January 17, 2015
 
MAMALLAPURAM to PONDICHERRY 106 km
Villa Indra Guest house 1250 Rs, double without breakfast or wifi

Flat Coastal Plain

The terrain remained flat. We passed small dusty towns, rice paddies and fisheries. 


 ...At a crossroads in a small village, they had speed barriers set up. A dumb ass on motorcycle coming from opposite direction too fast lost control and veered onto our side right in front of us. Dave, luckily, was slowing already because of a traffic barrier and put on the brakes and stopped. But he lost his balance as he put his foot down and he "gently" went down. I managed to jump off. 
 

French Quarter in Pondicheery
 
At 2:30 pm, we hit the heavy traffic in Pondicherry. Initially, it looked like any other typical Indian city. As we turned toward the ocean, we crossed into the French Quarter of ‘Pondy., We cruised passed quiet, shady, cobbled streets lined with white and mustard colored colonial houses.

We followed the main road towards the waterfront where a kaleidoscope of color of women in sarees and dupattas flopping in the wind greeted us. All of India was out in force. Food and souvenir stalls were doing brisk business. Pongal had given everyone free time and the beach front drive had a real resort vibe.
 

No Room at the Asram Inn

In Mamalapuram, Dave's phone stopped charging and, once the battery ran down, we had no GPS guiding us. We had to wing it.
    
We easily found the Park Hotel Pooja had recommended. And not surprisingly, it was fully booked. They do not accept advance reservations so we had to take a chance and just show up. We were told to come back at 8am the next morning to see if anyone was leaving. 

We stopped in for a cold drink at a nearby cafe / hotel. They had a non-AC room for $55 - In a pinch, maybe.... In this heat, we wanted our AC.

We began walking into all the villas and guesthouses we came upon while keeping our eyes open for a restaurant. We both were famished. Every bed was full. We stumbled upon a great little place that served up a nice veg pizza for me and a Thai grilled chicken dish for Dave. Just what the doctor ordered. 
 
Since we had wifi there, we were able to research hotels a little further away. Dave was able to make calls as long as he was plugged in to a power source. And after our late lunch, we drove a kilometer or so to a guesthouse which just had had a cancellation. I had had it with the traffic and the noise and found it easier on the nerves to walk. Low and behold, when we got there, another employee had booked the room for other guests who apparently got there just ahead of us. The guy made some calls and told us it was our lucky day and to follow him on the motorcycle to a "Villa". The villa turned out to be lovely converted two bedroom home. We had spacious sitting area outside our room and basically had the place to ourselves. And twenty bucks for a simple AC room was more like we have come to expect in India. But we could only stay one night because they already had a booking for the next day.


January 18-20, 2015 - PONDICHERRY 
Hotel le Mirage 2400Rs ($38.62) AC double including breakfast and wifi 

Stylish and Modern
 
We booked a lovely hotel for 3 days. It was on the fringe of the French quarter and just far enough off MG road, a busy Indian commercial street. Yeah, we wanted to be more in the center of the French quarter, but Le Mirage was such a step up in quality from the available villas in the quarter, we jumped at it. By noon, we were moved in. Marilyn Monroe looked down upon us.

The motorcycle had a gas drip Dave wanted remedied. The helpful front desk staff helped Dave find a good mechanic who immediately came over. He knew what to do when he diagnosed the leaking gas was due to a sticky float. He took the motorcycle for a carb cleaning and new float pin and promised to deliver it back few hours. That was easy.... Now, Dave's phone still needs repair. 
 

Samsung Authorized
 
You can throw your phone further than the distance to the next mobile phone repair both or stall promising they can fix anything. But Dave wanted someone besides a random guy messing with his phone. So he looked up the nearest Samsung authorized repair facility which, luckily, was just a few blocks from our hotel. 

Dave went in and pulled a number and waited for his turn. A row of technicians were huddled over problem phones behind a glass wall. Dave was called and the gate keeper took a quick look just to make sure the problem was not user error. When the phone would not accept a charge on her charger, she took it to a technician. Bad luck. They only have repair parts for India market phones and did not have the parts needed to repair our US market phone. Dejected, Dave dropped his phone at a random watch repair guy who fixes phone. "No problem" he said. "We just need to change the connector."  "Come back in three hours and it will be done."
 
For the rest of the day we explored Pondicherry on foot. 

Dave went back random watch and cell phone repair feeling optimistic. But no dice. "A chip needs to be replaced and we can't do it", he said. Oh, well. Our hotel is located right above 'The Phone Store', an Indian chain. Dave began researching new phones available in India.

French Glory
 
Per wiki: A French colony until 1954, this coastal town retains a number of colonial buildings, churches, statues, and systematic town planning, as well as urban architecture of the local Tamil style. As such the town has been dubbed "The Europe of India". The town struggles to preserve what little remains of the ambiance once created by this unique mix of cultural heritage

Our hotel is not far from the French Quarter where little jewels of Boutique hotels and ̈Guesthouses hide between crumbling buildings and torn up streets. 
 
We made it to the rocky shore of the Bay of Bengal. We got a kick out of watching the locals picnicking and posing for pictures. Dave to was requested a few times to pose "with the boys". We had an lovely fresh seafood lunch at "The Club" apparently "the" place for locals to be seen. 
 
Preserving the Ambiance
 
Disturbing to us is the total lack of pride to "Keep India Clean". The amount of trash just tossed around is mindbogglingly and by no means is strictly a Pondicherry thing. Pondy isn't immune to the Indian custome of pissing everywhere and anywhere. So much for.. preserving what little remains of the ambiance.'
 
....It was the last day of Pongal (Harvest Festival) and a 3 km long market was taking place down a Mahat Magandi Road.

The bike was returned and fixed and set us back 450Rs including a new mirror. What a deal. 

January 19 - Around Pondy

For breakfast, we had the choice of Indian or Continental and was delivered to our room. Our choice the Continental consists of a juice and toast with a veg omelette, not bad. 

Everyday, fresh flower petals are used to create colorful patterns in the lobby. The location of the hotel is about a kilometer from the beach. Walkable. 

There was the sound of trumpets and drums coming from just beyond our line of sight when we lean over our balcony. And we watch a bamboo structure being erected by several men on the street below us. It turned out to be in preparation for a funeral for a neighbor who died yesterday. Lastly, they decorated the structure with marigolds and roses. Garlands of flowers are heaped on top of a bicycle cart