Lang's trip to India
1 year 4 months ago - 1 year 4 months ago #242222
by Lang
Replied by Lang on topic Lang's trip to India
26 December
This is the final of our Indian trip.
We spent 3 days in Pondicherry over Xmas. It is a nice beachside town with remains of the several centuries of French occupation. In the old French quarter, many of the colonial buildings are still used such as the Hotel de Ville (Town Hall), Harbour masters building and police headquarters and they are really impressive with their white paint and lovely gardens. The beach promenade is excellent.
Throughout this area many other colonial era grand houses and gardens are to be seen in streets overhung with huge rain-trees. Having said this, it is nowhere near the “little piece of France” advertised in all the travel brochures and gushing reviews. Everything has reverted to Indian culture. All the French cuisine now has an Indian flavour both literally and figuratively. The famous French pastries are suited to Indian tastes with little of the light recipes and fresh cream (hard to get in a tropical climate). Almost everywhere, including 4- star hotels, we noted the same pastries on the shelf for 3 and 4 days at a time, a practice unheard of in Europe.
Le Dupliex Hotel where we had our French/Indian Xmas Dinner.
Pondicherry is still well worth a visit as in the main area it is much more relaxed. There are very big botanical gardens dating back to 1864, sadly very run down and of course the divine consciousness destination of Auroville which has a huge area and very nicely maintained nature walks. It is a busy place with lots of happy families and the usual smattering of foreign devotees with dreadlocks, sarongs and sandals.
Leaving the outrageously expensive S3 hotel and the 5 hour a day loudspeakers from the temple next door, we headed north along the coast road. What a beautiful string of white sandy beaches with a good surf. Although we have not seen one Indian actually swimming out of their depth on the whole trip, the potential for this strip to be lined with fancy resorts to rival the Mediterranean Coast of Spain or France is huge and only a couple of hours drive from Chennai.
An interesting stop at the hippie destination of Malappuram was worth a look. Lots of little beachfront hotels and guest houses, surf school (for non-swimmers?) and numerous 3-table cafes and souvenir sellers in narrow winding streets down to the beach set the scene.
Without too much drama we arrived back in Chennai to find we could stay at the 5 star Novotel for the same price we had paid for the 2 star hotel in Pondicherry.
Just a light snack for breakfast.
The Indus Go car rental man has just appeared to collect the mighty Suzuki WagonR. It did the job, was the right size but I don’t care if I never see one again in my life. They worked out the extra bill for the automatic E-tolls for the whole trip (28 in all). It came to $41.50. Total mileage 3,642km.
We went out today to the museum, the second biggest in India after Kolkata. It is a collection of the most spectacular buildings 150-200 years old. Like most beautiful colonial buildings in India there has been absolutely no maintenance since 1947 and it is crumbling and rusting and the vast majority of the magnificent collection has been rotting away for 75 years covered in dust. Here is an example of a poor old kangaroop shot sometime around the 1890's I would guess.
It has been a very interesting trip. We were very fortunate that ELGi saw fit to help us along the way and a better sponsor we could not have asked for. Every single ELGi person we met from marketing, sales, management and on the shop floor could not have been more pleasant and helpful. They certainly added to the enjoyment of our Indian adventure.
If you are looking for a safe, friendly, cheap and endlessly interesting place to go on your next holiday it is hard to go past India.
“Dare to be Unique”
This is the final of our Indian trip.
We spent 3 days in Pondicherry over Xmas. It is a nice beachside town with remains of the several centuries of French occupation. In the old French quarter, many of the colonial buildings are still used such as the Hotel de Ville (Town Hall), Harbour masters building and police headquarters and they are really impressive with their white paint and lovely gardens. The beach promenade is excellent.
Throughout this area many other colonial era grand houses and gardens are to be seen in streets overhung with huge rain-trees. Having said this, it is nowhere near the “little piece of France” advertised in all the travel brochures and gushing reviews. Everything has reverted to Indian culture. All the French cuisine now has an Indian flavour both literally and figuratively. The famous French pastries are suited to Indian tastes with little of the light recipes and fresh cream (hard to get in a tropical climate). Almost everywhere, including 4- star hotels, we noted the same pastries on the shelf for 3 and 4 days at a time, a practice unheard of in Europe.
Le Dupliex Hotel where we had our French/Indian Xmas Dinner.
Pondicherry is still well worth a visit as in the main area it is much more relaxed. There are very big botanical gardens dating back to 1864, sadly very run down and of course the divine consciousness destination of Auroville which has a huge area and very nicely maintained nature walks. It is a busy place with lots of happy families and the usual smattering of foreign devotees with dreadlocks, sarongs and sandals.
Leaving the outrageously expensive S3 hotel and the 5 hour a day loudspeakers from the temple next door, we headed north along the coast road. What a beautiful string of white sandy beaches with a good surf. Although we have not seen one Indian actually swimming out of their depth on the whole trip, the potential for this strip to be lined with fancy resorts to rival the Mediterranean Coast of Spain or France is huge and only a couple of hours drive from Chennai.
An interesting stop at the hippie destination of Malappuram was worth a look. Lots of little beachfront hotels and guest houses, surf school (for non-swimmers?) and numerous 3-table cafes and souvenir sellers in narrow winding streets down to the beach set the scene.
Without too much drama we arrived back in Chennai to find we could stay at the 5 star Novotel for the same price we had paid for the 2 star hotel in Pondicherry.
Just a light snack for breakfast.
The Indus Go car rental man has just appeared to collect the mighty Suzuki WagonR. It did the job, was the right size but I don’t care if I never see one again in my life. They worked out the extra bill for the automatic E-tolls for the whole trip (28 in all). It came to $41.50. Total mileage 3,642km.
We went out today to the museum, the second biggest in India after Kolkata. It is a collection of the most spectacular buildings 150-200 years old. Like most beautiful colonial buildings in India there has been absolutely no maintenance since 1947 and it is crumbling and rusting and the vast majority of the magnificent collection has been rotting away for 75 years covered in dust. Here is an example of a poor old kangaroop shot sometime around the 1890's I would guess.
It has been a very interesting trip. We were very fortunate that ELGi saw fit to help us along the way and a better sponsor we could not have asked for. Every single ELGi person we met from marketing, sales, management and on the shop floor could not have been more pleasant and helpful. They certainly added to the enjoyment of our Indian adventure.
If you are looking for a safe, friendly, cheap and endlessly interesting place to go on your next holiday it is hard to go past India.
“Dare to be Unique”
Last edit: 1 year 4 months ago by Lang.
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