Stacy Does India

Our trip began with a 1 hour flight from Hyderabad to Chennai in Tamil Nadu, one of India's southern states. Once there, we were picked up by our driver and began the three hour car ride to Pondicherry. We stayed at a nice hotel on the outskirts of town, a bit further from the beach than we preferred, but a nice place considering we booked and planned this trip just 3 days in advance!

On Saturday we hired an autorickshaw driver named Mygesh to show us around town. This was everyone's first ride in a rickshaw -- let's just say, it was an experience! He took us to the beach, the Gandhi statue, shops, a museum, and the botanical gardens (where we saw MONKEYS)! It was a full day of sightseeing, picture-taking, and shopping. After cleaning up, we had dinner at a rooftop restaurant overlooking the Bay of Bengal.

Sunday morning we had breakfast at our hotel, and called good ol' Mygesh again to show us around some more. He took us to a temple, a monument in Auroville that resembles Epcot Center, shops in the French Quarter, and lunch at Hotel de L'Orient. We had delicious french onion soup and salads. After lunch we quickly headed back to the hotel to pack our things, and head to Mamallapuram.