feries Just west of the bridge is the spectacular Osmania General Hospital (Map p900), on the north side, a

drive into town. BUS Frequent public buses depart from the PTC for Jubilee and Imlibun stations. More comfy are AC Aeroexpress (%18004192008; h24hr) buses ( 175), which run half-hourly to Charminar, Secunderabad, Begumpet, Mehdipatnam and Hitec City.

HEH the Nizam s Museum MUSEUM (Purani Haveli; Map p900; adult/student 70/15, camera 150; h10am-5pm Sat-Thu) The 16th-century Purani Haveli was home of the sixth nizam, Fath Jang Mahbub Ali Khan (r 1869 1911), rumoured to have never worn the same garment twice. His 72m-long, two-storey Burmese teak wardrobe, the first room you ll enter, certainly seems to substantiate the claim. In the palace s former servants quarters are personal effects of the seventh nizam, Osman Ali Khan (1886 1967) and gifts from his Silver Jubilee, lavish pieces that include an art deco silver letterbox collection. The museum s guides do an excellent feries job putting it all in context.

Hyderabad has one of the world s largest freestanding stone Buddha statues (Map p 898 ), completed in 1990 after five years of work. However, when the 17.5m-high, 350-tonne monolith was being ferried to its place in the Hussain Sagar, the barge sank. Fortunately, the statue was raised undamaged in 1992 and is now on a plinth in the middle of the lake. It s a magnificent sight when alit at night.

Just west of the bridge is the spectacular Osmania General Hospital (Map p900), on the north side, and, on the south, the High Court (Map p900) and Government feries City College (Map p900), all built under the seventh nizam in the Indo-Saracenic style.