All about my travel experiences: Trip to Pondicherry / Puducherry

As usual, on 2-Apr-2010, it was the end of the week and I was thinking to go somewhere. I asked my friend where shall he go and both of us had no idea. I started my bike and on the way to home, I was thinking to go somewhere for weekend and suddenly it struck my mind to go to Pondicherry. I reached home and asked my friend “how about Pondicherry?” and he was ok with the idea. So he stayed in his office and I packed our bag with usual travel kit and headed toward M.G Road. I got down in bus stand and waited for him. Then we came together to Kempegowda bus stand. There we found that Tamil Nadu buses leaves from Satellite Bus Stand in Mysore Road. So we got in a auto and reached Satellite Bus Stand at 8:00 PM. We looked for direct bus for Pondicherry and found a bus which is supposed to drop us in Pondicherry next morning at 5:00 AM. Bus will leave at 9:30 PM, so I went to nearby shop to get some biscuits and snacks for dinner.
Next morning on 3-Apr-2010 at 5:00 AM we came to Pondicherry (Puducherry). We searched for a hotel nearby and found a descent hotel. We went to the hotel and enquired for room and the receptionist told us to come at 6:00 AM since cleaning is in progress. We went back to the same bus stand and had hot coffee. At 6:00 AM we went to the same hotel and checked-in. After a good bath, we came down for breakfast in the same hotel and enquired for sightseeing in the reception. We finally fixed a Indica for 5 hours with Rs. 800. After heavy and nice breakfast, we got ready for the sightseeing. At 8:00 AM we started in the cab.
We started with nearby government buildings and park. Don’t remember exact name, but it could be Raj Niwas, Park Monument (Aayi Mandapam) and also near the sea shore there is a beautiful statue of Mahatma Gandhi.

Mahatma Gandhi

From there we went to Bharathy Park. Nice maintained park. We also went to Promenade.

Bharathy Park

From there we went to Manakula Vinayagar Temple which a very old temple.

Manakula Vinayagar Temple

From there we went to Sri Aurobindo Ashrama. No camera, no cell phone and footwear allowed inside. It is a very calm and peaceful place. The Samadhi of Sri Aurobindo is located on the right hand side. One can buy books and related stuffs of Sri Aurobindo from the Ashram.

Sri Aurobindo Ashrama

Auro Beach

From there we went to Auro Beach which is 10 KM and we have spent nearly 1 hour there. It was a nice lonely beach (which can be hardly found in any part of India). Far east from the beach, it was place for fisherman and colorful boats are kept in shore for drying. At 12:00 PM we started from there after having a glass full of mossombi juice.
From there we went to another place which is 10 KM. It was a one old temple on the way to Auroville.
From there we went to Auroville. It is an international city dedicated to human unity and based on the vision of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother. It a very nice, peaceful, quite place. We get various items for shopping and also to get something to eat.

Auroville

From there another 10 KM, we headed to Varadarajaperumal Temple, where we can see lot of stone sculpture.
From there we came to Sri Gokilambal Thirukameshwara Temple which is one of the oldest temple and a very calm place.
From there we came back to our hotel which is 10 KM at 2:30 PM. We parceled our lunch and went back to room. Humidity is always at its peak and one won’t find difference whether he is taking bath or not. We took some rest, watched TV and went out in the evening for the sea shore. It is straight down road from our hotel which ends to the sea shore. It is nearly 20 min walking.
We reached sea shore after a 20 min walk. It was a nice experience to seat there and enjoy the sea breeze. We also had ice cream and steam kadalai with masala (ground nuts). At 7:30 PM, we headed toward our hotel. On our way we parceled our dinner and went to hotel.

Plage Paradiso (Paradise Beach)

Next day, we hired an auto for Plage Paradiso (Paradise Beach). It is nicely maintained park by Pondicherry government. We get motor boat ride from the park to sea shore, crossing the river. It is a nice view of a river merging into Bay of Bengal. Once we reach near the sea in the boat, we can walk in the river bank and end in sea beach. After watching the beauty of nature, we came back to the park in another boat which was waiting to get full. The ride takes nearly 20 min. We hired another auto and back to our hotel around 3:30 PM.
We finished our lunch and packed our luggage. I went and enquired in the bus stand about the direct bus to Bangalore. They told only one is there at night 10:00 PM. We didn’t want to take a risk and we checkout from hotel and came to bus stand at 7:00 PM. We got in a bus to Salem at 8:00 PM and got into another bus for Bangalore from Salem at 2:00 AM on Monday. We reached in Bangalore at 7:00 AM and headed for our house for another heavy week day.
Last year around Oct-2010, I again visted Pondi and this time i hired a bike for Rs. 200 for entire day from Mission street and went all round the city. In that road there are plenty of shops who are waiting for you to hire a bike from them. AMO, please hire a bike early morning because you will have a choice among many type of bikes and will also have the best option. It was a nice fun and experience. It is place of mix culture of Tamilian + French. Everything you get here will give you a choice of 2 i.e. Indian style + French style. Things are pretty cheap here compare to any part of India.