Wow, another quick week! I am starting to like this, one day its still Monday and before you know it your driver looks at you first thing on a Friday morning waiting graciously for his weekly tip. After this past week he certainly deserved it.
On Monday evening we had the privilege to host my brother in law for dinner, I made a quick pasta dish since we did not have much time. It does make the life more interesting and enjoyable when you have family over, even if it is only for a short time and they are not really here to visit.
The rest of the week was just ordinary except for Thursday evening when I joined my brother in law for dinner at News Cafe. It was fun meeting up with him again, it was just unfortunately that News Cafe staff decided to give us the worst possible service you could imagine, they kept forgetting about us. The food however was good as usual.
Saturday Teresa and I took it easy for most part of the day, we went for a nice workout in the morning and our driver picked us up the late afternoon for a drive. He went to show us where the zoo was and Falaknuma Palace. The Palace dates back to the late 1800's and host one of the largest dining room tables that seats a hundred people. Interestingly the wood was imported from South Africa. The palace was taken over by the Taj Hotel group and opened up as a hotel in November 2010 after being renovated. It is one of the more expensive hotels in India and a lunch or dinner there could set you back a lot of money and you have to reserve your seat a couple of days in advance.
The zoo is one of the larger zoo's in India, they host a white tiger and you can go on elephant safari's. I am not a big fan of any zoo but we will go for a visit soon since Teresa will not forgive me if we don't go. You will read all about the zoo trip soon so stay tuned.
Our driver then took a nice scenic route back home from the palace and showed us one of the lakes outside Hyderabad. The timing worked out great since we had a chance to view a beautiful sunset over the lake. From there we went home quickly just to change into fresh and little less casual clothes and went to the Hard Rock Cafe. Why we have not gone there sooner I don't know, the service, food and music was just top notch. The only downside about the place is that it takes a good 40 minutes to drive there and no, it is not that far it is just the crazy traffic.
Sunday we got to spend the whole day with Erik, we picked him up early Sunday morning and drove around for a short while, visited the Arts&Craft market and went for lunch to Angeethi. Angeethi is a North Indian cuisine restaurant and the food is pretty good. After a huge lunch we went back home and just relaxed until the evening. For a lite dinner we went to La Cantina at the Novotel for a couple of snacks to round of the weekend.
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| Some of the many construction sites |
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| Entrance to the Office Park where Teresa works |
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| Some roadside accommodation |
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| More of the road side accommodation |
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| Some local buildings |
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| More local shops |
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| Don't look at the up to code electrical wirings |
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| More of the local areas we drove by on Saturday |
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| Well, who needs a Minivan? |
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| I don't even trust proper scaffolding, luckily I don't have to get on these |
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| Kid camel rides for only Rs5 (Rupees) |
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| Half build buildings, no problem |
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| The police academy, wonder what they learn there. How much bribe to accept for each crime?? |
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| These little three wheelers are real little work horses |
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| Falaknuma Palace |
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| Our sunset drive by the lake |
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| Hard Rock Cafe |
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| Best burgers we have had in India |
