Blogs from Pondicherry, India, Asia - page 12

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Asia » India » Pondicherry January 30th 2006

Hi Everyone: Heaven...I'm in heaven! (Add music in the background here.) We are in Pondicherry now...and thank god for Pondicherry! Ever since we got to India people have been saying, "Wait til you get to Pondy!" Pondy is a former French colony...and it is quite European for India. The streets are clean, some are even quaint cobblestone...and we can get Western food here...yay! Last night I had spaghetti with a fabulous meat sauce and Mags, Mike and Ryan had steaks. Everyone was so delighted we could hardly contain ourselves. Oh, and I had wonderful French red wine...yum. And, get this...we had Pizza Hut for lunch! (Pizza Hut is another place I never eat at in the US, but it was so yummy...I can't even describe it accurately in words.) They don't have pepperoni, due to "import ... read more
An Elephant Blessing
Pondicherry Host Family

Asia » India » Pondicherry January 26th 2006

Shared a taxi with a French group, tried to educate me on bartering with autorickshaw drivers, obviously they didn’t know they were talking to a master. The drive to Pondicherry from Mamallapuram was short, only two hours. First impressions: Indian city with a bit of French charm. Pretty blooming trees line heritage French buildings and a smell of fresh bread and garlic linger in the air, as well as sewage and spices. Eventually found a guesthouse, everywhere was full because it was republic day. I should have stayed in Mamallapuram. Not very nice: a park-bench bed with two blankets for a mattress, stone walls and a shared squat toilet but it had an ashram ambience and great acoustics for the guitar. I could really feel those bass notes. Spent the evening understanding the layout of the ... read more

Asia » India » Pondicherry January 17th 2006

Hello from INDIA! After a long and tedious journey I'm finally settled in Pondicherry! Pondy hasn't changed as far as I can see, it is still the busy (although calm for India) town it was the last time I was here. The warmth is excruciating for a Norwegian coming from Norwegian winter to Indian winter, from several minus to 22 degrees at NIGHT, during the day the temperature rises to at least 33-34 degrees. I'm not complaining as such, it is a comfortable summer temperature after all, and its bound to get so much warmer (33-34 at NIGHT!), but it is rather rough for a warm blooded Norwegian who likes his window to be open at night in the Norwegian winter! What I'm doing here – short hand version Anyway, let me update those of you ... read more

Asia » India » Pondicherry July 14th 2005

Pondicherry (Pondy) was French colony until 1954. There is plenty to do here although no beaches in the town. The restaurants are great and there is a lot of choice including many French restaurants. The main tourist part of Pondy contains many buildings that are in French style although it is still very Indian town. It does however have a uniquely French feel similar to that of the south of France. The bus ride here from Chennai was one of the best I have taken so far in India, the views over the costal regions were particularly noteworthy, we passed kilometre after kilometre of salt mines which looked like an infinite desert of shimmering white crystal. On the journey, we got talking to an Indian Guy called Mr K Rajesh, an engineer on his way home ... read more
Bugz
Homeless girl
Typical French architecture

Asia » India » Pondicherry July 11th 2005

july 11 grrrr. i maintain, "tourist offices" in india SUCK. we most definitely do not have to go to mumbai before going to goa, as the lady in the "tourist office" at the train station tried to make us believe. we're also pretty sure that all trains to vijaywada are not booked until next thursday, as they tried to lead us to believe, either. :( not that we don't love puri! the beach is nice. our hotel is large and airy and has a lovely mosquito net. but our two favorite travelers, the german journalist and the sick mexican, left this morning... which means we're left with the fuckwit brazilian, englishman, and the two israelis. fantastic. we'd rather be in goa, where there are beaches aplenty and some nightlife. because, really, there's nothing to do here ... read more

Asia » India » Pondicherry February 19th 2005

We had an enjoyable two hour bus ride to Pondicherry. It was a bit better than the one to Mamallapuram, but this time we didn't have a seat for the first portion of the trip. Bean sat on the steps and I stood, both trying to hold on so the bus wouldn't sling us out the door. We had a very difficult time trying to find a hotel. After trying about 10 different places, I asked a woman passing by if she knew of any places to stay. It it turns out she is part of the Aurobindo Ashram and her brother, Promise, has provided us with very nice little room in one of the ashram's guesthouses. When I asked him how much the room would cost, he said that we could pay whatever we were ... read more
Bean and his new friend
The Joy Train

Asia » India » Pondicherry January 21st 2004

Najprej vas bo doletelo moje razmisljanje o Indiji. Naj vam dam na znanje, da sem danes veliko prehodil, veliko so mi tezili in da sem sfukan, tako da lahko dobite predstavo kaj vam bom povedal. Najprej naj bo vsem jasno da Indije nisem vzljubil in tudi ne zasovrazil. Je samo drugacna. Bori se namrec s svojo preteklostjo, kastnim sistemom in sodobnim kapitalizmom. Izgleda, da od vsega pobira le najslabse. Vse je povsem crno belo glede na nas. Torej najprej lepe stvari. Narava je cudovita (koder je niso uspeli zasvinjat), ups.., najprej lepe stvari, potem bom kritiziral. No, da sem bil navdusen nad puscavo, plazami, planjavami, gozdovi v glavnem vsem, kar ni naredil clovek, to sem ze stokrat povedal. Tudi doloceneni cloveski dosezki so me impresionirali, tako da sem lahko samo stal in gledal. Mogoce ste tudi ... read more

Asia » India » Pondicherry January 18th 2004

Hvala bogu, da sem zbezal iz Bangaloreja. Mesto, v katerem ni nic za videt, polno smeti, smradu, ogljikovega monoksida in dreka. Ima sicer eno lepo ulico, ampak to je tudi vse. Pa se vroce je bilo tako, da sem bil kar v sobi v glavnem. Ampak mi sploh ni bilo dolgcajt. Bil sem v vojni s scurki. Kaksen cm dolgi so bili in lezli so od vsepovsod. Kako se clovek zamoti, ko jih pobija. Ko sem enkrat pogruntal, da zivijo v vratih, sem cela vrata polepil s casopisnim papirjem, pa je bil potem mir. Za nekaj casa:) V Madrasu sem prebil celi dve uri in spizdil v Mamalapuram. Poln k. imam ze teh velikih mest, kjer je vse isto, pa se folk te poskusa nategnit. Tukaj naprimer so me hotl prepricat, da bus ne vozi in ... read more




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