[harish]

Since college had just got over, It was time to plan for a trip with the boys. Last couple of times we went to Bangalore, Ooty and Valparai. This time we wanted to go to a coastal place. Goa was the plan but due to it being off-season there and under covid lockdown as well, we had to change our plan in the last week. The immediate next place that came to our mind was Pondicherry. This was going to be the longest trip we’ve done so far.

So before I start with this travelogue I'd like to inform you all that I'm not a great writer, I'll keep everything short and simple.

A Teaser:


Few details of the trip:

Dates: 21st July 2021 to 25th July 2021

Stay: Villa Al’Mar on Serenity Beach, Pondicherry

Rides:
Mahindra Thar Diesel AT HT
Mahindra Thar Diesel MT HT
Kia Sonet Diesel AT (BHPian Jayendra)
Skoda vRS230 (BHPian PS24)

Total Drive: 1165KMs

Number of drivers: 4 Cars so 4 drivers

Number of people: 10

The plan was for 8 of us to drive there on the 21st and the rest 2 would drive up the next morning as they had their finals the day we were leaving. All of us could have left the next day but having already booked the stay in urgency we left early.

Packing List:

Papers and IDs
ToolKit
SunScreen
BeachWear
Sunglasses
Caps and Hats
Cameras
First Aid Kit
Torches
Tow Rope
Air Compressor
Drone
Snacks

Day 1:

We all met in front of the Coimbatore International Airport at 6:45AM and started driving towards Erode.



Breakfast stop was at Lakshmi Vilas Mess, Perundurai at 8:00AM. I’d highly recommend people travelling this way in morning hours to stop over for breakfast. Piping hot gravy, Parotta, Egg Dosa and Mutton starters in the morning.



After breakfast, started towards Salem. Passed Salem by 9:30AM and stopped at a bakery for a tea break.



Few other stops over the drive:



Goats in the countryside that we had to be careful about:



Reached Pondicherry by 1:30PM

Here are the trip stats, didn't calculate mileage tank to tank so here it is from the MID:




We stopped over at Villa Shanti in White Town for lunch before heading to our Villa for check-in:



The lunch was okay, not worth the price in my opinion. The only dish that was good was the Steak Plate. Everything else just mediocre.

By 2:30PM headed to our Villa on Serenity Beach to check ourselves in, It's a 3 bedroom/bathroom villa with a kitchen and shack on the top. It was comfy enough for the 10 of us. That's probably the max you could fit in this villa. This property is owned by a french national, he also has 7 more villas on this beach road which were formerly fishermen houses that were later converted to AirBNBs post the tsunami. First impression from outside wasn't that great, I wouldn't call Serenity Beach the cleanest. But it wasn't bad. Even the Villa looked mediocre from outside when we got there; comparing the pictures that were put up on the AirBNB site. Once we went in, sigh. A sense of relief! It was great for what we paid.







Here's a drone shot of us, the villa and the beach.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIjHvim8hmQ

From the left; the one operating the drone/2nd one is BHPian Jayendra, 3rd is myself and 5th one is BHPian PS24.

Later took the jeep to the beach for some pictures,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MC53jXECyHQ

Chilled for the rest of the day, went to the grocery store to stock on supplies like eggs, bread, beverages etc.

For Dinner, we went to Tanto's Pizzeria on ECR which is a Unit of Auroville. Wood Fire Pizza's were great and they're a must try if you're in PY.


Masala Chicken Pizza:


SeaBreeze Pizza:


4 Fromaggi Pizza:


Went to bed early as I had an exam to attend the next day, and there's the end of day 1.

[harish]

Day 2:

Went for a walk by the beach in the morning, saw a few people surfing. Even before the trip I had enquired with Kalialay Surf School for surf lessons. They did have one day lessons but I wanted to get a 5 day one. We were short of a day to complete the surf lesson. Hence dropped the plan, it is due to be done in the next trip to Pondi



After the walk and breakfast at a nearby food joint, I had to spend half a day finishing my last exam of the academic year. After that I had finally gotten my sense of freedom back

Our other 2 friends had also arrived by that time:


Decided on a South Indian Place for lunch; Kamatchi Mess.



