GANDHIJI'S STAUE ON THE BEACH
BEAUTIFUL RESTAURANT ON THE BEACH
SEE THE HIGH TIDE !
AUROVILLE---TEA JOINT ........and my DH giving the pose:)
MATRIMANDIR
BOATING AT MUDALIARKAPPAM
BREAKFAST TIME
This is the best time in Chennai to see around and the bonus is My H also gets the leave on sakranti, so we decided to make a trip to Pondichery. We took a sight seeing tour from TTDC, once I tried APTDC but their management was very bad and selection of restaurants even worse
For this one day tour, we were supposed to report at 6.30 in the morning, quite an early morning it was for us..but that time so pleasant, one feels so happy, tranquiel.......the bus was late and we started around 7.15 from here.It is 175 km from Chennai to Puducherry...... a very scenoinc journey.....I could see and see the lush green fields, and the the sides of the road.
Just before Mammalapuram, he stopped for breakfast. It was a very good, neat and clean AC restaurant with delicious food. We had our fill og Idli, vada , dosa and tea.In our tour there were two tourists fron UK..one Elizabeth from birmingham and Brigette ...they had Idli for the first time..they wanted me to write the name of it, so that they could ask later for them in their food:) I was more than happy to do that----white pan cakes..Idli:).
Our next stop was Mudaliyar kappam.... a boat house..where we had a very enjoyable boating experience... there was a young couple and the girl was shouting...no life jackets? how can we do without that...I smiled and thought..must be from IT sector, been abroad. and showing that:)..In India we are habitual of sitting in very primitive boats even and here it was a motor boat, and we had a good time. they had pedal boats also and for then they provided life jackets:)
Around 11.30 we reached Auroville.........A huge place, well maintained, with lot of natural beauty and walking trails even, most of the inhabitants were cycling, weather was also pleasant.First we were shown a video about auroville. Their charter says.......this place is not owned by anyone and belongs to every human being. There is a one and a half km walk to see Matrimandir..place for meditation..one has to take prior permission to see it from inside, so we saw it from outside only. and came back and had a very good tea:)..very relaxing.
Now we went to the beach......its a very rocky beach and tide is quite aggressive there.
Now the time for lunch..here we went to Sangeetha and had traditional lunch of rice, sambhar, rasam,2 vegetables, papad, he was supposed to give rawa kesri also but he cheated....and dint give anyone unless asked for.Now the time Aurvindo ashram.........This area is the most beautiful place..its a french colony in white colour and all the houses have french architecture with roads of cemented tiles. Ashram is the personal house where there is a tomb type SAMADHI for ma and arvindo, people meditate there ,and buy literature about them..pin drop silence is maintained.
We saw ganpati temple from outside only as it was closed.
Time to come back..had evening tea also on the way with bajji and vada:)
Quite enjoyable trip as a picnic, but didnt find anything so special, we have the beaches, temple in Chennai also..almost the same types. Tell me if any of you have been there and saw something which I missed.
A good read....http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Speaking_Tree/A_letter_from_a_father_to_his_little_son/articleshow/4002613.cms
29 comments:
A belated happy new year to you. I love the boating at Mudaliar Kuppam. Been there several times and still not bored of it.
RenuDi, that just sounds so relaxing a tour...and listening to all the yummy food you are talking abt is making me hungryyyyy!!!
Well.. its not a place to go for something and get it in return.. its a place to savor the environs.. to live the french colony like life... to gen loiter arnd and take in the clean roads, white fences et al....
i liked the place only and only for the ambiance....
hmmm as such in TN.. i feel you wont find anything spl.. most of the places are one time watches.. and most of architectural wonders are in temples.. and temples being temples.. you will tend to see the place with devotion rather than with a place of tourist value....
hmm neways u had a break.. were able to step out and soak the sun... thts gud enuff :)
btw i wrote this http://www.holidayiq.com/destinations/reviews/Karnataka-Mysore-Reviews-Mysore-A-treasure-trove-I-would-regard-Mysore-as-a-place-9.html
in case you interested ... give it a read
Jayshree; Thanx a ton ! and wih u the same !
Where are you, havent seen u anywhere for a long time?
Aneri_masi: It was:) a really enjoyable tour as such..one day picnic for me, and i am a foodie that way, i took along with me a lot of things to munch , but then still bought other fresh stuff also:)
Amrita: You are right, may be its good place to relax etc, but since my life is already relaxed:) I mean I have nothing much to do at home, so when I go out I want something to do.....like there was nothing much to see.plus he didnt take us to a single shop even to see the local items.
