From the Ista hotel in the Finance district of Hyderabad, walk down to the main road (IT Park Road No. 2) and turn right. Then turn first right, continue 200 metres, and turn left. Follow this road approximately 450 metres and bear left onto a gravel road. Follow the gravel road another 450 metres to a T-junction and turn right. Stay on this rough road approximately 1.2 km, until you get very close to the motorway. Turn left and find a suitable place to cross, e.g. by the toll booths (under construction November 2011). After you've crossed the motorway walk left 450 metres (again) and leave the motorway to the right, onto a path. This path will take you to the south-east corner of a stone wall, which can be climbed close to the corner, where it is partly torn down. Head right, out of the bush, and turn left when you get onto a small field. You're now on a path that will take you along the south slopes of Manikonda-620. Turn left, off the path, after 500 metres, where you see a shed, and up to an open barn. From here continue east a couple of hundred metres on a vague path, and find a suitable place to ascend the hill. The summit is where there is a smaller stone (~2m³) placed on top of a much larger stone. It's all very obvious when you get there.

From the summit head north-east to a house close to the summit and follow the rough road down to the houses below. When you get down to the "village" bear left (west) and the right (north) until you get onto a tarmac road. Turn left and follow this road straight through two large round abouts. Continue on this road a main junction, and turn left. Then turn left after 550 metres, and proceed the reminding 650 metres up to the gate of the hotel.

19. November 2011

The original intention had been to travel home from Hyderabad this Saturday morning, but because of no evening flights from Oslo to Ålesund on Saturdays Tim and me decided to postpone our return flight 24 hours, and get home Sunday night (at the end we only got home Monday afternoon thanks to Heathrow being closed many hours due to fog). The Sunday return flight allowed us to spend Saturday as tourists, and mid-day we decided to go for a long run "somewhere".

A few hundred metres after leaving our hotel we spotted an interesting top, and decided to try to find a route there. We had to ask around a little, and had a couple of considerable de-tours, but after an hour of easy running we made it to the summit. At the summit we enjoyed some fine views of Hyderabad, and were also astonished by the large stones scattered around the summit area.

After having taken photos of the views and a group of ladies having their Saturday walk to the top, we headed down by following the road on the north side of the top. One of the reasons for heading down here was that we assumed we would find a small shop where we could buy some water. Our assumptions proved right, and we bought a couple of bottles of cold drinks at the small shop. Most memorable from the shop visit was when the young daughter in the shop saw us and screamed loudly of fear.

After having re-hydrated we continued our run back to the hotel. But "in the middle of nowhere" Tim suddenly saw a sign for a snooker hall, and after closer inspection it turned out it was a snooker hall with three tables, and with one free table for us. We still had 100 Rupees left, and since the cost was 60 per hour we decided to play a couple of frames. After two frames, which we shared between us, we said good-bye, but the non-English speaking woman running the establishment indicated that she wanted more money. We tried to explain that we had been informed the cost was 60 per hour, and that we didn't have any more money. Eventually we understood that the cost was 60 per hour per person, but since we were out of money it was little we could do. We felt a little bad about this, but considering we had to play the last half hour in reduced light since the electricity went blank, the lady probably shouldn't complain much.

After the snooker we were keen to get back to the hotel, and after having run through some different areas compared to what we're used to in the western world, we got back to the hotel and a western standard of things. Whether this is any better can be discussed, but it was comfortable to get fresh water and relax in the outdoor swimming pool.
Photos 19.11.2011