There is no place in the world like India. After I visited this magical country for the first time in January of 2018, I fell in love with it and knew I had to go back, so I bookended my year with a second trip in November so I could explore more cities, historical sites, and street food. I linked up with my friend Sam and the two of us ate and explored our way through Pune before we arrived in the second city of our 7-city tour, Hyderabad!
On our first day in Hyderabad, Sam and I decided to check out Necklace Road around Sagar Lake, the biggest lake in the city, to visit some attractions before trying more mouthwatering street food! Come join us as we explore the incredible city of Hyderabad!
We started off with a quick carbonated lime drink by the roadside. It was sour, salty, refreshing, and a little peppery! Then, we tried some roasted peanuts from another roadside vendor. They were wrapped in a cone made out of newspaper and were a nice snack to hold me over until our food tour later!
Next, we headed off to catch a ferry to the giant Buddha statue that stands in the middle of Sagar. The price to get into the park where you catch ferry is very reasonable, just 20 rupees, but Sam and I had to pay a thousand rupees each because we both had cameras, and we weren’t too happy about it. It cost another fifteen rupees to catch the ferry. We donned our life jackets once onboard, and after a few selfies with some fellow passengers, we set off to visit the largest monolithic Buddha statue in the world!
In 1990, this Buddha statue tipped over, a hundred feet off the shore, as it was being moved, and unfortunately ten people were killed. Two years later, in 1992, the Buddha was pulled out of the water and placed on the island where it stands today. This Buddha statue is massive and absolutely gorgeous, and has lots of intricate carvings around its base. After a quick 15 minutes at the Buddha statue (and several more selfies with some awesome fans), we boarded the ferry again for the trip back to shore.
Back on shore, we tried some papdi chaat and samosa chaat, two popular snack around the Indian subcontinent. Both contain chickpeas, onions, and mint and tamarind chutneys. The difference between the two is that the samosa chaat contains broken pieces of samosa, a baked or fried dish with a savory filling, as its base. The samosa chaat was sweet, sour, crunchy, and a little spicy, and the papdi chaat was basically the same, just without the samosa pieces. So good, and so inexpensive at just 60 rupees each.
Next, I tried a kulfi, and Indian ice cream that’s made with milk, almonds, pistachios, and saffron, and has a texture that’s like a mix of ice cream, yogurt, and sorbet. It was super nutty and creamy and so delicious!
After another encounter with some amazing fans, Sam and I headed to the Hindu temple of Birla Mandir, a white marble temple that is built around a giant rock and overlooks Sagar Lake. It’s the most popular temple in Hyderabad. Unfortunately, we couldn’t go inside with our cameras and phones, but it’s definitely a must-see when you come to this city!
If you enjoyed me and Sam showing you some of the cool things you can see in Hyderabad, please give this video a thumbs up and leave me a comment! I love chatting with you guys about food and travel. And please subscribe to my channel so you don’t miss out on my upcoming travel and food adventures!
About Me: My name is David Hoffmann and for the last decade I have been traveling around the world in search of unique culture, food and history! Since starting Davidsbeenhere in 2008, I have traveled to 71 countries and over 1,000 destinations, which I welcome you to check out on my YouTube Channel, blog and social medias.
I focus a great deal on food and historic sites, as you probably have seen! I love to experience the different flavors that each destination has to offer, whether it’s casual Street food or gourmet restaurant dining. I’m also passionate about learning the local history and culture.
Okay, so I'm going to try the samosa chaat first.
So as you can see right here is a big chunk of samosa.
I love this by the way, I love chaats.
What's up everyone?
This is David Hoffman from David's Been Here with my boy Sam from Sam and Audrey and we're
here in Hyderabad, India and today we're going to take you to explore the Necklace Road at
Sagar Lake.
Basically, this is the biggest lake in the center of Hyderabad and around it is a huge
road.
And that is what they call it the Necklace Road.
Yeah.