I went thru ur link..wow ;) thats the way review must be written, so comprehensive, i have seen Mysore and srirangapatanam, and liked it.Now my list has Thanjavur, Chidambaram etc. and yes coorg, yercud and hogennekal:)
AH! thanks for writing the stuff i wrote :)
yercaud aint so nice... nothing to do and see.. i am also more of a doing person...thr shd be stuff to do and do and see and see!! hmmmm coorg is nice..
hogennekal again shd b a one day trip not more thn tht
i did my engineering in pondicherry.. you missed my lousy college for sure..
and auroville is one place that i can never forget in my pondycherry life...
:)
Renu, yes, Pondicherry is good for one day trips. As you said the weather also is good. I have some relatives living there and everyone - women too, uses bicycle to go here and there.
I had read about some remnants of Dutch, somewhere near Pondicherry. Thinking of going there next weekend (have gone there often, though!).
Amrita: really I learnt a lot from your review and in future, i will keep it in mind.
Hogennakal..i want to see only because hear that most of the south movies are shot there:), basically though i love hill stations.
Chriz: Oh, you are lucky to have lived there, and tell me is there any place in auroville where visitors can stay? i saw many foreigners on cycle there roaming as if they live there.
Sandhya: Its very pleasant to see most of the people on bike, and the french colony is really good to see, i speciaslly liked the roads there, asked my husband also.what is different about them.
Now my son tells me that there are many good restaurants also, and i should have stayed there atleast a night to have agood stroll along the beach:)
Reading about you day tour made me recall my excursion to Pondi when I was in the 8th Standard. We had been there for a week end trip and I had enjoyed it! That was the last excursion trip of mine...
Why I was not present.
:)
Pondicherry looks beautiful
ive never been thre :(
my fav part of pondichery is not pondichery at all :P
it is the drive from Chennai to pondcherry thru the ecr road...
(pure bliss for me)....
A very informative post Ma! Thanks for the virtual tour :)
SR: Tours done in the student life are the most enjoyable ones:), my children went to banlore OOty, jaipur MT Abu etc from delhi and I still have very pleasant memories of that time--(what they told me)
Hobo: have you seen south?
Swats: it has plenty of greenery:)
Ajit: me too liked the journey more than the destination:)
Smriti: Thanx:)
i love mandir Snap.. and i always loved POdicherry
Bs: Thank you for appreciating and visiting me !, I had also heard so much about itfrom my son, and the the movie JISM was another catalyst:)
Looks like you guys had a great time! :-)
Lovely pics...
Thank U for tht tour Renu...very informative.
Never been to Pondi but do plan to visit it some time.
"he was supposed to give rawa kesri also but he cheated....and dint give anyone unless asked for."
...u knw even I get mad when they do tht:-D
nice pics Renu, I d like to go to Pundicherry as well, I heard it used to be a french colony and they have the cheapest beers :P
I hope i can make it to india in march really!
c ya
C.
:) did you know i was born in Pondicherry? :) my parents visit the ashram once a year. I do whenever i`m home. Isnt is a fabulous place Renu? your pics are lovely!
PIXIE: Yeah:) it was a good trip:)
Reflections: yeah nancy, i feel very bad when they cheat, when we are giving you the prioce you demanded , then please serve us with care and honesty:(
Cess; Cant say about beers:(, but the place is worth a visit once only:), Hope to see you here in Chennai:)
Piper: Its your birth place then:). actually our guide was not very knowledgeable, I wanted to know if there is any place to stay and saviour the surroundings at leisure in Auroville?
yes many french people live there.. its more a french territory still
Chriz: but u didnt tell me if there are hotel or guest house in auroville?
My hubby had been to Pondicherry a few times in his good old bachelor days. Even now when he talks about the place, he has this sort of sly smile on his face ..... so I'm really curious to go and see whatever he saw!!!
Hey, good to see a photo of you by the way :D
I myself wonder about whta is this in Pondichery which fascinates everybody:)
about photo..yeah i wanted to connect with my friends:)
Hi Renu,
I have booked tgh TTDC fr 1 day Pondi Trip..
When did u visit thrg TTDC???
Also there is no itenary given by TTDC for this trip.. So wanted to know when we will back to chennai after the Trip..
Anonymous: We went in this january only, and we were back by 7PM, their itenery is asmae as I have written..first for BF then Mudaliar kappam, then auroville....so on..
very informative post thanks for sharing
http://www.apjtours.com/holiday/pondicherry-holiday-package/
Ajay Jain: Thanks!
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