Day 12 - traveling on... to Pondicherry

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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 find particularly awkward/difficult - getting to grips with who and when to tip and how much is appropriate.

For dinner Peter and Susan went off to look for a restaurant they had heard of or read about while the rest of us ate down in the hotel restaurant which was entertaining as they seemed to have more staff than they knew what to do with. The head guy seemed really mean and shouted orders a lot. We had about 3 or 4 different guys take our orders which ended up getting quite confusing. We were scared to say anything was wrong incase anyone got shouted at or fired! A strange night indeed - not unlike a particular episode of Seinfeld according to Natalie and Chandra. Afterwards we watched a film then went to sleep.

General thoughts for today

• things Natalie talks about come on TV - Pay It Forward
  
• Restaurants in India overstaff
  

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Photos

Train
Looking along the carriage

Jaki and Susan
Looking a little sweaty on the train

Sarah
Sarah climbs up to chill out for a bit with some music