The first bus heading to pondicherry arrives, it’s a tin can with wheels bursting with humans out of all doors and windows. There was no way we were going to fit on that bus, with or without our big rucksacs. Soon after a second bus arrived, it was a pink "SUPER DELUX". We jumped on the second bus and after we start moving we saw there were no seats left inside. The from bus conductor waving his hands a lot we worked out that we could sit in the front section of the bus directly behind the bus driver. We had the seats in the house J. It was a really interesting experience, to see the road and to see exactly how they drive. The driver was reluctant to take his foot off the accelerator and used his horn to tell everyone else to get out of the way. On this two hour journey we almost hit five other cars, busses, motor bikes and tuc tucs. Finally we arrived safe in Pondicherry. Pondicherry is a interesting city, it was colonised by the French and the city is divided into the French and Indian halves by a canal. After arriving we made our way to next lodgings in Raj Lodge in the centre of town in the Indian quarter. After a short break we walked down to the beach (which has no sand) to take in the Sunday evening sun, although we were harassed by street children who were begging for money and food. For dinner we ate in a French-indian restaurant in the upmarket, quiet French quarter called the Rendez-Vous. Just for a laugh Jacqui ordered a glass of the local "Indian red wine"… it tasted like cough medicine, but as it turns out the imported "French wine" was not much better.
The next day we got up early and went for a walk around the historical French area and had a nice breakfast in an open courtyard of the Satsanga restaurant which was supposed to serve nice croissant and bread. Marc experienced his first stomach ache in the Notre Dame de Agnes church :s . Marc spent a quiet afternoon resting up and Jacqui took the opportunity to hit the shops ;) . Walking around as a single western girl was a different experience than walking in the company of Marc. When buying some indian sweets (yum yum) the guys behind the counter were asking if I was married and where was my husband... this is the first time I'd been asked this since arriving. Its much easier travelling around with Marc.
Our last day in Pondicherry we booked ourselves into a nice posh hotel in the colonial french area, to enjoy air conditioning and civilized living. In the morning we went to check out the "botanical gardens", yeah right, it was a very shabby affair where the most interesting sight was a bright red beetle. After perusing the "big market" we visited the museum and took a stroll along the beach front promenade in the nice cool breeze. For a change from curry we went for Pizza for dinner :D
We wanted to experience the other side of Pondycherry and end up in a French colonial hotel with a lush courtyard garden and a nice restaurant. In the courtyard Marc taught Jacquie a French card game which is called "La bataille Corse", we played for an hour until they were fed up being bitten by mosquitoes.
The day after came the time to see another town of India: Chidaburam.Staying in the French colonial part of the town was really interesting experience, it was in contrast to the Indian part, there was less noise, fewer people harassing you in the street and nice colonial architecture
