Pondicherry

Pondicherry is the name of the former French Colony town situated about 130km South of Chennai. My friends and I went to Pondicherry on Sunday. We were actually planning to go there on Saturday but was not very sure how to go or whether we should or not. So, Saturday we ended up shopping at Spencer Plaza all afternoon (doesn't it sound like expensive plaza as in x-spencer to you? coz one of my friend heard it as expensive plaza instead of Spencers).

We took a bus at 8am yesterday morning. It was raining quite heavily but when compared to SEA, the "heavy" rain are just mild. Weather these days have been quite unpredictable. Chennai is suppose to be hot all year round but we are experiencing rain every day eventhough monsoon season is over. I don't really like the rain in Chennai eventhough it is considered a blessing here as Chennai has been experiencing drought for the past 3 years. The rain makes the road very difficult to walk and it damages my shoes. Some of the roads are very muddy and puddles are everywhere. So... we took the public bus near our place of stay. Strangely, whenever we try to flag down the bus we want to take, the bus driver ignores us and drive off. Due to this, there was one Indian guy running after the bus. My friends and I were in awe seeing how fast he could run and he grabbed the rails on the bus climbing as the bus moved. We continued to wait patiently before a bus finally stopped for us.

Buses here are interesting. The conductor always sits 2nd from the back and by the window. This is so that he could see whoever boards the bus and ensures that he collects the fares from them. He has a whistle - 1 blow means stop, 2 blows on the whistle means go. I also had the experience of seeing the conductor chasing a guy out of the bus because he couldn't pay the fare. They argued and the conductor of course managed to get him off.

Ok.. sidetracked a little from the main points of my trip. The bus ride to Pondicherry was 3 hours. We changed bus to an ECR (East Coast Road) bus. The bus was full and we had to stand. We stood for about an hour before we managed to get seats. My legs were already feeling very tired. Upon reaching Pondicherry, we realised that we don't know where we are supposed to go. We don't actually know where the remains of the French Colony was located. All we knew was that we wanted to go see the beach. We didn't want to take the auto because we know we'll be cheated as we are not familiar with the prices.

We asked around and found out that the beach was 2km from where we were. As we walked along the road, the scenery became more and more "organized". Suddenly, we saw a French lady (or maybe just another ang moh). My friend Benny got more and more excited. Moving on, French schools (mostly Catholic? All of them had the Virgin Mary statue situated just below the roof of the main building.), French library, police post with a French sign, etc. It was almost as good as being in France... almost. The roads were very straight and traffic was low. There is also a heritage walk where the path is paved with stones. This place is more suitable for tourist. There are many foreigners around here. Many of those street pedlars selling 'exotic' stuff like sandalwood necklaces, drums, etc.. I didn't buy any because of phobia. I have enough of being cheated.. Buy only next time if I do go back :P

The beach, well, wasn't really a beach. The sandy beach was 10km away (according to one of the auto guys). We settled for the dangerous rocky beach. Of course, I didn't went into the water. Only our friend, the Indian girl went in. Along the beach was a giant statue of Gandhi and a small Nehru statue opposite it. I realise that there are many statues along Marina beach in Chennai and Pondicherry. Oh yes, there was also Notre Dame here but we didn't have the time to visit it. There is also a very famous and big Hindu temple but due to lack of time.... And not forgeting, we saw the Joan of Arc statue but only her back because it was fenced up and we can get to it unless we walk a long way round to enter from the church. But we went to the house of one of the famous Indian Philosopher, Sri Aurobindo. We had to take off our shoes and walk in. There was a tomb with flowers over it and people meditating beside it. No one was allowed to talk. The place was sacred. I didn't really understand who he was so just walk walk, see see inside. All I know from that trip was that his wife was called "The Mother" and she played tennis.

Oh ya, FINALLY SAW AN ELEPHANT IN INDIA :P ... India is supposedly the land of the elephants and they are sacred creatures here. Hahaha.. I've seen elephants before but that was so loooong ago. Also, at Pondicherry, I had my first 'Banana Flambe'. It was too sweet but quite interesting. I mean.. ice-cream on top of a hotsauce with some liqour - new experience.

So far I've been blogging about my good experiences at Pondicherry but it also left me with some 'bad'/sad experience. It is here that I saw a man foraging for food from the garbage. Beggars came up to me, one even had a baby on her arms. Although I was very sympathetic of them but I did not give them any. I felt bad but it can't be helped because if I were to help one, the rest will come chasing. After this experience when I returned to Chennai, I got abit of phobia when I see kids running up to me. I have this anticipating feeling they'll extend their hand and ask me for something then I realise they ran past me and they are dressed quite well. I am abit lost when I see these people... makes me feel really appreciative of what I have.

Anyway, last night reached Chennai at about 9am. Quickly showered and went to sleep because of work today. It didn't really feel like a vacation. I would love to go back to Pondicherry next time but will stay there overnight. 1 day is definitely not enough to enjoy.