There are many good places to eat near my hostel. I went to the bakery/restaurant this morning for breakfast. It was half-way between my hostel and a paper factory, my next destination. The paper factory was fascinating. I got a guided tour. The factory uses recycled material, such as paper and cotton. Green waste, fallen … Continue reading / view photos Auroville paper factory
Category: Culture
Cafe days
After quite a lot of activity, I’ve had a couple of quiet days without any travelling. Fortunately, there are several restaurants and cafes near the hostel. On the way to Conscious Cafe, I saw this shop selling sculptured wooden ornaments and furniture. The cafe itself was expensive by Indian standards. I had a Mediterranean platter, … Continue reading / view photos Cafe days
Two cows queueing for a pizza
My room in Puducherry was overlooking a busy main road. I’d decided not to extend my stay there. Also, there wasn’t much to see in Puducherry. I’d already seen the French quarter, the one thing on my list. My preference was to move to a guesthouse on the Auroville campus. There was lots going on … Continue reading / view photos Two cows queueing for a pizza
Daytrip to Auroville
I’d bought a wholemeal baguette yesterday in the French part of Puducherry. This morning, I had it with Marmite for breakfast. In Bangalore, someone had told me about a unique community set up in the 1960s called Auroville. She stayed on the campus for a month. Auroville is an experiment in a new type of … Continue reading / view photos Daytrip to Auroville
French Puducherry
I got to Chennai Egmore train station in good time. The train didn’t. We waited and waited for the platform indicator to appear. A regular user said it’s normally platform four or five. We waited. It was 20 minutes late. Finally, the platform came up. Platform 9. The train was nowhere to be seen. We … Continue reading / view photos French Puducherry
Window shopping in Chennai
Today was a lazy day for me. I left the guest house at about 3.30pm and went to T. Nagar. It’s now “considered the largest shopping district in India by revenue”. There are many shops selling saris and jewellery. To get away from the heat, I decided to check out another shopping area, VR Chennai, a … Continue reading / view photos Window shopping in Chennai
Going east to Chennai
After packing, I had breakfast and was again joined by my new Swiss friend. There was a Belgian who was moving to India to teach. We had a good chat, mainly about nutrition. We were remarkably similar in our eating habits. All of us liked to eat real food and cook our own meals. I … Continue reading / view photos Going east to Chennai
We also have life, do not touch and hurt
On the way back to the hostel last night, I bought some decent muesli and soya milk. I had this for breakfast and got talking to a Swiss woman who’d been travelling for over a year. She was eating dragon fruit and let me taste some. I was expecting it to be tangy, but it … Continue reading / view photos We also have life, do not touch and hurt
Tipu Sultan, Bull Temple, and market
I identified a few places to visit in the south-west of Bangalore. The first was Tipu Sultan’s Palace. This was reached easily using Bangalore’s two metro lines: purple and green. A taxi driver told me a third line was being built. Tipu Sultan (1750-1799) was a ruler of the Kingdon of Mysore. He was responsible … Continue reading / view photos Tipu Sultan, Bull Temple, and market
Culture, commerce, and coffee
I had booked the apartment for three days. The area was fine, but it was quite residential. There was not much happening there. So I decided to move somewhere more central. I’d also discovered that Bangalore has a permanent traffic jam. Getting anywhere by auto or taxi takes a long time. I needed to be … Continue reading / view photos Culture, commerce, and coffee