Sweating With an Amazing View in Puducherry

A view of Puducherry with the Bay of Bengal in the background

The former capital of French India and full of amazing architecture, Puducherry was a must-see spot for us. After our awful semi-sleeper bus ride got in at 5:30am we embarked on an hour long auto rickshaw hunt for a place to stay in our price range. We finally found a hellhole that was so dirty we used our own sheet and so so infested with mosquitoes that we had to sleep in pants and long shirts, despite the immense tropical heat.

Frustrated with the night’s events, we almost left that same day, but after a relaxing – if not unbearably hot – walk around town we found a rooftop room with a panoramic view of town and the Bay of Bengal. Our room was teeny, the ceiling in the bathroom was so low that you had to bend at the waist to walk around it and the toilet was so close to the wall that you had to sit sideways to use it. Still, the view made all of this, as well as the high price tag, completely deal with’able.

Trying to fit into the teeny bathroom in our hotel in Puducherry

During our walk around town we discovered that the Puducherry Festival was going on all week and were treated to a display of local dancing by children on a stage. Check out this video.

We also tried to find some good French food but were completely unimpressed by a pair of menus and wound up going to Pizza Hut instead. Sure, we felt dirty eating American fast food in India, but man did it taste like home!

The next day we ventured into the heat again to wander through town and run some errands, but our plans changed when we ran into Heidi, who we had met on the bus a few nights earlier. Along with her friend Yuri we spent the rest of the day relaxing on our breezy rooftop, getting some amazing local food and watching the sunset. All in all I would recommend the town to anyone but be ready to sweat.