Pondy

For the last few days of my trip, my Aunt, my mom, my cousin J. and I went on a holiday to Pondicherry (fondly referred to as Pondy). This is a beach town that once was colonized by the French in the 1800s. As a result Pondy has street names such as "Dumas " and "La Rue Bourdonnais." It also offers foods such as croissants and pain du chocolate at local bakeries.


The Lonely Planet guide showed a map that suggested that the drive to Pondy would be a straight shot from Bangalore on a major highway. Ah, Lonely Planet-- like the DIY network--how you love to make things look easier than the actually are. Our drive included twisty roads that often went straight through the middle of towns and villages. While it was not a straight shot, by any stretch of the imagination, it was a great drive for looking at the countryside and farms. We saw lots of mango trees beginning to flower and yes, we saw monkeys! Lots of them.










The best part of the 7hr drive, was when we stopped to get South Indian coffee and a breakfast food that I can't remember its name, but it looks like a mound of sticky rice. It was quite good!










We decided to rough it a little on our holiday (after all, we can't always stay at the Taj) so we rented two rooms in an old colonial house that offered a home stay. Each room had a color assigned to it and everything in the room was that color. I stayed in the lime green room, which featured a lime green mosquito net, curtains, table cloth, duvet color, etc. My aunt's room was the pink room.









During the day, it was too hot to really enjoy being outside in Pondy. But in the evenings, it cools off to a nice temp. The street that parallels the ocean is therefore blocked off from traffic so that people come out and walk. Everyone--- I mean everyone-- walks along the beach in the evenings. Vendors also had stalls set up to sell ice cream, poras, and watermelon. Just like in Ocean City, there was also people selling cheap toys and glow wands. It was great!