We & a friend of my husband, had a complimentary offer from Zest- Mahindra holidays for a 2 night/ 3 days trip to any of their locations. Although this would have been our third trip, we chose Pondicherry.
We started from home at 8.00A.M. on Saturday morning. The road till Hosur was bad, because of the flyover work. After that it was a breeze. We were mostly driving at 100/120, because of the good roads from Krishnagiri. Since the start was late, we were already hungry by the time we came close to Krishnagiri. And we were lucky to stop at a BP Bunk at Chinnar for fuelling up our Car. Why lucky?? Coz there was A2B, Adyar Anand Bhavan. We rushed inside and ordered for Pongal, vada, masala dosa and 2 cups of Coffee. All of it at Rs.98/-, and the food was yum. Those travelling on this road, can safely stop over at A2B. Rest of the restaurants/ hotels you would find on this road would only be dhabas, and one would think twice before stopping over for some grub there. After this was our non-stop journey towards Pondicherry. Although the roads are good throughout, speeding became difficult at times, because of the villages that come on the way. there is always a fear of someone/ some animal crossing the roads suddenly. Then there are are cyclists & motor cyclists, who love to drive in the middle of the road. The other part was, we did not have many boards which showed the directions towards Pondicherry. Reached Tiruvannamalai, and then got lost by taking the wrong turn. We must have deviated about 15-20 kms, through all the villages possible..and then joined back the main road with the help of some people who gave us the right direction to reach the by-pass road.
Our booking was at Big Beach- Cuddalore Road- Pondicherry. Reached the place at around 3.00P.M. Lunch was at a place close to the resort. We were happy to see the resort, beautifully done. Welcome drink made of Kokum, I think, was refreshing after the journey.
At the reception
The Lounge
Restaurant Area
The Bar
The reception area
Walk to the beach
The Beach
The Natural Pond
The Rooms
Everything about the place was good, the lobby with huge cane basket chairs...looked like Coracle with cushion, these were single seaters, then came the sofas and the restaurant area and then then coracle chairs again, which could seat 3-4 people. Not much spent on the walls of the place, but enough spent on doing up the interiors, the lightings, the fans, the rooms, the bathrooms.
The Inside of the Room
Room had been done up really well, with comfortable bed & LCD TV, perfect lighting & A/C. The bathroom had an open shower, which was closed for others, but open till a pebble area. It was obvious that a lot of care had been taken to make the visitors comfortable. Evening was by the pool(open till 9.00P.M.), with a bar attached, perfectly lit. Around 8.30, it started to rain heavily, and we were stuck at the pool without an umbrella. Called up the reception and asked them to send across two umbrellas. That didnt really help, coz by the time we reached the restaurant, we were half wet. The menu for Buffet- dinner was awesome. Infact it was lovely on all three days. If I was a Non-veggie, then i would have had even more choice :-). Anyways the veggie food was more than enough to let me rest for the night. Got to taste the finest of the desserts during the stay. Breakfasts again were heavy with lots of variety, with made to order Dosa's, omlettes or even scrambled egg. Fruit juice, aerated drinks, Milk, Tea/ Coffee, Cornflakes with 3 different varities, Vada, sambar, Boiled beans, Mashed potato, Idlies, Bread toast, boiled egg, Cut fruits, Poori on one day with Alu bhaji, Upma...and some more that I dont remember now.
Saturday we just chilled out near the pool and dining area. Sunday morning, we walked to the beach. The sea was rough, and daughter was too scared to enter the water. We just sat by watching the waves and the crawling crabs. After the beach session, we had our breakdast and daughter, husband & his friend decided to go to the pool again, I decided to stay back in the room and relax. They came back after 3 hours fully tanned! Freshened up and headed straight for lunch. Post lunch we decided to go to Pondy city to do some shopping. We visited the Aurobindo Ashram at 3.30P.M. and walked over to the Sri Manakula Vinayagar devasthanam. There was a huge rush, but we managed to get a good darshan of Lord Ganesha. When we came out, we saw "Lakshmi", the temple elephant standing outside with her Mahout. She had nice silver anklets on, and was blessing those who offered her coins. The last time I visited this temple, I had picked up small stone carved Ganesha for all my team members, but this time, I did not find the carving done well, so skipped it.
