Warangal Part I

We took a Saturday two weeks ago and drove to Warangal.  It's about a three hour drive from Hyderabad, but the children were content with various electronic gadgets, naps, and snacks, and us grown-ups enjoyed being able to see the area outside of the city.

About an hour into our drive, we passed Bonghir.

  It has now been added to our list of places to visit.  We'll make it a "kids-free" trip, since a hike like that isn't quite their cup of tea.

After a longer stretch of driving, we entered the town of Ghanpur.  From what we had read, Ghanpur is about 60 km outside of Warangal, and home to an interesting group of temples and archaelogical site.  Our driver pulled over to ask where the temples were and we were met with blank stares.  Temples?  Oh, you want to go to Warangal for temples.  Nothing like that here.  Confused, we gave up our hopes of seeing the Ghanpur temples, and continued on to Warangal.  Upon returning home we realized there is another Ghanpur 60 km in the other direction from Warangal.  We wonder of Ghanpur means "60 km from Warangal" in Telugu. 

We finally arrived in Warangal and after a couple of wrong turns found our way to the Thousand Pillared Temple.  That's nearly a pillar for every year of its current age.

The kids favorite part was the Nandi sculpture in front.

Then it was on to Warangal Fort.  More on that in our next post....

The Kids Favorite Commercial - Cheers to Man Hair

India has some weird commercials.  The kids have this one memorized.



We should spend more time blogging and less time watching tv.  Our current favorites: Big Bang Theory, Pawn Stars, and Doctor Who via Netflix.

And this one too.

Travel Goals for the New School Year

 One of the problems we found over the years we were living in New York was that it was easy to get  complacent about the amazing place we lived in.  We never saw Shakespeare in the Park or went to the US Open.  Unacceptable!  It was hard in the stage of life we were in to find the time and childcare needed to really make the most of New York. 

Now, we are in a much more mobile stage.  Our kids are all good travelers, and ready explorers.  In an effort to motivate ourselves to take advantage of living in India, on the Sunday before school started, we sat down and made a list of our top 10 travel goals for the year.  Some are local and easy, some are loftier.  So, here they are.

1.  Visit the Seven Tombs -- Hyderabad -- DONE!  See THIS post.
2.  Go the Hyderabad Zoo -- Hyderabad
3.  Have "high-tea" at Falaknuma Palace -- Hyderabad 
4.  Tour Ramoji Film City -- Hyderabad  -- Tickets in hand for Sept 14th.  Can't wait to see the movie magic!
5.   Find the Paigah Tombs -- Hyderabad  (Our driver, Mustafa, has never been, so it will be an adventure for all of us.)
6.  Visit Warangal -- day trip
7.  See the Taj Mahal -- We're going over the Christmas Holiday!
8.  Take the train to Hampi -- New Year's?
9.  Explore the Ajanta & Ellora Caves --
10.  Take the kids to 2 new countries -- We have a trip to Sri Lanka booked for October and are trying to decide where else to go.  We have a really cool map where you can scratch off a country once you've visited it.  Our kids can't wait to scratch off new places.
 
So, here's my question for all of you.  If you could go anywhere, where would it be?