December 28...Second day

Awake, fresh and ready to go. We were both looking forward to seeing Hyderabad. The weather was great, temperature was around 28 Celsius.

Our driver show up at a 11 am and off we went to see… Golkonda fort; it is one of the most famous and the biggest fortress in the Deccan plateau of India. The fort has three lines of powerful fortification walls one within the other. The first line encloses the town, the second a double wall, runs around the foot of the hill on which the citadel stands. The third line within the second and further up the hill is formed by connecting walls of masonry to the natural boulders. It’s massive! A great place to discover.

Next we went to…Located about a kilometer north from the fort, the Qutub Shahi tombs represent the most authentic and majestic display of the Qutub Shahi dynasty architectural traditions today. The grandeur of the tombs are located in a  beautiful and picturesque landscape and gardens of Ibrahim Bagh, and the tombs themselves are dedicated to the seven Qutub Shahi kings who ruled Golconda for nearly 170 years. After the hustle and bustle of the drive, it was a real peaceful place to stroll around before lunch.

This is exactly what we did… We used our travel book and choose Chutneys. It was near our hotel and we were excited to try their Thali. The restaurant was lively, full of locals, and serves a wide range of south India dishes.

If you have not trieda Thali, it is a must it’s basically India tapas served with rice and you can keep filling your plate until you are stuffed!

Here is a great link that describes the meal. All about Thali

So now feeling like locals we decided to take an auto-rickshaw back to our hotel. Even though they have meters, it’s best to negotiate with the driver and be very clear on where you want to go. He did get us to a Taj hotel; however it was the Taj Decca that he took us to. Which actually turned out great, due to we sat in the garden and had a drink. We headed back a little later to our hotel and decided to use the Taj hotel car to get us there this time.

When we got back to our hotel we got a lovely surprise. Anjani called and invited us for dinner. We ended up meeting another couple from America. They had just arrived in Hyderabad that day and were feeling the effects of jet lag. If I remember right, I think their flight took over 22 hours. We had a great meal at the hotel, in the restaurant that serves India food buffet style.

I must admit I was a little nervous about sharing our story with another couple. I have always felt this decision was such a personal and private matter and something hard to chat about to anyone that you do not know.  It is also a strange conversation to have with people who you have just met. What do you say? How was your time at the clinic?  I know for a fact William did not want to discuss his time at the clinic. It might be the Canadian in me, but I felt awkward in asking them anything about the clinic. I felt it would be rude of me to ask.  How do you feel about sharing your story?

I must admit, later I did feel more at ease, and it did make me feel better that I was not the only couple trying to make a family.