Pondencherry, Jan 12 2009

So I got to Pondencherry two nights ago. I got here in the evening, and as expected most of the recommended guest houses in Lonely Planet were full. I called them from the train. I found one which was available, a bit on the expensive side (700 RPs) but pretty nice.
I went for a walk in the beach in the French part of the city and it was very nice. On the way I checked another very recommended guest house, Park GH which was very full. They told me to come the next day at 9:00 for possible availability. Pondencherry has a "French" part, with numerous heritage houses, as it was a French Colony till 1952. This area is extremely clean (for India), it has French Heritage buildings and hotels and French restaurants. Most of the tourists are Indians. The boardwalk near the beach is very nice about 1.5 km. You cannot bathe in this area as it does not have a sandy beach. You need to go farther away. My hotel had very good hot water and I took a long hot shower after a long time with cold water only.
The next morning I woke at around 6:30 and went to check other lodging opportunities. I went to the Park GH again and they told me that they probably would have rooms but to get back at around 10:00. So I decided to go some sight-seeing before checking-out and trying to move to a different guest-house. I was a bit disappointed as I planned to stay a few days in Pondencherry and it did not seem that it deserved it.
As I've been saying, everyday is a new day.
So while I'm walking, comes this Young French woman Candice and stops me in the street asking If I knew of any good and cheap guest houses in the area. I told her about Park, but also the possible price. It was a bit high for her and she told me that she had checked another one which was cheaper. She decided to go back to the one she checked before and invited me to come and check too. We get there, they have only this big room with four beds, which is kind of a dorm and they offer for both of us to take the room for 350 RPs. Therefore we decide to share the room, which is great, big with a huge shower and toilet inside. So we become friends and we spent the whole day and evening together. We rented a scooter and wandered around Pondicherry. We went to Auro-Ville which is an experimental community (a bit like a kibbutz) with people from 50 different countries. Looks an amazing experimental community. They don't let you go Inside but they have a big visitors center and the place attract lots of tourists. It is impressive.
Then we went to a lake nearby, and to a temple city about 10 KM range from Pondencherry.
Candice actually changed my perception of french woman I had met before. They seemed a bit distant and not approachable. Maybe because she had such a good English and had traveled so much. She had been 6 months in Indonesia, quite a few months in Africa, spoke German, etc.
She has a degree in business administration and is doing research in Recruiting. This time she is traveling for a whole year by herself around the world. She has been in Africa in a few different french speaking countries, now in India for a few months, then to Tokyo, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico and Peru, etc. Today she already left and I'm staying another day in Pondencherry prior to going to my last destination (I think) Malalapuran.
Yesterday was Sunday and Pondencherry had the Sunday market, which filled with thousands of people the central streets.
So my India experience is a blend of seeing some very interesting places and meeting amazing people.