Charminar

One of the major landmarks in Hyderabad is Charminar. It is an old tower...the coolest thing about it is that it is surrounded by a really fun market area. To get there from our hotel, we took a little yellow autorickshaw. I hate riding in the autorikshaws, cause it is hot and dusty and you end up sucking in all the exhause of the other autorickshaws and cars. Plus, if you are in an autorickshaw, there are no doors or windows so you are completely exposed to beggars!

Hyderabad is known as "the pearl city" for some reason...we couldn't figure out why, because it is not on the coast or any large body of water. They had a lot of pearls for sale, though! I thought about buying some, but then decided against it because I already have some white pearls that my Grandma Yeckel gave me, and a black pearl that the Hardy family gave me.

I did one very stupid thing...I decided I wanted a lassi because I love them and it was hot out...but it was filled with ice and water and half way through drinking it I thought," Oh no, this isn't China...I could get very sick from this!" But, everything worked out ok and I didn't seem to have any problems. The lassi was not that good, so it wouldn't have been worth the sickness...it was way too sweet. I guess lassis are more of a north India thing.

We had fun in the markets, but we didn't buy much on this trip because we were only there a short time and shopping in the markets is very time consuming. Also, our house is already filled with stuff from India!