Today we got a chance to go out for a bit to a place called Runway 9.  We were originally supposed to go with a group of people, but one family’s child broke his toe yesterday, and the other family couldn’t make it, so we ended up meeting only one of Scott’s old co-workers and his wife there for a bit.

Runway 9 is about an hour away, in a direction that I had never travelled before.  It was refreshing to see a little bit of open space on the drive…some meadows and grassy areas that almost made you feel like you were in the country back home.  It was a welcome relief from the constant crush of people that Hyderabad has to offer.  Once we got out of the city, we even had a somewhat open road and Mujeeb was able to actually drive over 40mph!  (that’s a huge change from the city!)

We were very hungry when we arrived, so we decided to eat at the pub.  Eating out is very difficult with the kids here, as they have no tolerance for any spice yet.  So, when the garlic chicken came, both were begging for mercy with watering eyes and runny noses after the first bite.  Luckily, we had ordered Naan and french fries too, and the kids made their meals out of that.  The garlic chicken was too spicy for me also, and I ended up eating Scott’s butter chicken with naan, which was quite delicious and not spicy at all.

The main attraction at Runway 9 is the go-carts.  Not your whimpy little carts that the US has to offer, the ones that putter around the track like Grandpa on a Sunday drive, but fast-moving, wind through your hair, sliding-on-the-turn carts that can only be found in a country whose safety standards are like what I have talked about in previous posts.  Yes, we did have ill-fitting helmets, but they wouldn’t offer us much protection in the event of an accident.  The safest part was probably the nifty hair nets that we had to wear under them for hygiene sake!

Addie and Ender couldn’t ride alone, and were not allowed to ride with us.  Instead, they had to ride with one of the employees.  I couldn’t understand why I was putting on a helmet and they were not, but before I could even ask about it, they were off and around the track.  Of course, they adored every minute of it.  Its blurry because they were going so fast!

Other attractions at Runway 9 included a rock wall, bunjee swing, archery, lazer tag and roller skating.  Addie and Ender particularly loved the bunjee swing.  Much higher up in the air than the US ones, their feet never touched the ground once they were raised up.  Instead, they were made to jump by the man raising electronically raising and lowering the swing.  They were flying high, but neither of them ever managed a flip.  You can see the looks of pure joy.

Since the kids were too small for the rock wall, Mom and Dad decided to give it a try.  Here is Scott…can you see the clouds around him?  No?  Well, that’s because he only made it about half way up.  I can’t say anything though, because I didn’t make it nearly as high as he did.  I got scared of the height and it was all over.

No kid’s place is complete without a crummy playground, which, naturally, was an absolute thrill to the kids.  Of course, this was definitely the best playground I have seen so far in India, so I shouldn’t be so hard on it.  It looks like Scott was having fun too!

We arrived back home tired but happy.