Donnerstag, 28. Februar 2008

Ramoji Film City


Ramoji Fim City is a huge film production complex 25 km from Hyderabad. We went there with Douwe's parents after visiting Hyderabad's more traditional sites.



Fake Switzerland at a tourist ride.


Fake ancient city


Fake palace and - in the background - a fake Nordertor (Northern Gate). This landmark of Flensburg, my home town, is clearly more famous than I thought.
Nearby, we finally got a glimpse of the filming of an Indian musical (sorry, no pictures of that, just a short bootleg movie).


Dance show for the tourists


The monkeys were real.

Mittwoch, 20. Februar 2008

Visakhapatnam, Araku Valley, Borra Caves


Visakhapatnam's beaches weren't as inviting as we had hoped. Neither were the reasonably priced hotels.


So we checked into an expensive one. Totally worth it!


The next day, we went on a train ride to Araku Valley. It took about 5 hours but our friendly fellow travellers made the time fly by.


Papaya


We visited a small tribal museum and then got a chance to try our hands at archery ourselves.


Tribal dancing



Small Indian children sometimes have their faces painted with black dots and kohl, apparently to look less cute and avert the evil eye.


In the Borra Caves.




Donnerstag, 14. Februar 2008

Google office


Who cares about old temples - show us pictures of the Google office!


An all-important training of the brain.


I guess it can't compete with the new Zurich office but it's pretty nice, too.


Lots of excellent food - Indian and other cuisines, including sandwiches of your choice and Italian pasta prepared for you right on the spot.


Hours at the computer and plenty of food are balanced with a little workout. Or not.

Montag, 4. Februar 2008

Warangal and surroundings


Another Nandi. This one is in Hanamkonda at the Thousand Pillars Temple.


We made a lot of new friends there. Girls...


...and guys.


Ruins of the Shiva temple at Warangal's fort.


They are really good at making Nandis in this country.


And elephants. Big ones...


and small ones.


A resting Douwe makes for a very good trunk.


At Bhadrakali Temple



Near Badhrakali Temple, we met a school class from the Gowtham Model School on an outing.


These kids are all in one class! They wanted to know about our home countries and how we liked India. Well - a lot!


You can never have enough Nandis.




Old Town


Again: the Charminar. Half way up, there is a platform from which you have a nice view over the surroundings. A wonderful spot for spying on the people below.


Sugar cane press



Bicycle riksha - apparently a good place to do your homework.


It's quite scary what kind of loads people transport on bicycle rikshas, surrounded by crazy traffic. The thinner the cyclist, the bigger the load seems to be the rule.