Pondicherry

Another day, another journey.

After breakfast at 7.30 we boarded another minibus for the 2 hour trip to Pondicherry, the French capital of India. It was under French rule for over 200 years, even while India was part of the British empire and only gained independence in 1954, seven years after India became an independent state. It's not part of one of the states and instead is ruled directly from Delhi.

Before we went into the centre of Pondicherry itself we stopped at an experimental settlement called Auroville, about 10 miles outside the city. The town was set up in the early 70's but an Indian man and French woman and is aimed at people who want to find their inner self and live to a core set of values. We were told that it is not a religion and that it is focussed on the individual. (When we went later to see the burial places of the two founders, I found this hard to understand as there were a number of individuals there who were clearly worshipping!). The town itself had a visitors centre and we walked along to see the large golf ball shaped building (a bit like a gold version of Epcot at Disneyworld) where there is a meditation room along with 12 other rooms around the edge. Once we had seen this we walked back and had food (cheesecake, samosa and ice cream) along with a banana lassi.

We got back on the minibus and within 30 minutes we had arrived at our hotel. We had a couple of hours to relax before a tour of Pondicherry French quarter so we tried to find a car for a beer as it was now 2pm, but failed!

At 3.30 we met up with the group again and had rickshaws to the French quarter for a tour with a local guide. She was very knowledgeable although I'm not sure how she expected us to remember the list of dates and facts that she reeled off. We visited the burial place of the founders of Auroville (rather strange) and then wandered around the old part of the city towards the waterfront. The French part of the city does look very different to other parts of India and the buildings were a definite reminder of ones in France.

Once at the beach front we walked along the promenade. The whole area was bustling and there were a number of parties planned for the evening! The loud music and crowds made it very difficult to hear the guide! The tour finished at just after 5pm and a number of us found a rooftop bar for a drink. (Given the early hour, it was a surprise that they had almost run out of beer)!

We got a rickshaw back to our hotel for a shower and change before meeting again to go back to the French quarter for dinner at just after 7. The food was mainly French inspired but the beers were cold! After eating we wandered shopping the shore taking in the atmosphere which was now very lively and it was hard to remember that most of the revellers would not have been drinking.

At 10.30 we tried to find rickshaws to take us back to the hotel and eventually managed to hail enough of them to get us back for 11.15. we went to the hotel bar (more warm beer, and Budweiser at that, and also no tonic water if you wanted gin!).

We celebrated the New Year as the only people in the bar and after about half an hour, with some of us having a little dance, the bar was closing and so we headed to bed!Read more