15th February

Made contact with our driver "Kartic" at 10am and set off on our tour of south india. First stop was at the side of a main roadway to pick up all the hotel vouchers from the travel agent. It became clear that the driver thought we were going straight to Pondicherry, but our internet itinerary had said we were to call at a set of temples at Mamallapuram. These were a set of three temples close to the shoreline that had been carved by the Chola kings from solid rock.














Very hot work visiting temples looking for shady places to best view. We then went on to Pondicherry to a lovely hotel called "The Promenade", where after we had settled in we went far a walk along the sea front, taking in statues of Ghandi, and then stopping for a coffee at "le cafe" a 24 hr cafe and coffee shop.





At last a perfect cup of coffee, most of the coffee we have come across so far is the right colour, but doesn't taste of anything and is usually only luke warm. Pondicherry used to be ruled by the French and like Goa with the Portugese they have left their influence on everything including street names and restaurant menus. On our walkabout we spotted a notice for cultural dancing for the following night so agreed to come back tomorrow and then eat locally at one of the French restaurants. Back to the hotel where we had a delicious buffet style evening meal before retiring for the night. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Pondicherry