It is the pearl of Hyderabad and here we're going to go see the statue of the Buddha which
was built in 1992.
It is in the center of the lake.
Yeah.
We have to get a ferry to go there.
At Lumbini Park.
Lumbini Park.
And you can get a ferry between two and eight PM.
Right now it is three thirty.
Perfect timing.
Yeah.
Before we catch the ferry let's get a lime juice.
Let's do it man.
Hey, how are you doing?
Everything good?
So we had a lime juice prepared for us.
You can see them freshly pressing the lime and then also he prepared some soda water
mixed that up, put it in and I think there might even be like something like pepper on
top that looks like some black things floating at the very top of the drink.
It looks really good.
Oh.
Cheers.
Fill it to the top.
And these were 10 Rupees each.
10 Rupees.
Oh.
Very refreshing.
It is like a lime soda drink.
Lime soda drink.
A little peppery.
Black pepper.
Yes.
Super refreshing.
It is also salty.
Sweet, sour, salty.
You like it?
It is a little crazy but I like it.
Yeah.
It is good.
I'm not into sodas but I'll take this.
So after having that super sour lime soda drink.
Yeah.
Right next to it a guy pulled up and he had these peanuts.
Basically what he does is he roasts peanuts.
Yeah.
They are just very natural.
He has no salt.
He just roasts them and he sells them for like 20.
20 is the minimum.
20 for 20 Rupees.
So basically 1 Rupee per nut.
Yeah.
Here we have them.
This one is basically cracked open already.
That is nothing there.
Sorry man.
I probably did that.
And I think he gave us even more than 20.
He was really generous.
I think he did.
And you know what is cool?
He kind of rolled it up in something like a newspaper or something.
A newspaper cone.
Yeah.
The language here is different.
Yeah.
It is not Hindi.
It is not.
And then here.
Oh my gosh.
Look at that.
It is super nice.
Roasty.
A little hot.
Yeah.
No salt.
Perfect little snack man.
Yeah man.
Get me through the next few hours to eat that biryani.
Get a little protein in the system.
Like 4 little ones.
Yeah.
Awesome.
Done.
Let's go to the Buddha.
We've got a ferry to catch.
Okay so we entered the park and it is a little bit of a scam here.
It is not just a little bit.
Hahaha.
So the entrance ticket is for what?
Only 20 Rupees per person.
Very very reasonable.
But to come in with a camera 1000 Rupees.
Each.
Each camera.
And it is really frustrating when they do this because unfortunately we typically tend
as foreigners we tend to pay so much more.
Yeah.
Than the tourists.
We already pay 10 times the price typically and on top of that we're often charged to
come and take pictures and film.
Which is unfortunate because we're actually kind of like promoting these destinations
for people.
Exactly.
And so like to have to pay on top of that even though we're paying out of our own pocket
to show these places for you guys.
It is just unfortunate.
I hope they change that system.
Yeah I hope so too because that was like $15 each for what?
For permission.
Yeah.
Because we have to pay another 55 Rupees for the boat.
So yeah.
The costs just keep going up.
Enjoy your stay.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
It is the last boat.
Hello my friend.
Good?
Everything nice?
Alright so it is mandatory to wear a life jacket.
Ah.
You took mine.
Oh.
Oops.
It is okay.
Alright.
Here we go.
The Ghana Tourism.
Everyone else has them on.
So.
Let me put mine on really fast.
There you go.
Oh.
It is like everybody is just bumping in.
What up man?
Hahaha.
Sam.
You too Sam.
Hey man.
Hahaha.
You good?
What's up guys?
Everything good?
Like your glasses dude.
Very cool.
Hahaha.
The selfie game is so so like big here in India.
Everybody loves doing selfies.
Hahaha.
Okay so after about a five minute ferry ride we arrived here at the biggest monolith Buddha
in the world.
What does monolith mean?
It is basically one piece of rock.
Yeah.