Food was great, highly recommend you try their Biriyani, Kamatchi Prawn, Mutton Kola Balls etc.

Well, what next? Back to the BEACH!
Walked by the shore line on ROCK BEACH...



To get some Gelato at "Gelateria Montecatini Terme" aka GMT


I got the Strawberry and it was Okay, The best that you could get there are "Bacardi" and "Dubai Cream". They have the best Gelato in town!

Back to the AirBNB;

and then later for dinner we had to shuffle between restaurants as 9PM was the curfew time and a lot of restaurant had already started closing at 8:30. Finally ended the hunt when we arrived at Celine's Kitchen in White Town. Food was good. Sorry I have no pictures from there.

Chilled at the AirBNB for a while and at around 2:30AM 5 of us weren't able to catch sleep. So decided to head out to Mahabalipuram which was a 93km drive on way, so round trip totalling to 186kms. It's a nice drive on ECR except for the lack of lighting in some stretches and being single lane as well. Luckily there weren't many vehicles on the road, which allowed us to cruise at a healthy pace throughout. Also I had just got ARB Intensity driving lights so it was the perfect occasion to test them out extensively.

Thar Lights and the ARB's at 5% brightness with amber lens cover:


The lights lit up the road so well, I had a two way switch wired to the brightness controller (that comes with the lights) which let me switch between high beam and always-on. So when I spot on-coming vehicles in the opposite direction I just have to flip the high beam off and these aux-lights will turn off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSnG2eQpz-I

At 4:00AM reached Mahabalipuram, few bakeries were just opening up. Got some Tea/Bournvita:


Then drove to the beach, parked outside and had to walk about a kilometre into the beach. It was pitch dark and started to get scary as well walking through the alleyway of shops to the beach. Once we got to the shore, sat there with plans of waiting to catch the sunrise and then leave. But after an hour boredom started to get to us and we had to leave. Walked back to the car and left to our AirBNB.

Say 45kms away from Mahabalipuram, when I was cruising at 100kmph with my eyes set straight on the road. Suddenly I heard a loud "PHATTT", the next moment I see a cracked windscreen straight to my head and I also am able to see a crow slide away from my A-Pillar into a bush on the right side. 4 of my friends who were sleeping had woken up thinking we had gotten into an accident. I pulled over, had some water and assessed the damage.
My friend got behind the wheel for the rest of the way back.



Stopped to refuel:



At that point the Thar had run 590kms so 590/50.61=11.65kmpl. That was our real mileage for highway cruising, city driving and 4H/4L usage in the beach.

Back at the AirBNB reunited with the other Thar:



And there comes the end of Day 2.

[harish]

Day 3:

Let's just call this day time to chill, but before that I had a duty to attend. Had to replace the shattered windshield on the Thar. There's no way I was going to be able to drive with that back home, visibility was very poor, after a friend touched the windshield from the inside small chips of glass started to fall in the inside so totally unsafe. Got a hold of the local dealer after making multiple calls. They asked for an hour to check for the availability of the windshield, got a call back. It was in stock! The service centre was 30KMs away from our place. So myself and BHPian jayendra went over to drop the Thar and returned in the Sonet. I was told they'll return the car in the evening which was good news

But later got a call they needed some more time and will deliver in the morning, I had no problem so let it slide.




Back at the AirBNB we had made a new friend thanks to my one friend's habit of always feeding animals something. Later this kitten went to bring over 2 more cats into our villa...


Slept for half a day because of pulling an all-nighter and driving to Mahabalipuram.


