Namaste, India

Dear Thailand,

So I think we need to talk. I never meant to go behind your back like this. It was never supposed to hurt you. It's not that you're not enough, I just thought we needed to take a bit of a break. I hope you're not too upset with me. You know I'll always love you.

With hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive me,

Chelsie

For those of you that haven't noticed that I have been blowing up Facebook with photos, Pada and I cheated a bit on Thailand with a five day trip to India over Mahidol's holiday break! We flew right into Chennai last Thursday night, made a pit stop to get some rest in a hostel near the airport, and set off second star to the right and straight on 'till morning to Pondicherry early the next day. Pondicherry is a city, an urban agglomeration and a municipality in Puducherry district in the Indianunion territory of Puducherry. It is known as Pondy to the locals and a good time to those of us who traveled there. We even found out that Pondicherry was the a set for Life of Pi!

We decided to stay in the French Quarter of Pondicherry in a eensy-weensy hotel right on the beach. The city has many colonial buildings, churches, temples, and statues which, combined with the systematic town planning and planned French style avenues, still preserve much of its European ambiance, which was one of my favorite parts about the entire trip! Here, we were really able to relax and enjoy Indian culture, and even have quaint breakfasts at a local cafe on the beach before diving head first into some authentic Indian food. Warning: too much marsala has negative effects.

Above all, the best part of the trip was getting a tad bit lost on our way to get henna tattoo. Naturally, Pada and I were dazed and confused when we heard that the henna artist was not at home. We found ourselves in the front living room of an old Indian woman waiting for the artist to pick up her daughter from school. The time waiting was a little nerve wrecking, as we had no idea if we were even in the right place, but when the artist did return, we were able to spend some very necessary relaxation time in her home as she and her apprentice gave Pada and me henna tattoos. After a few hours when our tattoos were complete, the woman, Magdaline, offered to make us lunch if we would stay. The meal was outstanding, and it was an experience I will cherish forever!

Though India is a complete flip flop from Thai culture from food, to accepted ways of dressing, I really feel that our time in India was a wonderful learning experience as we walked the streets, talked with the locals, explored markets, ate Indian food and wandered the Indian beaches. India is such an enormous country that 5 days just wasn't enough to even scrape the surface of what the country has to offer! With that said, see you again soon, India!