First a bit of geography. Chennai is about 3/4 of the way down the eastern side of India, and at the moment we are trundling south. If we kept going in a straight line we would hit Sri Lanka.
Secondly a bit of education – they say travel broadens the mind. We have hit Pongal – the biggest Hindu festival in southern India which seems to be a very long Harvest Festival. Schools are shut for a week, and this follows on rapidly from them also being shut for Christmas week. I must admit to never having heard of it before, but it is great to be in the middle of it.
After two nights of acclimatising in the safety of a Sheraton we set off this morning to Puducherry. (Also the spellings of towns seems to vary – also known as Pondicherry.)
Room plus view (Bay of Bengal since you ask).
Then a guided tour of the Old Town.
Actually not so old – cathedral only built in 20th Century but we liked the colours…
and the Christmas Tree – not sure what happened to 12th night.
And the fun part was a walk around the shopping streets and markets – crazily busy plus sounds and smells (mostly nice but not entirely):
Evening extremely splendid. Coffee and cake with a view:
Dinner – according to Eileen the tiger prawns were “the best ever”. The Indian wine slightly less so … But a walk along the promenade at 10.00 and luxuriating in the warm breeze was fantastic.