Then we drove towards M.G Road & Nehru street to start with our shopping. We walked into Casablanca to take a look at the new arrivals. Opposite that was Auroville store, spent almost 1 hr shopping for all the incense sticks, T-shirts, Spa soaps & salts. The place was loaded with all kinds of personalised gifting items. Then we walked into the Hidesign factory outlet and picked up 3 handbags, one for self, one for my mum and another for my mum-in-law. Good designs at a good price. This time although we had decided to pick up a leather jacket for my husband, he didnt really like any of the designs. Last time we had managed to get a good Tan color jacket for Rs.3500/-. By now we had spent so much time shopping that it was time for us to go back to the resort. We cancelled our plans to visit Auroville. We had visited it last time..and this time I was not in a position to walk too much. Did little bit of street shopping for my daughter and walked back to our Car. Dinner was at the resort.
Next morning husband took a walk at the beach alone...and after freshning up we moved to have our breakfast. At 11.00 or so, we started back from Pondy to Bangalore and reached Bangalore at 6.00P.M. The drive was tiring this time, coz there were no sign boards from Pondy to Bangalore, or even to Tiruvannamalali. Even fork on the road we came to, we had to stop and ask the passerby for the route. Somewhere near Gingy Fort, I had seen a milestone which read Bangalore...but again after that the next milestone we saw was only at Krishnagiri.
So people, travelling on this road, better be open to asking your route every time you are in doubt, else carry a proper roadmap, else you will end up driving extra kilometers. This was our third trip to Pondy, even then we were in doubt all the time...so you can imagine :-)
Overall a good trip...a good break from our daily chores...the water, the resort, the shopping, it was all so relaxing.
We started from home at 8.00A.M. on Saturday morning. The road till Hosur was bad, because of the flyover work. After that it was a breeze. We were mostly driving at 100/120, because of the good roads from Krishnagiri. Since the start was late, we were already hungry by the time we came close to Krishnagiri. And we were lucky to stop at a BP Bunk at Chinnar for fuelling up our Car. Why lucky?? Coz there was A2B, Adyar Anand Bhavan. We rushed inside and ordered for Pongal, vada, masala dosa and 2 cups of Coffee. All of it at Rs.98/-, and the food was yum. Those travelling on this road, can safely stop over at A2B. Rest of the restaurants/ hotels you would find on this road would only be dhabas, and one would think twice before stopping over for some grub there. After this was our non-stop journey towards Pondicherry. Although the roads are good throughout, speeding became difficult at times, because of the villages that come on the way. there is always a fear of someone/ some animal crossing the roads suddenly. Then there are are cyclists & motor cyclists, who love to drive in the middle of the road. The other part was, we did not have many boards which showed the directions towards Pondicherry. Reached Tiruvannamalai, and then got lost by taking the wrong turn. We must have deviated about 15-20 kms, through all the villages possible..and then joined back the main road with the help of some people who gave us the right direction to reach the by-pass road.
Our booking was at Big Beach- Cuddalore Road- Pondicherry. Reached the place at around 3.00P.M. Lunch was at a place close to the resort. We were happy to see the resort, beautifully done. Welcome drink made of Kokum, I think, was refreshing after the journey.
At the reception
The Lounge
Restaurant Area
The Bar
The reception area
Walk to the beach
The Beach
The Natural Pond
The Rooms
Everything about the place was good, the lobby with huge cane basket chairs...looked like Coracle with cushion, these were single seaters, then came the sofas and the restaurant area and then then coracle chairs again, which could seat 3-4 people. Not much spent on the walls of the place, but enough spent on doing up the interiors, the lightings, the fans, the rooms, the bathrooms.
