Heaven on Earth
Last weekend a visit to Pondicherry gave me the opportunity to feel a little bit of Europe in India. In the rural area I am staying I am afraid there is very little or no British influence. Pondi is like the Indian version of Cuba, but with far less dancing. It is remarkably French, with Quartier Francais and Alliance Francaise included.
Restaurants were so so but I still managed to eat something close to creme caramel that tasted like heaven, specially after all those Indian deserts that make my teeth ache due to the high content of sugar and nuts. Phi, my coworker, insisted in visiting Pizza Hut. Well, the truth is that Phi never insists but after seeing him eating only plain rice for a couple of weeks I felt I should compromise and gave him the pleasure of devouring a Hawai pizza.
In Pondicherry we had a lively Saturday night. Drinking a beer is a lively night compared to our days in Thanjavur. We were quite surprised by meeting tourists, Westerners!! we almost felt like saying hello to them, shacking hands..haha. Luckily for us we ended the night in the right place: L'Espace, a terrasse to chill out and drink beer until 11.00pm, when everything shuts down. We were surrounded by 40 Frenchies and some Brits. When the bar closed we followed the crowd to a sort of illegal club, a room with a fancy red lamp and a computer playing some reaally old techno music.
Conclusion: the French have taken Pondicherry back.
On Sunday I convinced Phi to go to Auroville. We have read in the guide that Auroville is not a place for everybody. It looks like a mix of yoga addicts, smoking weed living an Amish-styled life. That's what it looks like. Auroville is a city created for the sake of Human Unity, woooaw, it extends over 20 km. and it is inhabited by about 1500 people, 2/3 of which are foreigners from 35 countries or so. We felt somehow a good vibe. A Indian friend tells me that I need to become a believer of the Eastern way of living faith.
The highlight of the place is the Matrimandir. It is a NASA-like structure. The surroundings are like heaven but with clouds made out of different smoke!!
(pictures in my facebook)
Restaurants were so so but I still managed to eat something close to creme caramel that tasted like heaven, specially after all those Indian deserts that make my teeth ache due to the high content of sugar and nuts. Phi, my coworker, insisted in visiting Pizza Hut. Well, the truth is that Phi never insists but after seeing him eating only plain rice for a couple of weeks I felt I should compromise and gave him the pleasure of devouring a Hawai pizza.
In Pondicherry we had a lively Saturday night. Drinking a beer is a lively night compared to our days in Thanjavur. We were quite surprised by meeting tourists, Westerners!! we almost felt like saying hello to them, shacking hands..haha. Luckily for us we ended the night in the right place: L'Espace, a terrasse to chill out and drink beer until 11.00pm, when everything shuts down. We were surrounded by 40 Frenchies and some Brits. When the bar closed we followed the crowd to a sort of illegal club, a room with a fancy red lamp and a computer playing some reaally old techno music.
Conclusion: the French have taken Pondicherry back.
On Sunday I convinced Phi to go to Auroville. We have read in the guide that Auroville is not a place for everybody. It looks like a mix of yoga addicts, smoking weed living an Amish-styled life. That's what it looks like. Auroville is a city created for the sake of Human Unity, woooaw, it extends over 20 km. and it is inhabited by about 1500 people, 2/3 of which are foreigners from 35 countries or so. We felt somehow a good vibe. A Indian friend tells me that I need to become a believer of the Eastern way of living faith.
The highlight of the place is the Matrimandir. It is a NASA-like structure. The surroundings are like heaven but with clouds made out of different smoke!!
(pictures in my facebook)
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