It’s funny how despite spending only 11 days with a group of strangers I barely knew, they later on become the hardest thing to part with. We spent time, we helped one another, and most importantly, we became friends.

I’ll definitely come back again to Hyderabad if I do get the chance. I felt that there was so much more I could have done if I was given more time.

So tonight I will be taking the midnight flight and I will arrive early morning the next day. Best part of it is, I will be going to office the next day too.

We managed to order dominos pizza to be delivered to our apartment and we had a really quick dinner. Next thing you know, it was time to say goodbye. I was really happy that they volunteered to send us off. Even if it’s just to the cab. We parted ways and before you know it, I was heading back home…

“Selamat pulang ke tanah air” they said

Here I go back home. If there’s one thing I won’t have for the next couple of days, it will be rice : )

One of the things that I will miss are the morning bike rides that I get with Arpit on his Thunderbird.

One of the finest hand made bikes around

And the other thing I am going to miss are my sunny side up eggs with masala. Oh gosh, I have to have ‘em tomorrow morning.

He knows just the right amount to put

Usually they don’t burst the yolk but I guess today he was careless

I never knew eggs could be so tasty. One thing I realized over here is that the eggs that are sold have white shells instead of brown.

Anyways the reason why I like to start to miss those things I am about to miss is because if I really do have a strong craving for one of those items, I can still have them tomorrow :)

Did I ever tell you about the 2 rupee banana story?

I’ll also miss the bananas that I can get every morning for breakfast. Sigh…

Anyways, today there was a few production sessions that took place which was quite useful for my future productions. I think I also pretty much covered up all the departments that are there.

a view of hi-tech city in Hyderabad where my office is

Today for lunch I had KFC again for the 2nd time because I felt that the first time wasn’t justified. I had a zinger box meal called the Zing Kong meal. Came with a zinger burger, a piece of chicken, fries, a drink and a mini bar of Cadburry 5star :D
This time I felt that it was much nicer than the first time I had it. The chicken was more tender and juicy. My only drawback is that the chicken is very small. It’s almost like they used “ayam kampung” to make their chickens.

In the evening I did my last minute grocery shopping for stuff that I wanna bring back home. I was going trough the isle and I realized I didn’t buy something so important. Spices of course! India is definitely the place to get spices. Prior to the shopping, I had one of these marble table top ice cream. It was called Cream Stone.

I decided to go for the chocoholics

mixing it up with all the condiments like oreos

final touch of chocolate syrup and choco chips

this is the final outcome

Honestly it wasn’t so great of a deal because I’ve had better. But it was still pretty decent. The ice cream used was not really that suitable for this type of dessert because it melted pretty quick.

Anyways it was nice. And then later for dinner we went to a proper outlet of 4 seasons which is another biryani place. Yes, again we had biryani (by now you can probably tell how unenthusiastic I am about biryani). Just like the KFC, it was also nicer than the first time we had it because this time it was made in the proper outlet. I’ll give it a thumbs up!

Later after dinner we went back straight in which I had to pack my stuff because I don’t like last minute packing. One thing random I did manage to do before going back to the apartment is that I managed to pass by a Google office.

Now it just makes me wonder if this office will be just as awesome as their U.S. offices….

This morning I had woken up early because the original plan was to see sunrise. I later realized that by 6am, the sun was already shinning really bright in the sky. So well everyone slept in this morning and I had a chance to go to the gym this morning in the nearby clubhouse. We only started our day at 2pm.

So here we go to a mall thinking that it would be a good place to shop. We went to a mall called GVK One which a lot of people said it would be good. But to our disappointment, it wasn’t as big as Inorbit which is this other mall next to our office. I did manage to get a flashy modern kurta from FabIndia which is this famous brand apparently.

For lunch, again I got to try something that we have back home. Subway! And what else would I order, the Italian BMT of course.

Non Veg please order here

and Veg please order here

Apparently the queue is divided into two and there are two sandwich bars identical to one another. The difference is, if you want to order a non veg sub, you have to go on the correct counter.

Here’s the sandwich artist making my BMT. Take note that the salami has masala in it

This was the best part. When you take away, they give you this eco friendly recyclable bag

the lady asked “veggies sir?”. I replied “no veggies”. She looked at me for a very long time as if I didn’t understand her question. I think no one in India ever has their sub without veggies :(

I completed the meal so I had a cookie. Well this time round I’ll say that between KL and here, the subs are the same. If I had to choose one, I’ll say that KL is slightly better.