They carved this entire structure of the Buddha and then all of the pieces on the bottom.
Yeah and there is all of these intricate carvings at the very bottom.
It is just incredible man.
It is so big.
So big.
A piece of the story that is pretty shocking actually is that in the year 1990 when they
were bringing the Buddha over here a hundred feet off the shoreline the Buddha tipped into
the water and fell.
10 people died on that occasion.
That is crazy.
Very sad.
Yeah.
Then two years later they finally pulled out the Buddha and put him here.
1992 was the year they inaugurated the Buddha onto this island.
Wow.
Insane.
And this is one of the things you have to see when you come to Hyderabad.
It is a must.
It is really impressive.
Unfortunately we have the wrong light.
Yeah.
So I would suggest coming in the morning.
Exactly.
And something that was really cool is we could see this as we were driving far away.
Like that is how big it is.
That is just how huge it is.
It is just beautiful.
Yeah.
It is a true landmark.
Another one?
Let's go.
Selfie.
Perfect.
Thank you sir.
Thank you.
I am a teacher.
I will show this photo to my students.
I will show this.
Whoa.
It is a hundred selfies there.
One photo.
One photo with you too?
Yes.
Let's keep going.
How many selfies are you taking today?
One photo.
You too?
Okay.
Let's go.
Me too.
I want to take a selfie.
Are you guys ready?
Hey.
Wow.
Up here.
Everybody up.
Peace.
Tongue.
Okay.
Thanks.
Okay.
No problem.
Thank you.
I will give you my card.
Hi.
Oh my gosh.
Hi.
Okay.
So you basically get about 15 minutes here.
That is it.
15 minutes to see the Buddha.
Okay.
Let's take a photo again.
Okay.
Oh man.
That was amazing.
That was fun.
I think we spent more time taking selfies than we did checking out the actual site.
It was still great fun.
We met some awesome people.
And it is very impressive don't you think?
It is very impressive but I really love how everybody is like going crazy with the selfie
game on us.
This might be the friendliest place I've been in India.
For sure.
Like people are just genuinely curious.
Want to come up and chat.
And want to know where you're from.
Want to take a selfie.
It is a lot of fun.
It is mad fun.
Hahaha.
I'm dying of how many people stopped to take photos.
I know.
It is amazing.
And next up we're going to get some more snacks.
Yeah.
And then we're off to a temple.
That's right.
Right when we got off the boat we saw this place selling Hyderabadi street food.
Yeah.
I mean I think this is more of a mix of Indian street food not just southern.
Right here we have Papti.
This is actually Papti Chaat.
Yeah.
And this is Samosa Chaat.
So the difference here is this one has samosa which is like an empanada.
Yeah.
On the bottom broken up.
Then you have chickpeas on top.
Yeah.
You have onions.
And then what is this?
Crunchy.
So we have seyo.
And then there is also a few different chutneys here.
I think there is a tamarind chutney and a mint chutney.
Okay.
So I'm going to try the samosa chaat first.
So as you can see right here is a big chunk of samosa.
Yeah.
Okay.
I love this by the way.
I love chaats.
Mmm.
It's sweet.
It's sour.
It's crunchy.
Oh.
It's a little spicy.
I love how they have chickpeas throughout.
Mmm.
And the crunch as well.
And the onion actually calms down the heat a little bit.
That's good man.
Really good texture.
A little bit of juiciness too with that onion probably.
Mmm.
I love samosa chaat.
Next up we have patty chaat.
I actually haven't tried patty chaat.
I think here we also have I think that is like potatoes.
You see the onions, the chickpeas, there is a little bit of a crunch.
I don't know if that is like a potato or something right there.
Okay.
Right there.
Patty chaat.
Oh yeah.
Mmm.
Good stuff?
Really good.
I love the crunch here.
I mean there is no real difference between the two except this one has samosa and this
one doesn't.
Yeah.
Yeah I mean the same exact taste.
Yeah.
Almost the same exact taste.
