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Une ville francaise?

Pondicherry- Settled in the 18th century, the French left around 50 years ago and is now a popular tourist desitnation for Europeans and others. We cruised around the French Quarter by foot which delighted me as I'm going through withdrawls of not being able to walk around town.

Another fabulous weekend planned by Suzie. Her friend Liz and a collegue, Mahin also came. I'd just met Mahin, but we got friendly fast as we shared a bed in a room that didn't have a separate bathroom. Instead there was a wall about 3/4 to the ceiling separating the bed from the toilet, sink and a house sticking out of the wall. Neither of us showered. Despite this, I was excited to experience something that might be a bit closer to more typical living standards. Villa Pondicherry felt like a community home. While we were eating breakfast an elderly Japanese man came in with drips of sweat and a giant smile, as he'd just walked the 1.5 km there and back to the ashram. A bit later a French couple strolled in and then some locals. All sat around the kitchen table and chatted.

To add to the experience is another round of firsts for me!
  1. Delayed flight- best get used to this as it is quite common. Reminds me of flying EasyJet a few years ago.
  2. Ambassador- got to ride in the famed ambassador. Spent some of the ride wondering the probability of a car crash at 11pm on a small road with lots of trucks. Was a bit freaked considering there weren't any seatbelts.
  3. Ayurvedic massage- oil and lots of it everywhere, strong touch, not for the prudish amongst us
  4. Ashram- went to Sri Aurobindo Ashram looking for yoga, but found out Sunday is a day of rest. Lovely flowers.
  5. Pictures please- in general, people love having their pics taken. We walked through a park and Suzie kept noting how everyone we passed was perking up when they saw my camera. On the last day we went to put our feet in the Bay of Bengal and I left light-headed from all the boys so excited to have their pics taken.
  6. Fab India- what a store! Supports fair working environment for woman. Bought my first kurtas (longish shirts to be worn over pants of some sort).
Below are pics from the park of the bunches of smiling people.

The next 3 pics are from the beach. There were a bunch of people playing in the water, who got extremely excited over the camera and all tried to get as close as possible to it. After that a couple looked like they wanted their picture taken as well. I left the beach feeling light headed from all the excitement.


A police man asked to take a picture with Suzie and Liz. Then it was time for Mahin and I.

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