After that little trip to GVK, we made our way to the Shilparamam Market which is an arts and cultural village. Today I really did a whole lot of shopping I tell ya. Here in this place you can get lots of stuff from traditional clothes to shoes to accessories. Even pottery, decorations and souvenirs. Here are some of the photos that I snapped

I really did a whole lot of shopping at that place. I bought so much stuff my backpack was full. It’s just that I don’t know when is ever the next time I’ll get to see India again and so I bought a lot of stuff along with me.

had this interesting rice sheet of paper which is showered with snow sugar and ghee. Costs 10 rupees but it tastes quite good

So anyways, from Shilparamam just about 7 minutes of walking distance there is a huge outlet of Paradise biryani and so naturally, that was where we had our dinner.

I didn’t take any pictures of the biryani because seriously I think I’ve had way too much biryani this trip but then again I’ll never say no to it

besides biryani, you can also order the roti’s and the naan’s

This dish, believe it or not is cauliflower. And for the first time ever, I’m telling you it was the best damn veg dish I have ever had in my life

this is a fish fillet dish called astro fish or smtg

first, you take all your dishes and place them nicely on your naan (bread)

roll it up and voila, you have an awesome authentic Indian wrap.

This is the 2nd time I’m actually having food from Paradise but this time it tastes much better because it was served fresh. The butter naan that I order is also very much better than whatever you get back home. I’m still very much surprised from the fact that I ate cauliflower tonight.

Before I sign off for the night, I just wanted to share with you something I discovered while I was here. That every Indian restaurant you go, they will serve these mints. They are natural breath fresheners and they work much better than whatever mint sweet you have. It is made out of a certain spice that is sugar coated. One pinch of these “aftermints” will immediately cure all your lunch/dinner breath woes.

And well, you probably already know where this is heading…

that’s Hyderabad biryani for you…

The seller said it “would be enough for almost 2 people”. And seriously, I was more like it would be enough for 2 families. Nonetheless it was good.

Today was a really normal working day. It was good to see the KL guys on the other side of the VC. It was a day full of meetings and such but it was truly beneficial for me because I started to see something which I have not realized before. Not gonna elaborate much but it was something really eye opening for me.

Anyways I had something simple during lunch which is a chicken tikka from this kebab place.

Some of the stuff you can get over the menu

had a really decent lunch and I even had another dose of cadburry 5star.

I’ve moved to the animation pod for now and I got to meet some new people. As I was sitting at my desk, I heard some sounds coming out from the nearby window and this was what I saw.

immediately I thought of Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol. Anyways tomorrow is a public holiday as it is labour day. I’m gonna do a lot of catching up on shopping.

Somewhere around noon, we went to this cinema complex called Prasads.

Prasads is a cinema multiplex which has an IMAX theater

and of course, we watched The Avengers. Too bad it wasn’t on the IMAX screening list else we would have watched it in IMAX

The Avengers was good but I felt that it was way too much of a fanserve movie. All the action any Marvel fan would expect can be seen in this movie like for example the super heroes fighting each other (with their super powers). There was even a scene where the fight scene really looked like it came out of that Marvel VS Capcom console game. All in all, it was still a nicely shot film.

After the movie, we went for a late lunch. And this time, again my favorite… it was McD’s.

This was what I ordered because it was the closest thing I could find to a spicy chicken McDeluxe

The queue was just non-existent. People just weaved their way through wherever there is space.

A complete meal which total was 199 rupees which is about RM13.30

Lately I haven’t been ordering large but whenever there is McShaker fries, I definitely cannot resist.

a closer look at the piri piri spice mix. Man, the powder was enough that every single fries had it on them and it was really really good. It’s a little spicy but really tasty

My burger after the usual veggie scan through. The veggies that came with it was lettuce, onions, capsicum and that purple thing that usually comes in salads.

Okay so now where do I start. Firstly, I don’t know what sorcery is this but every single thing on my tray was better than KL. The fries were tastier. The McShaker was more peppery. The burger bun was a special one that looked like it has wholemeal grains in it. Even the soft serve ice cream was creamier and it didn’t melt so easily.
I would say probably the burger patty itself wasn’t all that great. It tasted like a normal McChicken but with a little more spice, different from what was shown in the picture. But seriously, apart from that I don’t have any complaints at all.

