Pondicherry

Sunday Giselle and I visited Pondicherry--a former French 'colony'. I'm not exactly sure, but I think the first governor bought it from the ruling king at the time. Our guide there was much better. His english was very good, and interestingly he was a Catholic. I think this colored some of his commments a bit, but he was very gracious and tried to point out how well all three major religions (Catholic, Muslim and majority Hindu) worked and lived together. He even took us down one side street and showed us the houses by religion, all intermingled.

I wasn't prepared for a guide in Pondicherry, but it was nice to have one. The itinerary wasn't very clear that we would get one there. I didn't really understand why the driver was in a hurry to get there in the morning, until we stopped for the guide. He was probably the best we have had so far.

He showed us the local architecture, an Ashram-where I didn't get many pictures, and the market where I did get a lot...
and here you can see the influence of the French. They didn't like to buy food off the ground...

We also saw a local museum which had art / historical stuff on the ground floor--which I enjoyed, and a French living area on the upper floor, which Giselle enjoyed. We also saw "White Town" which is the former French area, and is fairly grey now-that is the color of the Ashram which has bought many of the houses. We went along the beach, but didn't get out... We went to the beach by the resort. And we saw a museum dedicated to a local freedom fighter. And the local Cathedral.

I think one of the best things though was the Dunes Eco-resort. It is eco-friendly. They promote saving water, not using electricity when possible. They have an electric car for taking people to the bungalows, instead of a gas engine one. And best of all, they support several charities with their work, from Tsunami relief, to land recovery with Biodynamic means, to local vocational training, some of which they do on the resort itself (Catering). They serve locally grown organic food when possible, much grown there on the resort grounds. There is also some awesome wildlife.