Trees and Mushrooms

Been a while since I posted, but you can always just decide that you're so back.

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Years ago, when I visited Hyderabad as part of the Biryani Leg of my travels, I stayed with my friend Rao, who was nice enough to not just host me, but also show me around. He even took a day off work for a trip to Golconda Fort.

Rao said he hadn't been to the fort since he was as a kid, but he remembered a tree with a hollow in its trunk, so big that you could climb in. I was privately skeptical – many things seem bigger and more wondrous when we are kids, and revisiting them as adults can be disappointing.

But what do you know: the tree does exist, and is indeed big enough to climb into.

I later learned that it's a baobab, nicknamed Hathiyan ka Jhad (Elephant tree), and is over 400 years old. Baobabs are native to Africa, so this particular tree is believed to have been planted by Arab traders or wandering fakirs.

First we had to climb over the metal fence – Rao said it wasn't there when he visited as a kid – and then the tree itself.

...and then we climbed in. In the photo above, I'm sitting on the lip of the hollow, and in the one below, Rao has already climbed in. The hollow is even bigger than it looks from above – it widens out, and was big enough to accommodate us both.

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Speaking of trees, there is a big one next to our pickleball court, which you can see in this post.

Tommy asked me what kind of tree it is. I wasn't sure, so I said I would check next time I went to play. Conversation from a couple of weeks later:

me:	I went there a few times since you asked, but I keep forgetting to check.
Tommy:	The tree will still be there :)

It's a rain tree, in case you were wondering.

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I saw bioluminescent mushrooms again, this time on a night walk on the Mandai T15 trail. Unlike last time when I only had my phone, this time I had a camera:

We also saw a super cute moth. Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of the wings, so it's hard to identify the species.