Day 85 (Sat 30 Sep) - Pondicherry / Trichy

Up early and skipped breakfast so that we could get to Trichy as quickly as possible. It is some 6 off hours away by bus.

Got a rickshaw to the bus station; flaming hot already.

Sarb tried to find a bus to Trichy and soon discovered why he was finding it more difficult than usual. He was pronouncing Trichy as 'Tricky' instead of 'Treechy'. This minor faux pas corrected we soon found our bus.

The bus journey itself was fairly painless with lovely views ( [1], [2] ). Arrived in the hot and dusty Trichy bus station and staggered off to our nearby hotel Meega.

Checked in and lugged our bags up. Discovered we had made a mistake of not insisting on a western toilet, hence we had the squatter. Too tired to change rooms so went downstairs to the hotel restaurant for some food.

Sarb had some idlies and Jo some noodles. Watched interestedly as the locals all ate off large rectangular shaped banana leaves. They would pour various curries from pots onto different parts of the leaf and using the centrally sited mound of rice make a small ball of food that they would pop into their mouths. Quite elegantly done.

For dinner we walked to a posh hotel Jenny's Residency. Had a drink in their Wild West saloon bar and then a buffet dinner.