Category: Travel

A Visit To Lal Bahadur Stadium, As Reported In A King Cricket Piece, 31 January 2011

This report for King Cricket relates to a small part of our India & Sri Lanka trip, which I shall write up more comprehensively eventually, for which the Ogblog placeholder and links can be found by clicking here or below:

India and Sri Lanka, 29 January to 26 February 2011, placeholder and links

Here is a link to the King Cricket piece, which relates to just one of the many places we visited in Hyderabad on 31 January:

Lal Bahadur Stadium in Hyderabad match preview

King Cricket published the piece on 18 April 2011. Just in case the above link goes duff, I have also scraped the report to here.

Frankly, some of the comments are better than my report – it is worth reading for them. King Cricket can be like that.

Not much used by 2011, Lal Bahadur Stadium

Journey From London To Hyderabad, 29 & 30 January 2011

In the Taj Krishna Club Room before dinner

Watched some of the Aussie women’s [tennis] final (Kleisters beat Li Na) before Mohammed collected us [from Sandall Close].

Uneventful journey in club (no upgrade as no first class).

Arrived Hyderabad 4:45 India time – met by Basquar – arrange/bargain our way into early check-in at Taj Krishna.

Restful day sleeping, sorting, checking out hotel etc. Arrange to eat in Indian restaurant. Take massage before dinner.

Tried wonderful Hyderabad dishes – Haleem with Sheermal (wonderful slow cooked lamb) and Dumka Murgh – creamy gravy chicken dish – plus some Lamb Biriani Hyderabadi style. Absolutely superb.

Cooking it in the Firdaus Indian Restaurant at The Taj Krishna, Hyderabad
Eating it in the Firdaus Indian Restaurant at The Taj Krishna, Hyderabad

Arrival And First Day In Hyderabad, 30 January 2011

Links to lots of information about this vacation can be found through the placeholder and links here and below:

India and Sri Lanka, 29 January to 26 February 2011, placeholder and links

The following is a diary extract, perhaps with one or more illustrative pictures.

Arrive in Hyderabad 4:45 India time.

Met by Basquar – arrange/bargain our way into early check-in at Taj Krishna.

Restful day sleeping, sorting, checking out hotel etc. Arrange to eat in Indian restaurant.

Take massage before dinner.

Club Room at the Taj Krishna. Hyderabad

Try wonderful Hyderabadi dishes – Haleem with Sheermal (wonderful slow-cooked lamb) and Dum Ka Murgh (creamy chicken dish) plus some lamb biryani hyderabadi style

This chef was the business

Absolutely superb.

Stuffed and/but blissfully happy

The Flight To Hyderabad, 29 January 2011

Links to lots of information about this vacation can be found through the placeholder and links here and below:

India and Sri Lanka, 29 January to 26 February 2011, placeholder and links

The following is a diary extract, perhaps with one or more illustrative pictures.

Watched some of the Oz Women’s final (Clizsters beat Li Na) before Mohammed collected us.

Uneventful journey in Club (no upgrade as no First Class!).

China (Beijing, Yunnan and Sanya), 4 April to 27 April 2010, placeholder and links

We were very keen to see a rural and scenic part of China; Yunnan seemed to fit the bill. We’d see interesting places.

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We’d meet interesting people.

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There would be opportunities to do some wonderful walks.

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We could stay in high quality hotels; unlike our fascinating but hardy experience in Tibet eight years earlier. Steppes East put together an excellent itinerary for us – here it is available for download: Harris – Final itin dep 4 Apr 2010.

We took some great pictures, divided into three albums:

One good story is already up and available – an unexpected cricket match between Tibet and England, with me representing England.  The match was also reported in excruciating detail on King Cricket, a few weeks after the event.

As usual, there are loads of notes waiting to be written up properly. If you are desperate to see them and try to decipher them before I get there – feel free to download and have a go:

 

China (Beijing, Yunnan and Sanya), Sanya To Shanghai & Then Home, 26 to 27 April 2010

26 April 2010

Last morning in villa – take a little sunshine, and take light breakfast (no butter!) and a bit more sunshine etc.

Pack and stroll and prepared to leave. Chat briefly with Max in the sunshine before leaving.

Uneventful journey to Shanghai p.m., checking in to Ramada Pudong airport hotel. Not special!

Snacked on toast etc. evening then early night after wrestling with ineffective air-conditioning!

27 April 2010

Light breakfast at Ramada followed by uneventful journey home!

Airport transfer was like clockwork, did duty-free shopping then boarded the plane on time only to sit on runway for an hour and a half – perhaps for Sarkozy!

Land at Heathrow one hour after scheduled time – Not too bad.

Grumpy cab driver home [we’re back]!!

There is a placeholder and links piece for this trip, with links to all the photographs, the full itinerary and stuff – click here for that.

China (Beijing, Yunnan and Sanya), Slightly Sickly In Sanya, 23 to 25 April 2010

23 April 2010

Overnight rain postponed tennis but clears the air.

Ged starts Yiddish Policeman’s Union.

Ged’s cold still in full sway. Breakfast. Run backups on to drive, then enjoy our villa for the day, jacuzzi, steam, pool, vids and all.

Then early evening tennis.

Try some in-villa dining tonight – Daisy has a club sandwich, Ged a pasta with prawns washed down with the Venetian we bought yesterday – very nice

Try playing Go/Othello/whatever it’s called briefly.

