We left 21:30 and arrived Hyderabad 08:00 after a quiet drive - albeit with broken uncomfortable sleep.Hyderabad is a large busy city and we arrived in the main Bus Station - after the usual touts melee we grabbed a chai each and tuktuk'ed to a local area - Abids - which had 'budget' hotels. We grabbed an AC room with breakfast but had to fork out 2000Rp a night at The Jaya International! Gasp! Room was fine - cool and comfy - so we relaxed and caught up with some sleep. We went for dinner at Sagar Papaji Ka Dhaba - tasty curries as usual!!! Then early night. Next day we grabbed a tuktuk to Charminar (after the tasty Indian buffet breakfast). Charminar is a 4 turreted tower built 1591. It was hot (40-ish) and busy on the way - it looked imposing (see pics) and after paying the obligatory 100Rp we waltzed around, it was much more impressive outside than in - with graffiti everywhere. All about it was a hub of activity, with stalls, sellers and products everywhere. We lunched and relaxed in AC for a while then walked (the long way) to Chowmahalla Palace building (started 1750 finished around 1850). We smelled the walls of the palace before we saw them - and saw signs on the palace walls stating 'PLEASE DO NOT UNRINATE HERE STRICTLY' - ironically the driver of the !ncredible India coach was in 'mid-flow' as we passed by. Perhaps signs in Indian may be better, as I didn't see tourists relieving themselves....Again we paid the 'white premium' and entered. It was a sprawling 'palace' with some impressive chandeliers and other non-Indian tat. General condition was poor, with little (other than the beautiful ceilings) of any architectural or aesthetic merit whatsoever. There were some rooms filled with clothes, weapons (which were often genuine Indian), cars etc... Ironically Sheryl noted the current owners/family now live in Turkey! We walked back for a cool Diet Coke break in AC luxury then tuktuk'ed back. After showering we decided to walk in the dark for a new restaurant experience. Dark, busy roads with fumes and dust - plus a 24hr 'rush hour' makes Hyderabad an interesting place for pedestrians. We wandered - nay - dodged our way about the streets avoiding every conceivable vehicle coming from any possible direction simultaneously! Whilst I dodged through the 4-8 lanes of traffic like a local Mountain goat with GPS, Sheryl was left standed for 10mins adue to the combination of every rickshaw driver assuming she needed a lift and pulled across (hurtled towards!) her PLUS the racing lanes of constant traffic often without lights on! Finally found a little gem and tucked in to Mushroom in Ginger (Glorious) and Vegetable Jalfrezi, Washed down with ThumsUp (a coke like drink) We waddled back after the feast and hit the sack. Next morning after breakfast our arranged taxi came early (10:20) - we left and arrived at the very modern (yet incredibly quiet) Hyderabad Airport. We had the usual security asking 'where is your e-Ticket?' - I was tempted to discuss the semantics of such a request , but thought better of it. Of course 'e-' means power on netbook and show to security... We checked in and grabbed a tasty cheesy-veg pizza (we still haven't had meat for months!) before toddling off to our next destination.... Varanasi - via Delhi - Varanasi has a population of 1.5m or so, is a lively place - allegedly one of the longest continually inhabited places on earth. Great - so they should have everything sorted there then!........hmmmmmm see you in Varanasi