Picking at the entrails of culture

I managed to spend a little time on Saturday seeing some of the city. Hyderabad is about 400 years old and the Charminar (Four Towers) is in the centre of the older part of town. It is surrounded by bazaars and traffic. There are the usual "volunteer guides" who don't want money to show you around. In fact, no money changed hands.

I'm still getting used to non-resident prices though. The entrance was capped by a large Rs. 5 sign, whilst the non-resident price was actually 150 rupees (3 euro)!

I went on to visit the Salar Jung museum, containing the collection of the last Nawab of Hyderabad. It was a nice museum with a strange mixture of items. As well as Indian, European and Far Eastern statuary, paintings and furniture there were children's exhibits. This including a scene of village life complete with little plastic farmers, houses, cows, pigs and chickens running around. In the middle of the scene a cow was dead on the ground with its entrails being picked out by a vulture! I can't see museums back home adding that level of realism to their children's exhibits!

It was nice to finally see a bit of the city and its history. That way I also avoided the cocktail making (and drinking) class that did some damage to many of the guys from work. :) We went on to a club called Bottles and Chimneys, which was a laugh. But more on that another time.