Weekend in Pondicherry - When nothing goes right.... go left

Last weekend we took our first weekend trip. Our destination was Pondicherry, which is a union territory of India that was formed by former French India. It is south of Chennai and we have heard is a great spot to visit!

Getting there

We asked around for the best way to get to Pondicherry and it seemed as though everyone we asked had a different way to get there that was the easiest or cheapest. Some people said that we could take a city bus there. Others said just go to the CBMT and A/C buses leave quite often. Some said they leave every hour while others said they are not that frequent. Some recommended a cab and said it should cost 3,000 Rupees. Nobody gave a concrete answer that seemed doable though. After hearing all of this we thought booking a cab would be easier because will pick us up at Ginger Hotel and drop us off at our hostel. We wouldn't have to worry about finding bus stations and finding hostel once there. The cab was going to cost 10,000 Rupees for the whole weekend. So we were going to have to pay significantly more for the luxury but at that point it was all we had to go on. After discussing the price we decided that the cab was too expensive and that we were going to take the bus. So just before 4pm on Friday June 14 we took the campus bus to the main gate and went looking for the bus stop which we were told was just outside the gate. Upon finding the station we went inside to buy tickets. We were then instructed to buy tickets on the bus and to wait outside. So we stood on the side of the road waiting for a bus. We didn't know the color, kind or when it was going to come. We asked around and stood near people that were also going to Pondicherry. Then a bus pulled up and a woman said that one would go to Pondicherry so we joined the crowd and crowded the doors of the bus. 

     As we boarded the bus the ticket man said standing room only. Not knowing when the next bus would be we didn't want to get off so we paid the man 190 Rupees for tickets. And then we stood near the front in the aisle and by the door. Some of us leaned against chairs and found a place to put our backpacks. There was a small ledge in the aisle that I tried to sit on but it began to hurt my bottom after awhile because it was not a very big ledge.

 About 45 minutes into the trip I began feeling sick. This had happened before when we drove to the beach. I think it is because driving is much more aggressive here so the bus or car moves side to side a lot. I was not looking forward to the remaining two hours on the bus. We made a few stops and a woman near me got off the bus and I immediately made the move to take her chair. Although I was sitting backwards, sitting helped calm my stomach. Bob got the seat next to me a bit later and talking to him distracted me so I was feeling a little bit better.

Getting to the hostel

We arrived at the Pondicherry around 8pm. The bus pulled into a noisy crowded area. We attempted to buy return tickets but were unsuccessful after trying at four different ticket windows. Our next task was to get to our hostel we had booked. We had an address and had a picture of a map around the hostel on my phone. But we had no idea where we were. We didn't know the name of the bus stop or what streets were around us. We asked around and began walking. The streets were crowded just like in Chennai. We got to a roundabout that I was able to find on the map that I had. Using the compass app on my phone we figured out which direction to walk. It took us about 20 minutes to walk to our hostel. We were all tired and hungry and very happy to see the Hotel Coramandel sign in the street. 

Hotel Coramandel

We walked into the hotel and waited behind some French gentlemen to check in. I had booked three double rooms for two nights at this hostel. I received two email confirmations from hostelworld.com and had a copy of the email and our reservation number to check in. We gave the man at the front desk my name and then the number. He looked at his computer and shook his head. He said he did not have my name or number. After clarifying that he had not received our reservation from hostelworld we realized that we weren't staying there and that we had nowhere to stay. The man had three beds left for the night and nothing available the next night. Being a group of six, this would not work. He recommended another place in town and gave us a map to show us where it was. We headed back out still hungry and tired and not very frustrated and annoyed. It took us 15 minutest to get to the other hostel. 

Ram Guest House

After confirming with the front deskman at Ram Guest House that he had three rooms we paid him for the nights. He asked us to fill out a form with out passport number and visa and basic information. Tim responded that he did not have all the info on hand and the man said 'No Problem. Just sign the bottom'. This was odd but we just wanted a room. He walked us upstairs and showed us into three rooms. Caroline and I had a room with two beds and a bathroom. We sat down and were relieved to just sit. After a few minutes I noticed little bugs on my bed. I was not very happy about this and after a few minutes went downstairs to request a room change. The man was confused but offered another room, which we were grateful for. It had one double bed but we were fine with that as long as there weren’t any bugs. 

