Reclaiming Pondicherry

[dadu]

Our trip to pondicherry was getting postponed since the last week of January so we finally decided to go on the 8th Feb to be back on 11th Feb. Booked the St. James court beach resort 2 weeks ahead for a deluxe room.



Resort Location



The Room



View from the Balcony, it was raining.


Route clarification

As there was a lot of confusion over the root I took help from the online GIS maps to ascertain the route and trips posted by other membrs here, although GIS doesnt cover tindivanam.

Bangalore to Krishnagiri :
Is straight forward, take the electronic city road and cross Hosur straight, take the first flyover till you reach the Toll gate. After the first flyover dont take the second flyover but the left turn below it.


The road, this one is better



Lots of monkeys on the way

Krishnagiri to Tiruvannamalai:
Once you take the left turn, take the first big right turn, overhead boards with directions are given, towards pondicherry. The initial 40kms is bad with stretches of potholes inbetween but you have to be careful to be able to stop and maneuver.

Once you cross the railway line the road becomes very good.


Going through Tiruvannamalai:
Nearing the town, you will first see Ramanna Ashram on the left and then will come across a "Y" intersection with a small temple in the middle.

Take the left fork and continue till you see the big white temple gate. Just runn across the temple and then take the right along the boundry wall. You will hit a diversion sign to the left as its one way. Take the left and drive through the market, you will reach a small circle, take the U-turn from here and the road on your left.

This road will go and meet the highway, so just follow your nose then.



Gingee Fort


Gingee fort


Tiruvannamalai to Pondicherry:
Its a straight road, you will cross Gingee, Tindivanam untill you see the pondicherry gate and then the Rajv gandhi circle, from here you need to go to your place of stay and gets confusing, unless you have the correct directions.

Going through Tindivanam:
Again its the same, there is a diversion from the main course, follow it and then take a U-turn and left road, it will seem as if you have reached some inner lanes but then you will see a burntout three-wheeler on its side in the middle of the road with some directions marked in local language, take the right as per direction and then immediately the left small lane ( Way to pondicherry is marked, across the road, on the wall).

You will now hit the flyover at the "T" take the road up and then across the circle on the top straight to pondicherry.


Day 1

It was cloudy so we decided to enjoy the beach at st.james and relax, nothing much to do.


The Sea


The beach


The Queen building her castle



Cityview from the beach resort


Day 2


The Local fishermen


The Morning Sun


Small Crab at work

Woke up early in the morning and went straight to the beach for some morning pictures. Also met a local fisherman who agreed to take us to the sea in his boat for 300Rs, the next day.


Old houses on Beach road


The Lighthouse

Took the ECR into the city and straight to the beach Road, parked the Safari across the HP petrol bunk and took a walk to the Gandhi statue and Light house situated in the middle of the road.



The Walk

It was quite bright and hot, so perhaps was not a good thing to do.



Bharati park

Then we decided to explore the city and took a local auto for sightseeing for 1 hr and shopping in the congested Nehru street, the main shopping hub, saw Casablanca and Titanic, bought few things etc.


Cathederal

Contd...

[dadu]

The Sacred Heart Church


From Inside



French street names


French architecture

We asked the auto driver to take us to old french architecture and churches and finally got dropped at Rendezvous for our lunch.


Rendezvous Restaurant

By this time we were literally glowing with the heat of the day. Had a beer and some sizzlers and went back to the resort.


The evenings on beach road


The Police band

In the evening we came back again to enjoy the fair like atmosphere on the beach road with the Police band playing.


Day 3

The plan was to do a morning boat ride, goto Mahabalipuram and then Auroville. But since the little one was feeling fatigued and caught some cold, we decided not to go for any of the other planned ventures and cover Auroville which was nearby.

In the afternoon we went to Auroville but forgot to carry the camera so no pictures. It closes by 6 PM so you should keep atleast 2-3 hrs to see the place, the globe needs a 12 min walk to reach.

Had some coffee in their restaurant and then headed back to the resort.

Day 4



Saibaba temple

Started around 9:30 AM, cleared all the hotel bills etc, went to the Sai baba temple across the resort and headed for the road.




Pictures on the way back

There was an incident on the road though which got scary but came out unhurt with slight damage to the vehicle, already posted it in the street experiences.

In total we covered some 724 KM's.

Resort rating

Location : Very Good
Rooms : Very good and clean
Room service : Average
Food : Average

[jkdas]

Did the same route sometime last year. It was damn hot and hence got 'roasted' a bit as I was on my bike.

I didnt get time to visit Aurobindo though.

Dadu, its the mango season right? You would get mangoes for great price on the way.

[akroy]

Nice pics dadu, you could have tried the Mahabalipuram route while return, by doing this you could have visited some temples/monument at Mahabs and also drive on ECR...

Abhi

[snaronikar]

Nice Pics and good explanation to the pics. Yes, we are discussing about your scary incident in another thread. Have read that thread. Visited teh place couple of time thouh official one. Pondy is a nice place with good beaches. Only thing is you should avoid going is summer. Otherwise, you will get roasted as JKdas had put it. BTW did you get any chance to visit the Aurbindo ashram? It is a nice place.

[HappyWheels]

good one Dadu.. so you made it to Pondy! great.

nice photos, especially the closeup of the crab... i tried to get one but was not successful in getting a crab to pose!

[dadu]

I know we missed it, but there is always a second time

Originally Posted by akroy

Nice pics dadu, you could have tried the Mahabalipuram route while return, by doing this you could have visited some temples/monument at Mahabs and also drive on ECR...

Abhi

[Nitin]

Nice write up,dadu! Loved the pics too.
Pondicherry is one place I've never had enough of.. 3-4 trips so far,and I'd love to go back again.

[esteem_lover]

Nice account of your trip dadu. You could have visited chunambar island, it is certainly one of the best places to go to in and around pondy.

[HappyWheels]

Originally Posted by dadu

I know we missed it, but there is always a second time

Absolutely true!

Even I have plans for a re-visit. Some how there seems to be a lot in Pondicherry that needs a revisit!

never felt this with other spots though!

[akroy]

Originally Posted by HappyWheels

Absolutely true!

Even I have plans for a re-visit. Some how there seems to be a lot in Pondicherry that needs a revisit!

never felt this with other spots though!

Absolutely true, Pondicherry does have something which attracts me almost everytime not that I am a big drunkard and run for cheap liquor but still it is always special to go to Pondy.
I biked there in 2005 and then again took PTC Volvo later and now again feeling like driving down there.
Pondi is very special.

Abhi

[manziee_crusier]

I am also planning now for a podi trip.How many hours you took?

[sreenidhibr]

Nice report supported by equally good pictures. What's the FE for the trip? And what's a good time to visit Pondicherry?

[dadu]

Thanks, FE was 13kmpl while driving to pondicherry, except from march-July, rest should be okay, including the rainy season.

I am also providing a link to a very informative tourism guide which has all the details. If you need the local map you can buy the same booklet once you reach there.

Pondicherry Tourist guide

Originally Posted by sreenidhibr

Nice report supported by equally good pictures. What's the FE for the trip? And what's a good time to visit Pondicherry?

[dadu]

Thanks due in the next trip.

Originally Posted by esteem_lover

Nice account of your trip dadu. You could have visited chunambar island, it is certainly one of the best places to go to in and around pondy.

6 hrs including an hour (collated) of breaks.

Originally Posted by manziee_crusier

I am also planning now for a podi trip.How many hours you took?