Hyderabad

Hyderabad, a wonderful city known for its landmarks, pearls, and great food! I visited this beautiful city over this past summer and absolutely loved it. The most famous landmark of all is the Charmina, an Islamic building built in the late 1500's to commemorate the elimination of the city's plague epidemic. This huge structure with four towers is situated in the middle of a busy road in a very busy market area. From the top of the building, you can see the entire city spread in front of you. You can also see hundreds upon hundreds of shops in the surrounding area selling nothing but gold jewelry and pearls! Other landmarks include the Birla Mandir, a Hindu temple made entirely from marble, the Ramoji Film City, one of the largest film studios in the world, and many more museums and attractions for everyone to see. I spent nearly 5 days here and still did not have time to see the entire city!

And for food, nothing compares to the famous Hyderabadi biryani. Biryani, pronounced bree-ya-ne, is an incredible dish made from a special type of long thin rice and is mixed with herbs and some meat, usually mutton. In Hyderbad, especially in an amazing restaurant called Paradise, the biryani served here is world-class! A dish everyone should taste at least once!

Bangalore

Bangalore, India, the city where I currently live in. Bangalore is one of the bigger cities in India with a population approaching 6 million people. It is located in Southern India on the edge of the Deccan plateau. This gives the city a relatively cool climate throughout most of the year. The summers here usually last from March to May. Come June, the monsoon season arrives with an abudance of daily rain and cooler weather. Winter doesn't get very cold at all with temperatures only reaching a low of around the 50's during the night.

The city itself is a sprawling megatropolis filled with shops, ethnic foods and restaurants, temples, nature spots, and one of the best variety of nightclubs and pubs India has to offer. Sights, smells, and sounds all assault you once you enter the city. From roodside tandoori chicken kababs to colorful festivals to jungle lodges to white-water rafting, Bangalore and its surrounding areas have just about everything to offer its residents and its tourists alike!

A Change of Pace

After moving down to India in the early part of last year, I have come to really enjoy and open myself up to all of the beautiful and enchanting sights India has to offer. Leaving the glittering, magnificent lights of fabulous Las Vegas and it's one-of-a-kind 24/7 laissez-faire lifestyle to come down to the hustling and bustling city of Bangalore, India was definitely one of the most “change of pace” moves I have made yet.

Ah yes, “change of pace,” a phrase which I have continuously overused here as more and more people always ask that all-important question, “Why?” Why did you decide to come here? Why India? Why? Why? I suppose from their perspective, it is a curious question. Why in the world would someone who has grown up in America decide to pack up and all-of-a-sudden move to India for a few? Well, as much as I would love to give them a deep philosophical answer to their curious inquiries, my beloved phrase always comes to the rescue; “A Change of Pace.”

In essence, that really sums up my reason. I had no specific soul searching journey, no hiking the Himalayas with Hippies desire, no finding Enchantment through spiritual awakening quests. No, I simply just wanted “a change of pace.”