April 19, 3:07 am, Pondicherry
Just started puking my guts out again. Lovely. I want to go home.
10:44 pm, Vellore
Back in Vellore. Home sweet home. Hardly. Coming back after being away
to Mamallapuram and Pondy, I'm reminded what a crowded, busy town this
is. It's really not the most pleasant town.
We spent the morning and early afternoon seeing some of the sights of
Pondicherry. I didn't feel too sick in the morning. I really think I
just threw up because my bowels aren't moving (as a result of the
immodium I took the other day). I must be backed up. But getting it
all out last night felt sort of good, after it was over.
So this morning we first walked to Le Cafe. It's this nice little cafe
right on the sea wall. Very nice place. I drank lemonade. Then we
wandered over to the main Ashram place. It's where Sri Arubindo and
The Mother are both entombed/enshrined. Their tomb was very
intricately covered with a flower petal design. The whole place had
lots of flowers growing all over. It was pretty. Arubindo and The
Mother are apparently the founders of this Ashram thing. It's some
sort of philosophy that combines yoga and modern science? Anyway, it
was very peaceful. People were meditating and praying near the tomb/
shrine.
After that we walked through this other temple that we sort of
stumbled upon. There was an elephant that blessed you if you gave it
food or money. It was awesome. You give him something and then sort of
bow your head and he touches the top of your head with his trunk. Not
sure what the blessing is for... to get married? To be fertile? I'd
really just like to stop vomiting!
Next we walked to coffee.com. This was a really cool little Internet
cafe. They even had wifi, so I got to just use my iPod touch. My can
of sprite also was nice for the stomach.
After that we walked over to this old catholic church that was quite
pretty and then went to have lunch at this place called satsanga, I
think. Katherine had really been wanting to go there. It was a pretty
good place. Jerry was disaapointed because his shrimp cocktail wasn't
what he expected, but everyone else was pleased with their meal. They
had a lot of French seafood dishes. I ate a small bowl of chicken
soup. Very tasty.
By the time we finished up there we figured it was about time to head
back to Vellore. We ended up just paying for a taxi all the way. Rs
2400 for AC. We were able to fit all 5 of us, 2 in front and 3 in
back. It was an old ambassador model, "Indian Benz", according to our
driver. We had to stop about every hour because the car would be close
to overheating. It was amusing. He would get all this water and just
dump it all over the engine and in whatever holes he could find. But
about 4 hours of bumpy roads later, we made it back.
Tonight I'm staying by myself for the first time. The girls and Neil
and Jerry are over at this new place. Seemed pretty nice, but I wanted
a little space and privacy for a change. This place is not great
though. It's okay, but I might get tired of no AC and no shower head
or sit-down toilet. If I get sick of it, I may just go stay with them
again. We'll see.
I finally did some laundry tonight. Just hand-washed a few things in
the bucket in the bathroom. I've got a headache right now, maybe just
from the heat and the travel all afternoon on bumpy roads. I think
I'll go to sleep before too long. Tomorrow morning we start CHAD.
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