Later in the afternoon as we were driving on ECR and scouting for beaches on the map, we found White Beach 15KMs away from our Villa. There were nobody there, and the light sun and clouds made for the perfect beach day.

https://youtu.be/EISPQREp2aE

For Dinner We tried the famous Coromandel Cafe in White Town, Pondicherry.
Ambience was very good, food was amazing.


Margherita Chicken Pizza:


Kombucha:


Chicken wings (but it had a fancy name):


Fish 'n' Chips:


Didn't take pictures of a lot more, sorry for that

This was the tractor that did all the duties of pushing out fishermen boats from the beach and pulling them back in as well. It was a New Holland 4WD tractor.


Moonrise at Serenity Beach:


The Sonet and RS230:


End of Day 3

[harish]

Day 4:

Headed over to AuroVille for breakfast at the ever so famous AuroVille Bakery, in the front there's a place where you can buy their pastries, breads etc and in the back there's an outdoor seating area where food is served. Do go there early otherwise it is difficult to get a spot even on weekdays.

The variety of bread's available at the Bakery:


The Menu:


Chicken Escalope and Omelettes:



Do not miss the Kombucha there, it's as close as you can get to the real deal!

Later we went to park our cars at the AuroVille Visitor's Centre Parking Lot and started walking in the scorching heat. AuroVille is a must visit if you're in Pondicherry. It is one of the most popular places there. It spans around 5000 acres and about only 1300 acres are occupied, rest are barren land/forest. There's a lot to explore in Auroville if you stay there as a guest, but if not your access is limited. The famous MatriMandir is always open to be seen from far away by visitors but during the time we went it wasn't open to go inside (have to get special passes) due to Covid restrictions.






There are a lot of eateries in and around AuroVille, There are also 3 boutiques near the Visitor's Centre if you want to go shopping.

Next in agenda, was to go and pick up my Thar from the service centre. A 35 kilometre drive from AuroVille.

At the Service Centre:

The broken/removed windshield:


I noticed some small scratches in-between the glass and metal in the corner's of the A pillar. Pointed that out to the SA, he told it must have happened when they were removing the windshield using nylon rope and offered to touch it up with Black Auto Paint. The scratches were so small you could only see them from an angle up close.



After paying the bill which I have attached, incase other Thar owners want to know:

Windshield mounting labour has been charged as denting charges.

Also noticed the right AC Vent adjuster knob was broken/out of place. Pointed that out to SA. He brought in a guy who fixed the same knob with a new pin in 30 minutes. The knob doesn't feel as sturdy as before but should get the job done for a while, throughout the process the SA was courteous and helpful.

Waiting for the knob to be fixed:


On the way back to the AirBNB:


We had our delayed lunch at Café Des Arts, "The Pondy" an Open Sandwich:


Fast Forward to dinner at 1 Rue Suffren:


They have good shrimps, naans, pasta etc. Do visit for a nice and calm meal, the ambience is good.

Later at the beach, trying to contact aliens:



Drone shots of the same:




A picture from BHPian PS24's Birthday Shenanigans


End of Day 4

[harish]

Day 5:

Woke up late, had to check out fast as the Villa had another guest arriving soon and they had to clean the place. After getting everything loaded into our cars and handing over the keys. We planned on going to Bread & Chocolate near AuroVille for breakfast. Upon arriving there, we noticed the place was packed! And not a table available. The waiting period was long, right next to B&C there was Café73. Looks like the owner of this place is an enthusiast as well. It was a nice little cafe, with just 1 guy working the counter and serving dishes.



Here's the Menu:



While the Ferrari F40 sounded nice, I went with the Mustang:


Chicken Escalope:


Friend eating a small IceCream:


Next stop was to get the cars fuelled up, the RS230 was heading to Chennai for some other work so we bid adieu to him and went our way to Coimbatore.



