Blogs from Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu, India, Asia

So, firstly I need to make an apology to the people of India. As soon as i stepped out of the internet place in Varanasi we saw women sat next to a body crying their eyes out. It appears that to cry at the ghat is bad Karma and this is why the women are not present at the burning. Since leaving Varanasi we got a 28 hour train to Hyderabad. The journey wasnt too bad, we were the only white people there again but it left and arrived pretty much on time so we couldnt complain! The next day we walked around the park and visited the free health museum as we couldnt really be bothered with too much sightseeing that day. Im glad we didnt have to pay to get in as looking at ... read more

Happy New year. We are now in French colonial Pondicherry where the boulevards are quiet and baguettes and croissants plentiful. We had a nice new year on the beach, ate some massive fresh prawns, drank some very strong cocktails in a bar then at midnight went down on the sand along with seemingly everyone from Mamallapuram to watch the fireworks and wish everyone you met a Happy New Year. We've had it easy since then, taking the speedy two hour bus down to Pondicherry, we're staying in the old French part of the town in a French run guest house where we've wangled the top floor room with a thin tin roof and private terrace where we can hide from the sun and watch the rainstorms come rolling in. The town itself is like a nugget ... read more

Ludilo se nadaljuje: vpisala sem se v scuba diving tecaj v Pondicherryju - of all the places! Ampak do tja se pridemo ... Dolgujem namrec se par vtisov iz Aurovilla. Torej. Z Matejem, 38-letnim fizikom z Gorenjske, sva pojedla vecerjo na terasi solarne kuhinje in imela prijeten pogovor o Aurovillu. Njegova izkusnja: "Pred 4 leti sem prisel za 3 mesece in ostal. Fasciniralo me je sonce oz. nebo. Sploh mi ni bil problem tu ostati, na Slovenijo me ni nic posebej vezalo. Zacel sem s projektom z opekami: Earth Institute, kjer smo izdelovali opeke iz zemlje. Tkrat je primanjkovalo bivalisc, zato se je projekt zacel simbolicnom, do zdaj pa smo tako zgradili ze dve veilki hisi in delo se se nadaljuje. Moj vsakdan je razlicen. Nekaj casa porabim za urejanje hise, nato delam od doma, saj ... read more

Torej! Usla sem misteriozni avri Aurovilla z busom za 5r do Pondicherryja oz. Pondija za frende, tam pa sem bila takoj spet v sedlu: z riksa driverji sem se brezkompromisno zdilala za 60 rupij, toliko kot je rekel Rob, da me zategnejo do njega v predel Colas Nagar. I still got it! NAsla sem iz prve. Rob me je velikodusno sprejel, ceprav je bil ravno sredi cistilnega dela svojega dne - je namrec scuba diving instruktor (sicer iz Sydneya) in ima edini potapljaski center na tej strani indijske obale. Na hitro mi je razkazal mojo novo rezidenco, velikansko hiso s kar prevec izbire za prostor spanja, predstavil svoje sostanovalce (Kuta cowboy srferska scena, India style) in se opravicil, da more hitro oditi, ker pridejo stirje interesenti za Padi tecaj cez par minut. "Prides poslusat?" me je ... read more

French people aren’t nearly as endearing outside of France. I’ve often found them to be overly self-assured, intelligent, and serious (to overgeneralize), and inside their native country they are tolerable because of what they cultivate: fantastic food, architecture, language, lunchtimes, etc. Here in Pondicherry (now Puducherry - but let’s be honest, not the same ring to it) we are suffocating in them at every restaurant, bar and beach due to their reign for a hundred years. Several hundred years. 62 years. Does it matter? I told you, I’m on vacation, dammit. I’m being an ass, but like most unpleasantries said, it stems from jealousy. Two Parisians who had just met sat behind me at a café and chose to speak in English the whole time. Show-offs! I listened to them struggle at times to properly communicate ... read more

I didn't know that getting a train ticket would be so difficult!! My original plans were laid out to go to Hampi, but for this weekend and coming weekend there would be no available tickets, except for at least 20 people in the Wait List! One suggestion I got from work colleagues was to visit Pondicherry, a beach town in Tamil Nadu State. It's famous spot for those interested in yoga and meditation, and couple Ashram are of International referrence. Well, it seemed interesting to see the beach and combine it with a train trip. Well, a 10hours train trip!!! It left Bangalore at 11:45pm and by 9:50am I was at Pondicherry. It was a bit tricky to find the right booth to buy the ticket (I stood in 3 different lines, only to find that ... read more

En chemin pour la ville de Pondicherry, une ancienne colonie française... Dès notre arrivé, nous avons aperçue les écritaux qui étaient écrites en Français. Cependant, nous avons vite réalisé que nous étions encore en Inde. Le traffic n’avait pas changé, le bruit était toujours similaires et les senteurs étaient toujours présentes... Nous avons trouvé un bel hotel qui était situé dans le quartier français qui était beaucoup plus calme que le chaos du centre-ville. Nous avons seulement resté une nuit à Pondicherry et n’avons pas visité beaucoup. Mais nous avons quand même apprécié les restaurants qui offrait une variété de nourritures différentes de ce que nous étions habitué... Nous avons aussi beaucoup aimé les cafés français qui se trouvaient partout, finalement, du bon café... Pondicherry offre certain attrait touristique que ... read more