The Westin Hyderabad Mindspace

Pakhal Lake Around the...

by Swadeshika

Pakhal Lake Around the tranquel man made Pakhal Lake with perennial streams of water is located about 50Kms east of Warangal, amidst undulating forest-clad hills and dales, Pakhal Lake built during the reign of King Ganapathi Deva as it stands as a live example of the Vastu Vignana (Knowledge of Vastu) which found its expression in the building activity of the Kakatiya Kings. Set around shores of this lake is the Pakhal wild life sanctuary covering an area of 900 sq.km with densforest, shelter of tigers and
a large variety of other animals and birds.

The Golconda Fort

by wlightfoot

The Golconda Fort is a must see if you are in Hyderabad. One of the coolest features of the fort is its acoustics if you clap your hand at certain places below the main entrance dome, the clap be heard clearly at the Bala Hissar, the tallest point a mile away! Lots and Lots of History here!!!

India Lite!

by Callavetta

"High Tech India"

Hyderabad was my last stop on a 8 city trip to India. Ironically, my whole experience may have been different had it been my first stop. Along with Bangaluru, Hyderabad has become India's High Tech capital and this evolution is dragging the country into the 21st century.

I arrived at the Hyderabad airport after dark and immediately noticed the difference from every other place I landed. India is rapidly building modern airports at manyh cities and the difference is dramatic, but Hyderabad is certainly a whole different class. The airport is first class and rivals Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, and any of the other world class international airports I've been in this past year.

But even this did not prepare me for the 10 lane highway from the airport to town! Granted, it's not complete yet, and we had to get off and get back on several times during the half hour trip to High Tech city, but the lack of honking, the chaos of every possible type of mode of transportation (and cows!), and headlights hurtling towards you was incredibly noticable.

We arrived at the Novotel hotel and convention hall, passed through security zones, and entered the very western lobby area for check in and it all felt very much like arriving at any modern US city.

These impressions were reinforced even further the next day when colleagues collected me at the hotel to take me to the office. High Tech city is a replica of Silicon Valley with large campuses that boast signs for Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Deloite.... many of the same companies we see in the California counterpart.

A trip to the downtown area showed a bit of old India, with beggers tapping on the windows at traffic lights, fruit and vegetable stands lining the sidewalks, the random cow and assorted motor rickshaws, crowded buses, and motor bikes everywhere. But the stores are far more modern, bigger and are filled with things you might actually want to buy. There are shopping malls, a Hardrock Cafe, and McDonalds. We had lunch at the Taj Krishna, which was just lovely.