine.  We were not very happy but did not let it spoil the rest of our special day.  We ended up watching a couple of movies we bought during the week.

Well, that was a lot of typing for me and a bunch of reading for you.  Hope you enjoyed all the reading.

Everything is falling into place

We arrived in Hyderabad, India just over a month ago and what a month it has been.  We're already starting our third week in our apartment and have settled in nicely.  We have even had our first guests for dinner on Saturday evening.  

We went to the SPAR on Saturday and liked it, the only problem is that it is a little far to travel but we can do it once every week or so.  Although I don't think the distance is the problem but rather the time it takes getting there.  I tried to take pictures but after the first one the security was upon me and we were followed the rest of the time.  Only my fellow South Africans would understand but for the rest, the SPAR is a local grocery chain in South Africa and a couple of other countries so it seems.  We also got a nice surprise to see that they sold some oranges imported from South Africa.  Needles to say, we had to buy some.

Sunday, Nov 21 we had a family day at Teresa's office.  It was fun but they catered pretty well for kids with lots of activities for them.  We were looking forward to the Tupperware stall but failed to locate them, it seemed they did not arrive yet.

We finally got our bank account up and running and we are in progress transferring money from the US to India.  This way we can save some bank charges.

I went to one of the local vegetable/fruit stores and bought a bunch of stuff, all for way less than we would pay in USA or South Africa. 

Well, the more we get into a routine and settled in the more the news gets less.  Here is some more pictures we took over the weekend including the one I managed to get at the SPAR.

The local SPAR

The view from Teresa office, this is a construction site for a hotel in front of their office building.

I have never seen such huge Papayas in my life before, they were the size of soccer balls!

One of the stalls at the family day, they made bangles.

Well, that is all folks, hope to see you back next week for some updates on a fun week lying ahead for us.  We have a wedding on Tuesday and Wednesday and a fun filled Thanks Giving weekend with some local sight seeing. 

Week one of 48

It's been a week in our apartment and so far so good.  We did A LOT of cleaning and trying different things to settle but I think we are just about settled now.  We decided to use our "laundry room's" (3rd bedroom) bathroom to shower in.  It is just more comfortable.

The fireworks are driving us a little crazy, on Tuesday night they went on until about 3am Wednesday morning, well that was the last time one of those big stuff woke us up.  Luckily we know that they love the stuff and we are doing well for it not to upset us.  The later afternoons gets a little noisy with all the kids arriving from school and playing in the courtyard but then again, they are kids and one can't blame them.  I got the solution for the noise, a set of very decent Sony speakers + subwoofer does wonders to counter any noise.  :)

We got a scary surprise last night (Sunday evening) while watching tv at about 22:30 (10:30pm).  While watching tv somebody tried to open our door, luckily it was locked but it was not good for the nerves.  I don't know what their intentions was but they tried to open the door about twice and then left.  I think they just got to the wrong apartment but it was strange that they did not ring the door bell or even knock.  Well, we will be extra careful from know on in making sure the door is locked.

We have all our furniture and appliances we bought to date, now we just need some guests!!  Anyone interested in visiting us??  The invitation is open to all our family and friends.

I will include a couple of photo's of our apartment.

We also went to one of the bigger, newer malls in Hyderabad, it was crazy and to busy but now we've been there.  We still like the mall closest to us.  

Here is some food that was consumed over the past weekend.

Until next time!

And here we are!

Well, I nearly missed my Monday deadline for my weekly blog update but I think I have a fair reason.  :)

We checked out of the Novotel this morning and moved into our apartment.  Our satallite tv with TATASKY was connected today and we have our internet/land line connected.  Our washing machine, fridge and microwave oven is connected and working.   We are still waiting for our dining room table and to extra chairs for the living room which will be delivered on Wednesday.  

We went on our 1st trip to the grocery store and bought some food.  At least we have some stuff in the cabinet and fridge now.  :)  While we were walking and talking to each other in Afrikaans this lady walked up to us and also started talking to us in Afrikaans.  It turns out they have been here for 8 months already and will be here for 3 years.  They are from Cape Town and we will hopefully meet up with them soon for a visit.

We went to News Cafe last Friday and spend some time there watching the Diwali fireworks.  One thing about this country, they know how to throw a fireworks display.

We will be going to the News Cafe again tonight, one of Teresa old work colleagues are here for a couple of weeks and we will be meeting him for dinner.  

We didn't get much time this last week to take some pictures and video's but I do have a couple which I took in the hotel over Diwali (Festival of Lights).

Hope you enjoy our weekly blog.

Week two and things are going strongly!

The second week is just about gone and so much happened, I hope I remember it all!

We went to have a look at our shortlisted apartment list last week and decided on an apartment.  We went with the older but more settled place, it is more quiet and very well maintained and looked after.  The apartment itself is not bad, it is a 3 bedroom/bathroom place with A/C's in all the rooms and living areas.  There is 100% power backup and the community has got some fun stuff.  We will be signing the rental contract today.

We got our car and driver on Thursday which we will be using for the rest of the year, well hopefully.  We have a slight disagreement with the rental company, they promised us on Wednesday that we will be receiving a NEW CAR as per what we will be paying for according to the contract.  Well, it was dented and scratched pretty well with well over 32000km's on the Odo meter!  Apparently they don't have new cars available but we will get the youngest vehicle this week sometime.  The driver himself is not bad, he took me around town on Thursday and Friday showing me around.

We had dinner at a great restaurant on Friday night with an American couple, it's great making friends so quick and it helps getting tips from the people that's been through it all already.

Saturday was a busy day, we had lunch at the Chocolate room with a friend and went furniture and appliance shopping for the rest of the day.  We ended up buying everything except for the dining room table.  That will be done in the next week or so.    Saturday evening we went to the News Cafe for dinner, I had a Bunny Chow and Teresa had Alfredo.

Sunday was a very nice and relaxing day, a South African that's been here for about 2 1/2 already came to visit us and we had a nice afternoon with him.  That was that for Sunday, the rest of the day I watched Sri Lanka whipping Australia in cricket and to my shock Pakistan beating South Africa!!!!  :(

At least the SHARKS made me proud by handing the WP a good old WHIP @SS on Saturday with the Currie Cup Final. (local rugby championship final)

Below will be a couple of links to some video's I took while being shown parts of Hyderabad. 

ENJOY!!

Driving around Hyderabad



Driving around in Hitec City, Hyderabad



Driving to the local mall

Bunny Chow

Remember to tune in next week for some more updates!!

Have a great and fun week y'all!

हवे अ ग्रेट एंड फूं वीक अ'अल!