Merry christmas

Due to the holidays and Joaos recommendation that it is not a good time to travel, i set up camp here in Pondicherry for the long haul that would keep me here until after New years. This was far too long for me personally but in terms of being stuck somewhere its not a bad place to be. Pondicherry is a Union territory and as a result is also the cheapest place in India to drink alcohol. This is seemingly its greatest lure for many many tourists, foreign and Indian alike. With Chennai a mere 5/6 hours away by road, many people come here simply to get drunk and have a good time, then return to their homes in the cities nearby. This would be many peoples agenda for Christmas and new years it seems.

I was amused

        When i arrived, due to the season i had a nightmare trying to find a cheap room, before eventually looking at the place Joao said he would be and finding him there, and more importantly a room of a reasonable price (for pondicherry in season anyway).

giant mosquito, apparently

    My time in Pondicherry was very very relaxed, waking up to meet the many people, of varying nationalities, settled here for chai and breakfast, before wandering around the streets with someone from the group talking rubbish and generally taking in the sights. Occasionally beers would be consumed, with me getting plastered on a couple of occasions (Ok, let it go, i know I'm a lightweight and Haywood's 5000 is a strong beer, plus as I'm not much of a talker i tend to drink whilst others talk) and much too much fruit was also consumed by me.

        Pondicherry is a nice place to wander around; the town is seemingly split into two by the old canal, with the 'Tamil' side that is predominately like any other Indian city and the French side, with its pretty clean colonial paved streets and french architecture, seemingly a whole world away. The french side comes with its bakeries, expensive foreign restaurants, the tidy sea front and all the tourist sites associated with it, whilst the Tamil side has the more affordable accommodation and the bustling vibrant streets where Indian life is played out in full. There aren't a lot of 'sites' as such but it has an atmosphere which makes it a nice place to spend time.

eeew

     The full gang consisted of 'Colin the Brit', me, 'Nick the Israeli', Amelie and Crazy Greguar (both french), Sam, Cederick, Joao and Joseph from Slovenia. A great group of people, i would later go my way to Trichy with Joseph, an excellent guy to travel with who i briefly met in Puri first of all.

    We all became creatures of habit here, me with my daily fruit runs, the others with their morning 10am chai, nick with his Indian coffee house breakfast etc, and the 10pm official meeting time for a Beer.

     Other notable experiences during my time here:- Getting body lice from the sheets at my Guesthouse, resulting in me shaving off my hair (I'm clean now, i promise). Seeing a rickshaw driver fight, Having a nice meal cooked for us by Greguar (he's a chef in France) and helping him make chappatis, getting a ride on Greguars motorbike to check out Auroville and subsequently having red raw hands from holding on so tight for fear of my life. Walking around the streets shaking many Indian peoples hand whilst everyone shouts happy new year was also interesting.

Our party place

     Eventually when i left me and Joseph went to Trichy.

new year

This guys a legend

cigarette lighter

fantastic hair cut

floor marking outside home

fruit boy

my breakky stand

the fruit boy and friend

the matrimandir, auroville