Exploring French Streets in Pondicherry

Puducherry, formely known as Pondicherry is a Union Territory of India.It was colonialised by French East India Company for a long time and later became the Union territory of India. I won't bore from history ,You can learn more about its history from below link.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pondicherry


Pondicherry is a perfect weekend getaway for a beach lover as well as a perfect spot for party rockers.
 

French Streets

 

Attractions of Pondicherry

1.  Matrimandir, Auroville

Auroville ,named after Sri Aurobindo, is a Meditation center where practitioners from all over the world come to find serenity and peace.It was founded in 1968 by "Mirra Alfassa".The purpose of Auroville is to realize human unity.

Auroville (City of Dawn) has its origins in the French language, "aurore" meaning dawn and "ville" meaning city. 

This place attracts tourists because of a large Globe shaped ,golden disc covered over the temple.

Timings: Mon-Sat 9.30 AM to 5 PM, Sun 9.30 AM to 1.30 PM only
Entry fee: Free

Matrimandir,Auroville

 

 

 2. Rock Beach

Rock Beach as named after rocks lying around the beach is a beautiful promenade beach covered by streets full of restaurants and one can take a walk along the  beach or do jogging in morning/evening.

One can sight a statue of Mahatma Gandhi in center of beach and jogging area.
This is connected to french streets of pondicherry. So if you are looking for the french architecture and vibrant hues enjoy the beauty there.

Entry Fee: N/A

Rock Beach

3.Paradise Beach

The most happening place of Pondicherry.You will forget all your pain and worries and daily life chaos when  you just enter paradise beach.Its a beach in middle of an Island.

You have to reach Chunnambar Boat house to take a boat/ferry for Paradise beach and rest you need to explore.

Entry fee: 300 per person for boat ride(Pick up + Drop)
Timings: 9 Am to 5 Pm 

Paradise Beach

4.The Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

A magnificent architectural beautiful church just near to railway station.One of the structure similar to European Churches.

Timings: 6:00 AM - 10:30 PM

5. Serenity Beach

If you are looking for a place for Scuba diving near to chennai ,then head toward Serenity beach.This is not a commercialized place,go at your own risk. Though I have never been to this place but herd a lot about it.You can easily spot fishermen on Serenity beach.

The Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

6. Party at night

Pondicherry has the cheapest booze available,the perks of being a Union Territory. The taxes are lower in Goa and Pondicherry .So you can " Party hard and enjoy harder" while in Pondicherry.

Promenade at Rock Beach

But make sure you don't carry any liquor while returning as its illegal.

Enjoy and let me know your experiences and queries in comment section below.
 
For more info Checkout my Youtube Vlog.

Pondicherry Travel Vlog in Youtube

Thank you for reading this Blog.

Love💕

 Swati Sandhu

The Morning I saw Frozen Lake in Sikkim

It was 4 in the morning and the alarm started buzzing.I snoozed it 3 times but the fourth time I had a thought that striked my mind "yeah!!!That is the day I have been waiting for so long,when I am going to see the snow,the frozen lake for the very first time in my life".After all I am in Lachen and it enroutes to the mystical Gurudongmar Lake that's the Highest Altitude Lake in World.

The Gurudongmar Lake is situated in the enchanted land of North Sikkim. Me and my friends planned an 6 days itinerary for Sikkim.

I started my journey from Chennai to Sikkim in April,2018.After a long 6 Hrs connecting flight to Bagdora Airport.I finally reached Bagdogra Airport. This is the nearest Airport to Gangtok as Sikkim airport is not yet functional.We took a personal cab from Bagdogra to Sikkim.I had already booked package from a travel agency so they had sent for the pickup.It usually takes 4-5 hrs to reach Gangtok.

Enroute to Gurudongmar Lake

 

We reached around 8 PM and after having we had our beauty sleep as we need to be prepared for next 8 days expedition.