The beds were hard as rock and the bathrooms were simple and not the best but we had somewhere to call home for the weekend

Dinner

There were a few restaurants on the map we had acquired so we thought we would try to find. We began walking in search of food. We eventually landed at a place called LB2 Lounge. It was a smaller place but a very nice restaurant. The menu had a wide variety and I decided on a cheese omelet and spaghetti. I was really hungry and wanted to take advantage of the fact that there was not spicy food that I liked. They both were delicious! We met the owner of the place as we left. He studied in the US and was fun to talk to. He said to come back. Before heading home we wanted to at least see the beach so we walked east until we found the beach. We could hear the waves crashing against the rocks on the shore. We sat on the rocks foe awhile just relaxing and enjoying the view. It was so peaceful and relaxing.

Exploring

The next day we left our hostel in search of breakfast around 930AM. We didn’t want to waste any daylight. We did not find too many breakfast places. Bob and Evan bought shoes and Tim got a banana. Once 11 rolled around we finally found a place. It was a cute little place right on the beach. The water was still beautiful. After breakfast we walked down the beach looking for the tourist center to find out more information and maybe take a tour. Evan, Mike and Caroline wanted to find the beach and to surf so they headed the other direction and Tim, Bob and myself wanted a tour. The tour that was offered was not running that day because not enough people so they recommended another tour place that had a tour at 2pm. It was just after 12 so we decided to explore and then go to the other tour. We found a café with Heineken so we grabbed a beer and relaxed for a bit. We had walked a lot and the day was only half over. We tried to rent cycles after our beers so that we could bike around but that was trickier than expected. Most places had bikes, which are motorcycles, which we were not confident enough to drive in the crazy traffic and on the opposite side of the road.

Tour of the City

We got to the tour place at 1:40 to take a tour at 2pm. After a confusing conversation we were told the tour was full but we can rent a cab for twice as much to take us to the places. The A/c in a cab sounded good but we didn’t want to spend so much money. We decided to give ourselves a tour and took a picture of the list of locations on the tour. We grabbed an auto to the furthest location and walked around to the ones close to it. We saw the Gandhi statue on the beach and walked through the street of street vendors along the beach.

We went to the Pondicherry museum. We saw the park near the beach. We bought a water bottle to share after the park because we were so warm. After pouring water into our cups we were surrounded by small children. They appeared homeless and were after our water. They grabbed the cup right out of Tim’s hand. I instantly starting walking away and two followed me closely as I chugged the remaining water from my cup. I offered the empty cup to the children, which they did not want. It was kind of scary though because they surrounded us so quickly and it was very overwhelming. Once we escaped the children we went to the ashram. This is a religious place of prayer. There were flowers and people sitting, kneeling and standing and praying. We had to take our shoes off across the street before we could enter the area.

Tim, Bob and I grabbed lunch at Daily Bread Café that was very good. I got a toasted cheese sandwich that was like a grill cheese and a small cheese pizza. The sandwich was good but the pizza was made with very different sauce. It wasn’t bad but not great either. After lunch we grabbed an auto to the boathouse that is just outside of town. We heard there were boat tours there so we wanted to go on one. As we arrived the gates to the boathouse closed and the man informed us that the boathouse closed at 4pm. It was 4:15. We were quite disappointed. The guy said we could come back tomorrow but wouldn’t give us any details about the boat which was frustrating. We took the auto to the Botanical Garden on the way back to the hostel. The garden was closed to so we just went to the hostel.

Dinner

We were told that this one hotel was great for dinner so we met the others there. We sat down and got water but after looking at the menu we decided that the restaurant was expensive and did not have very many good options. So we awkwardly told them we were not going to eat there and paid for our waters. We went back to LB2 Lounge where we knew we would like what they had. We had a wonderful dinner and grabbed drinks with a group of people from Germany who are teaching English at a school in Chennai. It was great to talk with them and hear about their experiences.

Sunday

We got up at 5am so that we could watch the sunrise. The sunrise was beautiful and the waves were again gorgeous! 

The beach was full of people walking. The road was closed to vehicles so that people could walk. We grabbed breakfast after the sunrise and headed to the boathouse. The boat rides took us to Paradise Island that was beautiful. The waves were smaller and the sand felt great between our toes. 

Caroline and I waiting for the boat to the island

Boat Ride!

On the beach!

On the Beach!

After the beach we went to Botanical Gardens before grabbing lunch. We arranged for a cab ride home so that we wouldn’t have to deal with the bus and not having seats. I slept the whole way back in the cab.

Overall it was a fun weekend. A couple of hiccups in the plans but very fun to explore a new city and be on the beach for a bit! We are hopping to travel this weekend too but still ironing out the details!