Day 81, Pondicherry [Friday 22nd February]
Previous day: Day 80, Chidambaram [Thursday 21st February 2008]
Next day: Day 82, Pondicherry [Saturday 23rd February]
We take a delightful walking tour of the 'French Town' area, taking in the alliance Francais, Hotel de Ville, Aurobindo ashram and many other finely preserved or restored buildings.
We have lunch at a rustic little place cooking pizzas in a wood-fired oven. We see some of the confusing 'Farm Fest 2008' at the Botanic Gardens, a little walk outside of town, where the Forestry Department are displaying foxes and monkeys in tiny cages.
The organisers have decided that the best way to present an agricultural show in a natural setting is to segregate each section using ugly, opaque corrugated tin sheeting and play screeching music and unintelligble information announcements through loud, crackly, trebly speakers.
After a long, hot day we treat ourselves to dinner in the gorgeously restored L'Orient Hotel, part of the Neemrana chain. It's an old French/Tamil family's home. In a candlelit open-air courtyard we eat creole chicken, gazpacho, salmon mousse, chicken in mushroom sauce, a bottle of Indian wine and chocolate mousse for desert. It's all absolutely delicious, and the setting is magical. It's relatively expensive, but Pondicherry is quite expensive anyway compared to the rest of Tamil Nadu. Kate said she probably wouldn't drink more than one glass of the Indian white wine, though.
Next day: Day 82, Pondicherry [Saturday 23rd February]
Previous day: Day 80, Chidambaram [Thursday 21st February 2008]