Later on we went down necklace road to do some casual walking. The view was nice. From along the walkway we could see the big statue of Buddha in the middle of the lake.

sorry for the poor quality of pics, I only has my iPhone with me on this trip.

an uncle trying to earn an honest living

some random snaps

a curious child looking around

Sunday night traffic

and it was time to go home. Today passed really fast as compared to the other days. Without realizing, I’ve already been here for a week. I only have 4 more days left in Hyderabad and there is still so much more I haven’t done yet. I’m gonna try to squeeze everything in during the next few days although I doubt that I will get time because this week is gonna be quick packed for me work wise.

Oh well, tmrw is time to go back to work again. I wonder if I’ll get Monday blues… hmmmmm

The first destination today was the Salar Jung museum. Apparently the ticket price between locals and foreigners is about 15x times and so we bought a local ticket. It was a funny idea but apparently there is a place in India that has fair skin people and we were told to disguise as that. And guess what? We actually did pull it off. Haha!

I didn’t manage to get any pictures because it was strictly no photography within the museum. Well, it wasn’t that interesting to me anyways. The museum wasn’t very well maintained and the exhibits somehow don’t look very authentic in certain sections.

For lunch, we went to this place called BawarcHi and as you would have expected, it was good.

It was so good that apparently people started pirating this shop. Notice how they keep emphasizing that they have NO BRANCHES. There is only ONE and only ONE place you can enjoy the original.

I had already taken quite a big bite into the meal before I took this pic that’s why it looks so messy

The mutton biryani that we tried was awesome. I also managed to try the lime soda drink that the guys back in KL was telling me about. Best part is, the price was very reasonable. 6 people ate and it didn’t even hit more than 1000 rupees. If you convert that, it’s only RM60+

Next we went to this famous street market called the Charminar Market. To me, Charminar reminded me of Pudu except 3x more crowded.

Charminar literally translates to 4 towers. This monument is very significant to the Andhra Pradesh region.

a lot of peddlers come here to make a living

The most famous thing sold here is the bangles. It is so famous that people call it the bangles market

This is literally the first time I’m seeing a camel in real life. I didn’t know that they were that tall. I asked around and apparently even for the locals it’s not common

These pointy shoes are matched with the traditional clothing of Hyderabad. Most of them are only used once during their wedding ceremony

Then came night time. I actually found a 3 rupee sugar cane drink. Where in the world can you find a 3 rupee sugar cane drink?!? To put things into perspective, 3 rupees is only RM0.20!!

There was also shops selling semi previous stones

Huge gateway in the Charminar market area

And that was pretty much my day. The market was really interesting to see. The only thing that I sucked at was bargaining which I got my really nice colleagues to help me with. The scary thing is you will never know if you are being ripped off. Even if you cut the price by half, you still get that feeling like you could have gone lower.

I didn’t have a really fancy dinner tonight. I just cooked at home. Something very familiar to me…

Masala flavor. It’s their version of the Maggi Kari but it tastes different. To be honest, it wasn’t spicy at all. I think to a lot of extent I find KL food more spicy but that’s only because of the cili padi that they use. Here, the spiciness really comes from the spices which is what I prefer.

I just wanted to share one thing since we are on this topic which is the common misconception of masala. I used to think that masala is a type of spice and it has a specific taste to it like say for example black pepper or BBQ or sour cream n onion. Apparently, masala just means a mixture of spices. This means that a masala dish from one place, could taste different from a masala dish from another. There are a few standard ‘must have’ spices in a masala but the combination is entirely unique to the chef to makes the dish.

I’m heading to bed now. Tomorrow I might be going for a movie. That will be definitely interesting to see a movie in a local cinema.

Now remember when I said that all the food I have tasted so far has been good? Well previously those were local food items. Today I got a chance to test out something which was more of a chain outlet.

Dominos Pizza! Okay the price was comparatively same as KL but the taste…. mmmHmm

Can you guess what flavor is this?

Okay so the pizza might look very normal. And it is a common flavor which is pepperoni and cheese… but here’s the catch, the pepperoni is made out of pork! *insert puke rainbow meme*
And I’ll tell you one thing, the taste is so much better than any of the dominos that I’ve had. Not because it’s made out of pork but the bread is oven baked nicely and I suspect they put some spices inside to add to the taste. Yums!

Okay, so the other day I saw this tv commercial about a chocolate bar called the Cadburry 5Star. And I was like, okay I have to try that! So right after lunch I went to the nearby grocer to grab a bar.

I’ll tell you, it’s one of the best I’ve had. Actually it is the best one I’ve had. For those of you who know me well, you should be familiar that I absolutely love the Cadburry Boost. Well this 5star beats the boost any day. But do take note I took the crunchy one (by accident) and I find that nicer than the original.