And the price is super reasonable.
60 Rupees each.
So it is like almost one US dollar each.
Yeah.
Slightly less man.
That is incredible value.
And this is a meal.
Like if I eat both of them.
Oh yeah.
Two dollars.
I eat like a prince.
Dude it is chaat life here.
Check out this.
Indian street food.
We've got two sections of it.
I mean you've already had some.
I'm going to try the one.
Is this patty chaat?
That is patty chaat.
That is the one without the samosa.
So good man.
You can make a little meal out of it.
I mean you could just go around have one of these maybe two or three hours later have
one more.
It is like having a real meal.
So good.
So affordable.
So delicious.
The price is 60 Rupees.
You can't beat that man.
Less than one US dollar.
I'm trying the samosa chaat.
You see I get a big piece of samosa there.
They chop up the samosa which is really interesting.
I'm just going to pop it in.
Mmmm.
And the difference with having the samosa chaat is you get like the potatoes that are
in the samosa.
So it is a different flavor, different texture.
Really good though man.
This is classic Indian street food.
Something you've got to try.
Alright so the next thing we're trying here is Kulfi.
This is basically Indian ice cream.
For me it is like a mix between ice cream, yogurt and sorbet.
It really has a different type of texture.
Yeah it really does.
And what are the ingredients?
What are the ingredients here dude?
Milk, almonds, pistachios and saffron which is kesar.
Yeah.
Okay and it is like a popsicle.
Okay here we go.
Oh neat man.
Oh it even comes out.
Hard to get out.
Woah.
It is like.
Did I pull it the wrong way?
Hahaha.
Yeah.
Big mistake.
You've got to pull it from the bottom.
Look at that.
It has been a while since I've had Kulfi.
Here we go.
This one is really nutty I've got to say dude.
This is super nutty.
Mmmm.
The pistachios.
Wow.
The almonds.
Yeah.
It is very creamy.
Mmmm.
I love how nutty it is.
Yeah.
It is really nutty.
Mmmm.
And what is it?
The saffron?
Yeah the saffron.
The saffron really gives it a nice flavor man.
Mmmm.
It is so unique.
So amazing.
It is hard to describe but it is so good.
And I love how it came out like a popsicle.
Oh I know.
So you can just walk around.
That is awesome.
Around this park.
Enjoy it but this is going to melt in like two seconds because of the heat.
Hahaha.
Mmmm.
Isn't that good?
Oh it is so good.
Yeah.
I'm not really into sweets but this I'll eat every day.
Alright guys I'm done with this.
Let's go to the temple.
Hahaha.
Hey!
Our last stop today is the Hindu temple of Birla Mandir.
It is located about 280 feet above the lake.
It is a hill rock temple as you can see.
The temple is literally built around this giant rock.
It is the most popular Hindu temple to visit in Hyderabad.
A must visit.
Unfortunately we can't go inside with cameras or phones.
But you should definitely come here once you're done with the lake and then go see the incredible
views over the lake.
Let's go do that.
What an incredible day.
We had a blast today here at the necklace road, the lake, the temple.
I think my favorite part was taking all of the selfies.
I know.
It was so much fun.
So many friendly locals.
Plus we found a surprising amount of street food to eat.
Oh yeah.
So it was just an awesome afternoon.
Totally random.
Not really planned which makes it even more special in my opinion.
Yeah, one of my favorite things about India is that literally every second there is something
you can eat.
Oh yeah.
Either a chat, a drink, peanuts.
You're never far away from food, man.
No, it's good.
And the best part about it is having the drinks on the street.
Yeah.
My favorite really is the coconut but that little soda wasn't that bad.
That was good, man.
Well guys, if you love this video, give it a thumbs up.
Leave us a comment below if you've been to Hyderabad or if you want to come.
Subscribe to Samuel and Audrey.
Subscribe to my channel and we'll see you on the next adventure in Hyderabad.
Peace.
