Vanakam from Pondicherry

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Bonjour all. Vanakam means "Hello" in Tamil.

I have finally left rishikesh & came down south to the state of Tamil Nadu. I trained to Delhi where I stayed in this ok place & got up @ 330am to catch a taxi for a flight to Chennai on spicejet. Wow. Instead of the planes with the connecting walk ways, one has to be taken on a bus to the actual place that the plane is parked.

anyways, landed in chennai & had a rickshaw that TOTALLY rip me off & left me on the side of the street to cross one of the biggest intersections i've ever seen. I have a break down in front of the bus drivers & they take me to where I need to go. I eventually get to pondicherry...& here I am. This quaint town used to be a French colony, so some of the people still speak French (strange eh? Parlez vouz Francais?). People are ok - pretty different from northern india. I'm warming up to the southern couture....firstly, they speak tamil - not hindi. so i have to learn a bit of a new language. It is BLISTERING hot. I mean RETARDED hot. I sit on my bed & sweat.

Oh! I must also report that I've rented an awesome ride, a pink Ladybird bicycle with a front basket. & now that I am "behind the wheel" in india, it totally confirms that there is no rhyme or reason to their maneuvering in a vehicle - it's basically, they honk EVERYTIME they pass a living, breathing thing & they lay on the horn if that living breathing thing is on a vehicle or something. It can be a cause of more than 1 headache.

But who would've known that I'd be biking down a street by the bay of bengal. WOW. I've rented a bike & went exploring. Stumbled upon a huge market...i was the only foreigner. they had meat there (huh?), flowers, others, & lotsa fruit & veg. Also, I went to the Ganesh Temple - & believe it or not, they had a real elephant there, trained of course. It would take $ & actually bless you on the head! Brilliant! Nice way to end the night....

More to report later...thanks for reading...

I love you all. Miss all of you...
xoxox

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Comments

[anonymous]

Its Summer and that too in Chennai/TN!! Enjoy the heat waves!!

[andria]

That makes me happy
We may be sharing experiences, but at different times of our lives. I feel like I'm with you. I miss you so!