Later part of the day we went to one of our other company apartments for a little party. I won’t elaborate much but here’s some unique stuff you can only find in India.

Looks like an ordinary fridge right? But wait, what’s this?

The fridge has a lock! Yes that’s right, by turning the key you won’t be able to open the fridge doors. Apparently it’s used to keep children away from stealing candy. It’s also used for bachelors/bachelorettes who share apartments with others to keep leeching housemates away

And then while we were heading downstairs…

Interesting that basement floors are sometimes labelled as negative floors (-1, -2). Hmmm… But where’s the zero (0) floor then?

Had a fun time last night but I was so tired by the time I got back. Had a quick shower and immediately head to bed. Again I need all the rest I can get because this weekend will have full of activities lined up.

I managed to get some more work done today which is big relief. Also, I did gate crash some of the other departments VC’s and meetings. So, all in all today was pretty much a normal work day for me. Nothing really major happened.

I did however get to try this local version of ais krim potong. Its very very milky and interestingly it contains some cashew nuts.

Tomorrow is gonna be a long day for me. Apparently there’s a small get together that’s happening during the night (as it is a Friday night after all) and so I’ll be needing all the rest I can get.

a really classic bike called the Thunderbird. Apparently each unit is handmade and preorders have to be made one year in advance

The thrill was not as exciting as riding the auto rickshaw but that’s only because it was morning and there is no traffic. If I have the opportunity, I’d like to try a night bike ride.

One of the things I found really nice here is the people in the Hyderabad office are really really friendly. Tonight I went to this to this place called 1857. Apparently the deco and atmosphere is such that it makes you feel how the royalty was treated back in 1857.

Its so ‘realistic’ that they don’t have lights in the restaurant and we ate in the dark and the menu was this old printed newspaper prop

The food was nice and I think I might have really low expectations but seriously ever since I landed here, everything I ate was good. Even the small stalls in my office cafeteria could beat many Indian restaurants back home.

The atmosphere was really romantic.. if only I had my better half to share it with

A small group of the guys from the office was with us. Really nice bunch they were to take some time off and bring us around tonight. I really cannot thank them enough. I think it’s really nice of them.

One of the things I’ve been procrastinating is my laundry. I was supposed to do some this morning but I didn’t wake up in time. I’m just hoping that I got enough clothes to last me for another few days. I’ll definitely do my laundry this weekend.

Ideally I don’t think they would have wanted this as well but the way people are used to the roads, they become extremely skilled drivers. So here I was today going to work in my colleague’s car and I’m noticing that despite having road guide lines, no one actually follows them. Cars zig zag their way through whenever they want. Best part is, the other drivers on the road who get cut in without notice doesn’t seem to mind at all. No honking, no curse words, no middle fingers…

Honking in India is a totally different thing. They honk whenever they want to let other drivers know that they are overtaking or merging into another lane. Why is this so? One thing I noticed is that most of the cars here either fold their side mirrors or they totally don’t have them at all. Which means they rely a lot of their hearing sensory. I’m also guessing that honking keeps everyone at their toes. You definitely won’t get any drivers here dozing off due to sleepiness.

I saw this at the arcade today. Could be the place where they get their training

On a totally different note, today I had 2 doses of biryani. One was from the cafeteria below our office block and the other was this place called 4 seasons in the Inorbit mall which is next to our office building. Supposedly 4 seasons is like one of the bomb biryanis here but I found that the one below our office block was just as good. I still haven’t got to try the famous one at a place called Paradise. Whatever it is, the biryani here is so much better than whatever you get back at home.

This was what I had for breakfast. Loved it to bits. I like eggs… what more when it comes spiced!

I did managed to get some work done today which was a good relief cos I was starting to feel rather slacking. Today we were feeling a little bit adventurous and so we took the auto rickshaw aka “autos” which was this mini taxi which can only fit perhaps 3 adults in the rear at most (although I did see up to 5 adults squeezing in one). I’ll tell ya one thing, if in the morning I thought car drivers were highly skilled, these guys are the elite. They would maneuver into every little space they get in between 2 cars. They somehow think they are just motorcycles squeezing through. It was all good.. I really enjoyed it. It’s like a roller coaster ride for me. I can’t say the same for the others though..

More to come in the coming days. This trip so far has been really amazing for me :D

p/s: The tap today suddenly ran out of water and I can’t take a shower tonight, perhaps I’ll try again tomorrow… oh India.