The Inside of the Room
Room had been done up really well, with comfortable bed & LCD TV, perfect lighting & A/C. The bathroom had an open shower, which was closed for others, but open till a pebble area. It was obvious that a lot of care had been taken to make the visitors comfortable. Evening was by the pool(open till 9.00P.M.), with a bar attached, perfectly lit. Around 8.30, it started to rain heavily, and we were stuck at the pool without an umbrella. Called up the reception and asked them to send across two umbrellas. That didnt really help, coz by the time we reached the restaurant, we were half wet. The menu for Buffet- dinner was awesome. Infact it was lovely on all three days. If I was a Non-veggie, then i would have had even more choice :-). Anyways the veggie food was more than enough to let me rest for the night. Got to taste the finest of the desserts during the stay. Breakfasts again were heavy with lots of variety, with made to order Dosa's, omlettes or even scrambled egg. Fruit juice, aerated drinks, Milk, Tea/ Coffee, Cornflakes with 3 different varities, Vada, sambar, Boiled beans, Mashed potato, Idlies, Bread toast, boiled egg, Cut fruits, Poori on one day with Alu bhaji, Upma...and some more that I dont remember now.
Saturday we just chilled out near the pool and dining area. Sunday morning, we walked to the beach. The sea was rough, and daughter was too scared to enter the water. We just sat by watching the waves and the crawling crabs. After the beach session, we had our breakdast and daughter, husband & his friend decided to go to the pool again, I decided to stay back in the room and relax. They came back after 3 hours fully tanned! Freshened up and headed straight for lunch. Post lunch we decided to go to Pondy city to do some shopping. We visited the Aurobindo Ashram at 3.30P.M. and walked over to the Sri Manakula Vinayagar devasthanam. There was a huge rush, but we managed to get a good darshan of Lord Ganesha. When we came out, we saw "Lakshmi", the temple elephant standing outside with her Mahout. She had nice silver anklets on, and was blessing those who offered her coins. The last time I visited this temple, I had picked up small stone carved Ganesha for all my team members, but this time, I did not find the carving done well, so skipped it.
Then we drove towards M.G Road & Nehru street to start with our shopping. We walked into Casablanca to take a look at the new arrivals. Opposite that was Auroville store, spent almost 1 hr shopping for all the incense sticks, T-shirts, Spa soaps & salts. The place was loaded with all kinds of personalised gifting items. Then we walked into the Hidesign factory outlet and picked up 3 handbags, one for self, one for my mum and another for my mum-in-law. Good designs at a good price. This time although we had decided to pick up a leather jacket for my husband, he didnt really like any of the designs. Last time we had managed to get a good Tan color jacket for Rs.3500/-. By now we had spent so much time shopping that it was time for us to go back to the resort. We cancelled our plans to visit Auroville. We had visited it last time..and this time I was not in a position to walk too much. Did little bit of street shopping for my daughter and walked back to our Car. Dinner was at the resort.
Next morning husband took a walk at the beach alone...and after freshning up we moved to have our breakfast. At 11.00 or so, we started back from Pondy to Bangalore and reached Bangalore at 6.00P.M. The drive was tiring this time, coz there were no sign boards from Pondy to Bangalore, or even to Tiruvannamalali. Even fork on the road we came to, we had to stop and ask the passerby for the route. Somewhere near Gingy Fort, I had seen a milestone which read Bangalore...but again after that the next milestone we saw was only at Krishnagiri.
So people, travelling on this road, better be open to asking your route every time you are in doubt, else carry a proper roadmap, else you will end up driving extra kilometers. This was our third trip to Pondy, even then we were in doubt all the time...so you can imagine :-)
Overall a good trip...a good break from our daily chores...the water, the resort, the shopping, it was all so relaxing.
