Long tour, big update

I usually end my posts with a shout out to the Red Wings, but after that game...wow.  This team is resourceful.  Missing one of the best defensemen in the history of the game?  Datsyuk scoring fewer goals than the amount of times he's scored with the ladies thanks to his Rahmani Eye Institute commercial?  No problem.  Turns out Dan Cleary is a beast.  And Darren Helm...wow.  First finals rematch in 25 years and I'm stuck in India without a way to watch.  I don't miss tv too much here, but this is a different story.

Now, on to India.  Yesterday Anne and I went on an adventure to Hyderabad Central, which is a huge mall.  It's not like a mall at home with different stores though.  It's more like Macy's on steroids.  Just one five story department store with a whole conglomeration of different things (including traditional Indian garb, which I tried on...stay tuned for a Facebook picture).  After Macy's McGuire we traveled across the city to this open-air bazaar with lots of cool statues and merchants.  And a giant!  (Again, expect a picture on Facebook).  There were so many awesome crafts that I realized that I am not prepared to think about shopping for gifts for people back home.  I got a few ideas, but I think I'll wait until later in my stay to start making purchases.  

Today I went on an all-day city tour of Hyderabad.  And when I say all day I mean all day.  I'm quite exhausted now, but it was definitely worth it.  I woke up at 6am and ventured out for my first auto ride and bus ride by myself.  I was a bit nervous about whether or not I was making the right maneuvers, but it turned out fine and I got where I needed to be with time to spare.  I was also somewhat anxious about doing the tour con solo, but I figured I could always ask some trustworthy looking stranger with steady hands to take my picture.  As it turned out, I got something much better.  As I was trying to figure out which tour bus to get on, a woman asked if I needed help.  She was with her 13 year-old son and we ended up spending the day together.  She was the sweetest lady, always explaining things to me and making sure I was ok.  She even bought me breakfast and wouldn't hear one word about me paying her back.  Yet another in a long line of brushes with Indian hospitality and generosity. 

The tour started at 7:30 with a trip to the Birla Temple, which is made completely out of marble, with some gold accents.  Unfortunately they don't allow cameras inside so I only have a few paltry shots of it.  I was actually stunned by the intricacy of the work and the pure devotion that it must take to construct such a magnificent building.  After that it was on to the Salar Jung museum, which includes a collection of art and artifacts dating back to the first century.  One of my favorite things in the museum was the ivory section, which contained carved tusks.  Again, the ornate, detailed work was astounding to me.  

One thing that I didn't quite understand (chalk it up to cultural differences, I guess) was the "great" musical clock.  This is a six-foot-tall clock with a two-inch-tall man inside who comes out every hour and dings a bell x amount of times, corresponding with what time it is.  Now this is a fine thing to keep in a museum.  Don't get me wrong; I'm as big of a cuckoo clock fan as the next guy.  The thing that I had a hard time with was the pomp and circumstance of the clock.  It's set up in a huge room with maybe thirty rows of seats, which people start filling up to a half hour before the "show".  When those chairs are full people sit on the ground.  It gets to be a packed house pretty quickly.  For those who can't see from way back in the cheap seats, monitors are set up to broadcast the little man doing his thing.  Starting one minute before his appearance, two guards stationed on either side of the clock demand silence from the crowd.  With all this build-up I was expecting a spectacular display but it was actually quite anti-climactic.

Next was the Nizam palace, which was hot and had more carved tusks.  That's all there is to say about that.  After that we went to another palace, which looked beautiful from the outside.  I decided not to go in because they charge an extra 150 rupees for foreigners.  They charge 25 rupees for locals, but our tour covered this cost.  Somehow, non-Indians were forgotten in the deal.  A couple of places had already charged extra and I paid the fee, but add in sore feet, dehydration and the overall injustice of it all, and I decided to sit that one out.  It was a good thing I did too because I ended up meeting a pretty cool person.  The only other foreigner in our group decided to hang back as well and we got to talking.  She is from South Africa and now lives in New York.  She is a very worldly person with a laid back attitude and was easy to have a conversation with.  Hooray for new friends!  We ended up spending the rest of the day together, along with my Indian family.

After that we went to the local zoo park (which turned out to be more park than zoo).  We did see a white tiger though, so that was pretty cool.  My first tiger in India; I hope there are many more sightings in the coming weeks.  Finally, after a long day of walking and seeing and picture taking, we ended our tour with the most physically exhaustive segment of the day, the Golconda Fort.  The fort is a vast ruin made entirely by hand with stones.  It was quite a hike to the top, but we did it, pausing several times for pictures along the way.  This was my favorite part of the day, without a doubt.  Just thinking about the history of the place and marveling at the architecture could have taken up all of my day.  Unfortunately our tour director was a bit of a stickler for time, with a bad attitude besides, and we only had an hour and a half to explore.  At the very top of the  fort I was taking pictures when I was approached by a large group of Indian teens who all wanted their picture taken with me.  That was a surreal moment.  Another surreal moment was when I realized that a guy on my bus was wearing a U of M hat.  He lives here in India and it turns out he just bought the hat because his name start with M, but it was still pretty cool to see.

Finally done with the tour, I squeezed my tired legs onto a bus and made my way home.  According to Anne, I am now officially an Indian.  Tomorrow is the debut of Brad Dembs: Party Liaison, so wish me luck.  Hopefully my lessons will lead to a whole generation of Indians playing beer pong and flip cup.  Now I'm off to get a mango juice and a chicken roll from my local market and then take a shower before going to bed.  I'm going to take such a long shower, you might as well call me Andy Perault.  Namaste, America.  Talk to you soon.