24 April 2010

Up early for tennis again today then wash, breakfast etc.

Another day relaxing in villa, another day of streaming cold for Ged! Again make most of the facilities – discover the water-bouncy ball doesn’t bounce! Still jacuzzi and steam works wonders.

Try the beach barbecue tonight starter of duck/Hainen chicken – then try prawns, oyster, scallop, clam, lamb, beef… with trimmings and some ice cream! Bottle of Stump Jump goes down well.

Daisy decides to open windows tonight as it’s cooler – bad idea mozzie wise! Someone or something must’ve been badly bitten by one of the mozzies but it doesn’t seem to have been one of us!

25 April 2010

Oversleep tennis slot and it is bright first thing so take some sun then breakfast…

…then Ged’s guts explode!

Quiet day on beach (briefly Ged) and mostly around villa to recuperate.

Daisy swims (Ged doesn’t). Replacement bouncy ball seems more bouncy!

Daisy joins Ged’s “fast” to try to clear guts so quiet evening in and early night – looked at photos again briefly before bed.

There is a placeholder and links piece for this trip, with links to all the photographs, the full itinerary and stuff – click here for that.

China (Beijing, Yunnan and Sanya), Visiting Sanya City, 22 April 2010

Photo Attribution: Alex Kwok / CC BY-SA

Again rise early, coffee, tennis (Ged 6-4) then fiddle with Internet and backups a bit more. Then planned trip into town.

Taxi in from hotel. Duty-free shop won’t sell to us because we aren’t flying internationally from Sanya! On to department store/supermarket much better. Get bits and pieces there after getting a cheap small case for Daisy to replace the damaged red jobbie.

Taxi adventure on way home as driver takes us miles and miles in the wrong direction, to some godforsaken hotel on the other side of Yalong Bay! He returns us to mystified luggage vendor who sells Daisy a purse and then suggest we seek a taxi from another spot!

We really were only a couple of miles from home!

Spend rest of afternoon in villa swimming, reading, jacuzzing and steaming.

Thai meal again tonight – glass noodle salad starter, crab meat curry and with morning glory and coconut rice. Far too much especially with Ged streaming, but very good food. Chat together! Crash on return.

There is a placeholder and links piece for this trip, with links to all the photographs, the full itinerary and stuff – click here for that.

China (Beijing, Yunnan and Sanya), Settling In Sanya, 19 to 21 April 2010

19 April 2010

Rose early – started looking at a possible upgrades. Showed a spa suite which we liked and arrange to see the duty manager after breakfast. By 11 o’clock the deal was done we were sorting ourselves out in Villa 2102.

In the afternoon enjoy the Villa to the full, swimming, reading, jacuzzing etc.

Went for a stroll late afternoon to get our bearings. Played ping-pong – Daisy won as usual. Ged is reading A Spot Of Bother, Daisy is reading Shantaram.

Take dinner in main restaurant. Crab cake starter – prawns, pork, veg, and sticky rice. Delicious but too much. Early night.

20 April 2010

Rose early, coffee, tennis (Daisy won 6-4), bathe, wonderful breakfast & back to our super villa.

Pass the day reading, swimming, walk to the beach, swim the main pool etc.

Quietly contemplate staying here longer, as northern Europe is still a no-fly zone.

Try out the steam in villa today.

Book Thai restaurant for dinner and try tuna salad, mixed veg, coconut rice, prawn etc noodle dish, and other stuff, again delicious but too much. Again crash early.

21 April 2010

Again rose early, coffee, tennis (Ged 6-1), bathe, amazing breakfast, Ged plays with Internet and photo backups, then back to our amazing villa for more reading (Ged moved on to Netherland), swimming etc. Very nice indeed. Ged coming down with a cold however.

Still, back to main restaurant for Wang Chang chicken, prawns (again) different green veg and plain rice. Very good, although timing of dishes bizarre especially as we are, once again, the only visible diners in the main restaurant! (A few tables in Thai and the sound of buggies doing in Villa dining elsewhere).

There is a placeholder and links piece for this trip, with links to all the photographs, the full itinerary and stuff – click here for that.

China (Beijing, Yunnan and Sanya), Zhongdian To Sanya Via Kunming, 18 April 2010

Rose reasonably early to complete packing.

Took breakfast and await a transfer. Said goodbye to Huang, then just about avoided scrum at Zhongdian Airport, said goodbye to Palchen and waited in tacky first class lounge.

Met by Simon in Kunming, with whom we went to the Bamboo Temple (amazing statues et cetera)…

…and then on for a Muslim restaurant meal with Yunnan duck, chicken hotpot with asendo[?] ginseng, greens and rice…which Simon thought to be inadequate!

Meanwhile Mrs Fixit was checking us in at the airport early and on the phone a few times.

Returned to airport, said goodbye to Simon and (after a 20-25 minute delay) flew to Sanya arriving about 15 minutes late.

Silent but efficient driver whisked us to the Banyan Tree where they only half expected us but never mind.

Bualeers [can I read my own writing?] in villa – no doubt we’ll change room tomorrow!

I only remember that villa seeming small but no doubt there were other things wrong with it. Janie can’t remember either.

There is a placeholder and links piece for this trip, with links to all the photographs, the full itinerary and stuff – click here for that.