Day 1: Gangtok to Lachen

We started around 7 AM after having our breakfast for North Sikkim which is approx 110 KM.On our way we visited the beautiful view of Bhim Nala which has crystal clear green water.I was awestruck to see clean and pure water for the first time. My driver(Bikash) told me that "Pure sikkim me aise hi saaf pani hai.Hum log ise ganda nahi krte hai".Next we went up to Seven Sisters Waterfall as by the name itself it falls down through seven steps and is a kind of stream of water when we visited.

Then we headed toward North Sikkim having our lunch on the way and enjoying the views from my car window.We reached around 4 PM and checked in to our hotel.I must skip the hotel name here as it was not at all good.

Next we had our evening party at this chilled out place @ingredients bar where I tried flavoured hooka for the first time and it was worth it.Please visit the place as its super cool and it just made my day after a tiring journey.

Day 2: Lachen-->Gurudongmar Lake

As I told you earlier my next destination was Gurudongmar Lake at an elevation of 5,183 m.It is one of  the highest lakes in World and India.We had an amazing view and my first snow experience on the way at Chopta valley. We continued our journey to the lake and reached there .As soon as we reached it started to snowfall and I am the luckiest person ever who got to see the snowfall while we came here for the snow. It was a bit hard to breathe there as the oxygen level was low.

It is a lake which is named after Guru Padmasambhava, which is also known as Guru Rinpoche, founder of Tibetan Buddhism who visited the Lake in the 8th century. It is a lake which is considered sacred by both Buddhists and Sikhs. 

So we packed up ourselves as soon as possible and came back to Lachen from where we headed to Lachung after lunch.

Gurudongmar Lake

On our way we visited Bhemwa falls which is a 3 step waterfall.Then finally we reached Lachung.Its a 2 hours journey.

Day 3: Lachung-->Yumthang Valley-->Zero Point

Next day,early in the morning at 6 AM we started for zero point which is the end point of India an further we have china borders and there is no civilation on zero point. Again we had an amazing chilly and blissful experience of sow where we played like an 8 year kid in snow for almost 2 hours.

Then,we headed back and on the way had a view of Yumthang Valley which is actually known for the variety of beautiful flowers that it bears.Now its time to head back to gangtok and we are in the Normal temperatures as for last 2 days we were in 4-5 degree celcius which was not at all normal for my body as I live in a place where 35 degree celcius is avg temp.

Day 4  : Gangtok--> East Sikkim

After taking rest in night we headed to cover east region of sikkim which includes Nathula Pass,Tmosgo Lake, Baba Harbajan Singh Shrine and Silk route.Point to remember is you need to take permision from Sikkim government to visit Nathula Pass one day before and it remains closed on Tuesday.One can enjoy the mystic snowy peaks and the reflection of these peaks in Tsmogo lake is just fascinating.

 Day 5:  Gangtok

Today is the day when we are going to cover local sighseeing in Gangtok.

I am just going to give you a quick overview of places which I covered.

After breakfast start for a full day trip of Gangtok city covering Tashi view point , Hanuman tok , Ganesh tok ,Flower show, Cottage industry and handicraft centre, Institute of Tibetology, Dro-dul chorten, Enchey monastery & Banjakhri falls (maximum 6-7 hours).

Day 6: Namchi Excursions 

 This was my last day in sikkim and it was a peaceful day where I covered Samdruptse & Siddheshwar dham (chardham) which is worth visiting in namchi. Enroute visited the spectacular outer view of Temi tea garden - the only tea garden in sikkim region.


I really enjoyed my sikkim trip and will advice all of my readers out here to must visit this enchanting place and enjoy the mystical beauty which it beholds.
I tried enough to keep it short but still there is lot of information that is yet to be shred.Please leave a comment for any queries and suggestion.You can watch my video on sikkim at my youtube channel.

Watch my Sikkim vlog on Youtube here 


Love 💕
Swati Sandhu