Some pictures from the drive back home:




Stopped for early Dinner at 6:30PM at Thottathu Virundhu in Erode. I'm a regular there, whenever I pass Erode. Highly recommend anyone travelling that way to stop over for Lunch or Dinner! Be sure to try out their TVS Chicken, Pichu-Pota Chicken, Mutton Chukka etc. For Lunch they have Rice and Gravies, for dinner they have all types of Dosas, Idly, Roti etc.

Reached near home at 9PM, went to the fuel station to get the Thar filled up and calculate the FE





436.1KMs/46.100L=9.5KM/L which is funny

The Trip totalled to 1165KMs.

Sorry for the lack of information in my travelogue. Next time I will try my best to shoot more photos, and write in an elaborate manner as well. Till then, Bye!

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[tilt]

Originally Posted by harish

Day 2:

*SNIP*

Chilled at the AirBNB for a while and at around 2:30AM 5 of us weren't able to catch sleep. So decided to head out to Mahabalipuram which was a 93km drive on way, so round trip totalling to 186kms. It's a nice drive on ECR *SNIP*

So, Pondy and Mahabs have curfew only between 9:00 p.m. and 2:30 a.m. eh! Nice.

Cheers

[harish]

Originally Posted by tilt

So, Pondy and Mahabs have curfew only between 9:00 p.m. and 2:30 a.m. eh! Nice.

Cheers

They have the curfew only for restaurants/eateries I was told. They have to shut down by 9-10PM. Otherwise there are no covid restrictions in Pondy from last week. Everything is open. You are free to walk around/drive etc even after 9PM.

[Raghu M]

Great thread. Most of the pics did the talking. Those drone shots are amazing. One question - did you not opt for insurance to replace the windshield? The crow did quite a damage, are you sure it survived?

[Fateh Salim]

Originally Posted by harish

Suddenly I heard a loud "PHATTT", the next moment I see a cracked windscreen straight to my head and I also am able to see a crow slide away from my A-Pillar into a bush on the right side.

Firstly, I'm glad you're all right. The sound of the windshield shattering is enough to startle us.

Headed to our Villa on Serenity Beach

It seems that this was the same accommodation that was covered in a previous Team-BHP travelogue.
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...u-v-cross.html (Mumbai - Pondicherry Road Trip in an Isuzu V-Cross)

We may meet up in Ooty whenever you are available. Your new Thars and my old beat up jeeps will undoubtedly provide us with a wealth of knowledge and, more significantly, memories to treasure in the future.

[parathmaniraja]

Wow you had a great time in Pondy. By the way what happened to the fastag. Can we peel off and use it?

[harish]

Originally Posted by Raghu M

Great thread. Most of the pics did the talking. Those drone shots are amazing. One question - did you not opt for insurance to replace the windshield? The crow did quite a damage, are you sure it survived?

Thank you! The drone shots credits go to BHPian jayendra.

I did not opt for insurance as there would've been a delay in the process. Also it was the weekend. Checking out/leaving Pondicherry on Sunday didn't help either so paid for it out of pocket. Will go under company expenses so...

Not sure about what happened to the crow, hope it survived. But the visual I remember is it hitting the ground when I saw in my OVRM and then flew into a bush. So no idea.

[JoshMachine]

Nice crisp travelogue there .
How was the overall Thar ride & handling? Am assuming you would have encountered all sorts of roads.
The crow hit must have been some scare, it happening in the dead of the night.

Liked the "calling aliens" drone shots

[mugen_pinaki27]

Great writeup! I went to Pondicherry with my father way back in 2014 and it was a surreal experience. The atmosphere and the food was special coupled with the spiritual ambience of the place. Your Thar looks lovely but the cost of the windshield did surprise me. Given that its an Indian product, though premium, the pricing seems a bit steep IMHO. But nevertheless, have heard nothing but glowing reviews about the Thar. Waiting for the 5-door version eagerly.

[Maky]

Thank you for sharing your trip pics with us... especially loved the food pics

Originally Posted by harish

Stopped to refuel:

I have a question, in entire the state of TN you get petrol at 43 a Liter?