Quite a weekend!

Well, Tuesday thru Friday was pretty uneventful. Just more waking up at the crack of dawn, working and enjoying good conversation with the staff here. I'm beginning to understand the culture better. Also, I am reading a fantastic book that a friend gave me called Holy Cow (thanks Julianna!) that is written by an Australian journalist who spent some time in India. Wow, is it dead on! The way of life is described perfectly. The little things that get on your nerves, to the amazing characteristics of the Indian culture. Let me give you an example --- You must ask a waiter for the same drink 3 times before you actually get it, then wait another 5 minutes for him to set the bottle of beer on your table, walk away, come back with a bottle opener, present the bottle like it's a bottle of fine wine, pour it with 3 inches of head, then disappear for another 20 minutes until you get up to track him down to order your food. Dinner is not a quick thing here. And, that's just one example of many little things that would drive a obsessive-compulsive person mad in a matter of minutes here! I think a lot of it has to do with the old and new characteristics in India. Here is a good example of the old (yes, right in the middle of traffic):

Friday night I was talked into going to a club to hear a very popular DJ named Bali Sagu (I had never heard of him, but an Indian guy who is from the US and works in our LA office was going nuts that this guy was here and he had the opportunity to see him). Yes, that's him in the picture - Bali Sagu at the top, Bobby (crazy for Bali) below.

Saturday I had a great lunch with all of my San Diego-assigned professionals. It was a celebratory "End of busy season/April 15th" lunch. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera along. But, the food was great -- I'm really going to miss some of the stuff here.

Sunday was the adventurous day! Four of us (Bobby, Annette, Tara and I) decided to visit Charminar. This is supposedly the most famous of all of Hyderabad's symbols. Charminar is the actual temple/structure as seen in this picture built by Mohammed Quli Qutub Shah, but the surrounding area is also referred to as Charminar. Many, many shops line the streets.

Here is what it looks like from the top looking down:

And here is what it's like to walk along the very crowded streets:

The really fun part happened when we decided to take a rickshaw to Golconda Fort (we were told it was very close by). Here is a little taste of what the experience was like...

We were all very cramped inside....and to think that it's common to see 6-9 people crammed in one of these!

Golconda Fort was amazing. We didn't have enough time to hike around the entire area, but we got a pretty good tour from a local guy - we paid him 500 rupees (the equivalent of $12) for a great 45-minute tour. I would like to go back and hike up to the top. We had a nice 360-degree view of Hyderabad and I can just imagine what it looks like all the way on top.

One of the funniest parts of the tour was when the guide took my camera into the bat cave to take a picture -- look closely...those are all eyes!