Blogs from Pondicherry, India, Asia - page 5

There were many things said about 'Pondy' before I arrived in this unknown territory, like much of India to me. I tried not to let these preconceptions effect my own perspective. The one thing that was relayed and stuck in my mind is that it is a former French colony, so I was expecting, to some extent, for this to be reflected in the architecture. As for anything else I wasn't sure of, and my only view of France is from the misguided television or pictorial Wikipedia. It was true. The buildings have obvious influence from the French. They were mostly white and clean, as were the streets. Bearing in mind this is in the tourist side of the canal. A French Canadian guy we met there called Guillame (William) told us the story of the ... read more

Sitting a couple hours further south of Mallamaparum is a place which is in complete contrast to both the India we had seen on TV and the small dose of this country we have had since arriving nearly 2 weeks ago. Pondicherry or Punducherry as it is now known has a bus station just like every other bus station, the auto-rickshaw from the bus station was ridiculously overpriced just like every auto-rickshaw leaving from a bus station, the first few guest houses we tried to get a room in had the full sign on the front gate just like everywhere else when we have traveled in high season but that is pretty much where the familiarities ended. Having not yet traveled to Europe or experienced much French culture I can safely say that this town ... read more

Today was really just a traveling day. The train was of course late by 30m but the 5 hour journey passed okay. Were not in an a/c carriage but it was fine. We then had a 1.5 hour journey by car from Villapuram to Pondicherry. The end of the journey really dragged on as we sat in traffic for ages and everyone was extremely relieved to arrive at the hotel. Had an awkward moment in the room where the guy that brought the bags up just stood staring at us while we looked at each other - Chandra had told us that they did all the tipping for us and we had not tipped anyone else. Eventually Sarah just asked him a question then said thanks and ushered him out. This is the one thing I ... read more

Hi Folks! Sorry it's taken so long for me to write.. I have actually been writing my blog, but just haven't got round to uploading it all, so some of this was written a while back.. ~ So I decided to make a dash through the monsoon madness to Malibalipurum. A two-hour hairy bus ride through what looked like a river but was actually a road. I’d left Kannipan a lovely thank you letter with my address etc. and saying that I’d look after his daughter if she ever made it to England. I also left them some money to go towards her education. I definitely felt like it was time to leave Auroville, actually I felt like I’d over stayed by a few days. When you’re traveling you just know when it’s time to ... read more

13/01 Taking advantage of our new found freedom, biked out to a crocodile reserve; hundreds of crocs, alligators, caymen etc, rescued for eventual release into the wild. Meantime they all lie about in swamps/pools, basking in the sun and keeping an eye out for stray children who may fall over the 3ft wall which separates them from the public. Truly, there is just a very shallow ditch, small wall and some chicken wire between them and a fast food take away....some of these things are 25+ ft long and can move at 30mph...The security gates used to feed them are literally latch gates, most of them left open....Ken Livingston and the Health and Safety police would have a fit....Spent a happy couple of hours wandering round til one of the egrets,which apparently groom parasites off the ... read more