Blogs from Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu, India, Asia

Sacre bleu we have arrived in Pondicherry once the location for the head quarters of the French East India company established here in 1674. Prior to this there had been a bit of a palava (see what I did there?) with Pondicherry being variously held by the Dutch, the British, the Portuguese and the French. Sense prevailed in 1954 when they all cleared out and the Indians took over again. Ooh la la I almost forgot that on the way to Pondicherry we passed vast salt plains stretching into the distance and also stopped off at an 'untouchables' temple/shrine. These were made at the outskirts of villages to allow somewhere for those of the lowest of the low caste in the almost defunct, but not quite, caste system to go and worship as they weren't allowed ... read more

Dear All Greetings! I write my first proper entry on this trip from the beautiful French colonial town of Pondicherry, hence the “Chennai to ‘Cherry” title. My trip has got off to a great start, and I feel the blessed freedom from my MA in taking a step out of my life in London, seeing things from a distance (which is always good), and being seriously infected once more with this wonderful thing they call the travel bug. What a joy, and what a wonderful few days these last ones have been. I will recount the details in this first entry, from the touch-down in Chennai to the sitting in this blissful, air-conditioned, crisp, white-sheeted room with a balcony directly overlooking the Indian Ocean. After two relatively short long-haul hops from London to Dubai, and then ... read more

I'm staying at Sadhana Forest in Auroville, Tamil Nadu, India for 4 weeks as a volunteer. Sadhana is a reforestation project that is aiming to replant 70 hectares of Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest, a highly diverse forest with around 160 woody species, of which only 0.01% of the original remains. Much of the land that was originally covered with this forest has turned to desert and the water levels have dropped so much that people find it hard to reach fresh water and many streams and rivers have dried up. A local tree nursery provides young trees for the project and thousands of volunteers come to work at the project every year – there are currently just over 100 people staying, but people arrive and/or leave most days. Around 1/3 of the residents are long-term volunteers ... read more

After a very hippy stay in Mamallapuram,South of Chennai where we stayed in a guesthouse with cold water only, electricity only a few hours a day, filthy bed sheet ( bottom only ) a,materess with holes ( insects?) and blood stains,on the walls...we have moved South to Pondicherry, a French colony in bygone days and are staying in a very pleasant boutique hotel Les Hibiscus with high ceilings,and a four poster bed. We have had a good dinner with Moni, my friend /driver from Kerala and,his,brother Joseph who will be taking,us,around,for thenext 5 days. The bill came to £11 so that was reasobale for the 4,of,us! Last night we had a,narrow escape when, whilst waiting to be served in,a,restauarant, I ventured,into,the,kitchen,to look for the waiter,and,saw a rat eating,out,of,the,pan,of rice! Needless to saywe,picked,up our belongings and ran,out ... read more

After a complicated but hassle-free journey involving a taxi, three rickshaws, two buses and a train, we arrived safely to the small, south-eastern ex French colony of Pondicherry (aka Puducherry). We checked into our cute, brightly decorated guesthouse, Le Reve Blue, run by a high-energy and eccentric French woman, and immediately went out to find some dinner. Due to some poor planning, neither of us had eaten anything substantial all day. We settled on a French/Indian restaurant with good food but, to our hungry stomachs' dismay, very slow service. Afterward, we made a water and snack run and stopped at a few pharmacies in search of some medicine to cure Scott's chronic sinus problems before returning to our guesthouse and going to bed. Though I have very few complaints about our room, I will say that ... read more