We happily oblige to the Ashram rules at last

Friday 24th of November: The bus journey from Chennai to Pondichery lasted for 4 hours but it was an great trip, it's basically a seaside road pretty much all the way. Some places are purely paradise. However, you pass some seasides villages which have been fiercely affected by the tsunami. You can see a lot of redevelopment sponsored by funds from the Tsunami Relief Association.

I arrived in Pondichery early afternoon. Pondichery is an old french colony and the city has kept all the seaside part as it was in terms of architecture so it's very beautiful. Everything is so clean here, people are more chill out, more chatty and I have a great afternoon walking around. I even saw some locals playing the "petanque" which is a traditrional french bowling game. I should have brought some Pernod. I am staying tonight at an Ashram guesthouse. Ashram is basically a community and place od calm/meditation. As a guest I need to comply with their rules which is curfew after 1.30pm, no alcohol, no noise. The guest house is great and there are few backpackers. I met two french girls Chloe and Julie, they are staying there with some people they met in Goa and are doing a bit of travelling with then for a few days. We met up later in the evening and went to this french restaurant, the food was excellent. It's about curfew time so we head back to the guest house. The girls have some prohibited drinks so we spent the rest of the evening in one of their room with an Irish guy and an english couple. Tomorrow I am finally going to the beach. I have booked a scooter, can't wait!!

Saturday 25th of November: Oh boy, the night was short and the sun is kicking hard already. We are finally 7 of us going to the beach so more scooters are rented. We go North of Pondichery to a beach called Quiet Beach. Nice beach but nothing will compare to Goa I am told. The day is spent there, lying on the beach after a big night. We still manage to visit Auroville which is the city I spoke briefly in my first entry in Mumbai.I met Chloe/Julie later on in the evening and we met up with Mate (Irish bloke). The evning is spent in a small local restaurant, we still suffering from last night so tonight it's an early sleep and we happily oblige to the Ashram rules at last. about fabienr