On a Friday nite, me and my friends Sud & VJ suddenly planned to go to Pondicherry, the UT 130kms from Chennai. We reached Thiruvanmiyur, the local bus depot of Chennai but could not find any bus to Pondy. So we decided to take a cab to reach before midnight. The East Coast Road, commonly known as ECR is a smooth ride. It starts from Chennai & runs all along the eastern coastline down south till Kanyakumari. The night's cool breeze and shoreline make the journey really refreshing. It is also prone to accidents owing to the narrow width of the road.
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| Me @ Rocky Beach after reaching Pondy |
We reached Pondy around 2:00 in the night. Checked into a hotel and took rest. The next morning, our first spot was Paradise Beach at Paradise Island. The island was some 30kms south of Pondy. Pondy is also inhabited by French people as the city was mostly developed by the French during French rule here. One could find many French hotels and resorts here. The city homes are also developed in French style.
Boat rides take you to the Paradise Island, so we hired a speed boat. The boat ride was thrilling and the rider gave us goosebumps at times when he tried to tilt the boat sideways.
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| boat rides to Paradise Island |
Sun bathing and water sports are major attractions here. The island is ideal for beach enthusiasts as it provides nets and fishing rods too.
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| people taking shelter under Palm trees.. |
After getting ourselves entirely soaked in ocean water, we headed back for Promenade Beach.
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| way back from Paradise Island.. |
The Promenade Beach is the largest and main beach of Pondicherry. Its also known as Rocky Beach.
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| Stretch of Promenade or Rocky Beach |
It was night before we reached the shores of Rocky Beach. It is also one of the most populated beaches of Pondicherry and traffic on the road is blocked after 6 P.M. for pedestrians.
We didn't go to many places as we were the first timers there. We had our dinner at one of the finest French restaurants. So after strolling on the Promenade Beach, we came back to our hotel.
The next morning when I woke up early, I had one of the most beautiful sunrises in front of my eyes. The view from our hotel balcony was fantastic and refreshing.
With that morning, we bid goodbye to Pondy and made sure we will visit this French habitat again with lot more excitement and fun to discover.
