Hyderabad on a Sunday morning

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I love India. Its such a funny place! My car turned up with no problems this morning and Ramchander, my driver for today is really good. So first up was finding the church. We got a bit lost and went past it by a long way. Ramchander asked a couple of people for directions - at one point he stopped us on the side of the highway outside some roadside shops and houses and told me I should wait in the car while he went to find directions. I had quite a lot of people watching me through the window of the car. Very strange. I was glad when Ramchander got back!

We eventually found the place, after asking another few people for directions, and arrived just in time for church to start. The service was quite different in some ways to my normal church, but I really enjoyed it. Ramchander came in for the service too, but he sat somewhere else. I did feel a bit out of place wearing jeans and a t-shirt when everyone else was in saris, but no one seemed to mind so I'm sure it was just me..

After church finished I had some chai tea which was there for everyone. Then a lady who I'd met earlier said she wanted to introduce me to her friend - which ended up involving us going by my car to some medical place where some guy told me about his medical practice so that I could get people from my company to go there. Very weird. He was saying he is trained in psychotherapy and counselling, but they also can treat anything ranging from weight loss to epilepsy to jaundice to hepatitis etc. I'm really not sure what the point of me being there was so I excused myself and headed back to the hotel to drop off some stuff before sight seeing this afternoon. The lady said she had an appointment there so she stayed. Still trying to work that one out!

The trip back to the hotel was fun, I really love driving (well, being driven) here - its always a mini adventure. I'm going to have to take a ride in one of the three wheelers at some point too.

Anyway, at a set of lights there were these guys selling bug zappers. Now I saw one of these in action on my first day here - I was having coffee with my boss and his wife and noticed one of the hotel staff waving around a tennis racquet. Then I realised he was zapping mozzies with it. Sooo, I had to buy one. Ramchander did some bargaining on my behalf and I paid Rs150 instead of 250. As the exchange was taking place the guy selling them said something about Americans, so I'm guessing I probably still paid more than I should have.

I felt like a bit of an idiot carrying it back into the hotel, especially walking past the guys with machine guns who are still stationed just outside my door. They're all very lovely though - they stand up and say good morning/evening every time I walk past. I guess someone important must be staying near my room! I'm debating whether I can ask them for a photo....

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Photos

Very fresh fish & chicken
Look closely at this one - I don't think I'd have the heart to buy chicken!

Comments

[M & D]

Maybe you' re the important one, protected by weaponry, odin agrees