Day 0
One fine Thursday afternoon, Gui gui called me. He said, weekend, biking, tranquebar. Thought we had a very less discussion about this the week before, I was not sure how does it work. Surprisingly, every time, unplanned things work far better than the planned ones :)
It was almost a week, me and gui gui did not meet. So, we never had any time to discuss on what we want to do. But, we were sure that we want to invite friends! We called up as much people as possible. Since it was a last minute request and many had an exhausting week, it left with only me and Gui.
Day 1
And there came the Supervillie. It took few minutes to convince Suja too. At last 4 roadies set for the unplanned biking. The girls came by car to Pondy. Gui and myself, left around 7PM from Link road (SNR) and reached pondy around 9:45PM. Our first stop was not hard to guess. After a quick shopping, Guillaume's college friend was in Pondy and we met him at le space. After a good talk and drink, we headed to his girl friends house for a final drink. Then his friend proposed that his apartment is free and he is fine for letting us there for the night.
We smiled at each other and then said ok. It was a nice apartment with one AC, where me, Suja and Fanny were fighting for bed :) At last, a conclusion came and and we all slept.
Day 2
Thanks to Gui and Fanny for getting the breakfast early in the morning. After a nice shower and breakfast, we started to set on the road. We planned to hit the mangrove forest before 11AM. The road was good and it was hot but less windy. We reached there on time and then we started to get the tickets for boating.
A lonely fisher man
After a fun ride for an hour, we returned to our bikes. We were very hungry. Then with again uncertain discussions, we decided to stop for lunch at Tranquebar. We were still 70kms away from it. It was noon when we left Pitchavaram. We managed to drive non-stop and reached Tranquebar around 1:30PM. Before going inside the Danish fort, we were actually looking into the Namreena hotel which is also called "The bungalow on the beach".
The Bungalow on the Beach is a 18th century Danish colonial house which has belonged to Governor of Danish India, who was styled Opperhoved, and after their exit in 1845, to the British administrator of the colony. Built in 18th century, opposite the Fort Dansborg, by the Danish East India Company in what was once a pepper trading post of Tranquebar, now known as Tharangambadi, in Tamil Nadu, India. Tranquebar is a Danish term and came from the native Tamil word Tarangambadi, meaning 'place of the singing waves'.
After a hard negotiation, we got to swim in the pool for 2 days! It was fun, playing in the pool and then having a cold beer with some pakodas! Thanks for the ladies to get the permission. It was time for dinner! Gui and myself took the bike to get some drinks and food. On the way, we found a village with big hoarding "Tamil Vaazhga". We took a turn on that road and saw so many small shops. Exploring the country side in the night is also fun! We stopped in a place where we found the authentic kothu parota. We bought it and went back to the hotel. One good thing what we did was we both forgot the mobile. But it was fun though to go and come back at night in the country side.
A good food and followed by some good drinks. Here comes the best part. We had conversation about everything. It was nice to confess about each other, how we met first time, how was the life in the past, India war, French wars, British, America and what not. The clock ticked by 2:30AM and we realized we need to go bed.
The next day breakfast was so good. Just 4 hours of drive and you feel like you are in a big vacation spot on the world. With almost less than 4 guests in the hotel, it was a nice experience to sit, eat by the pool side facing towards beach.
45 mins of breakfast came to an end :) We decided to wrap up and move to our return journey. We stopped on the way to poompokaar which has a big tale for Kannagi.
A quick 20 mins walk around and again our ass was on the bikes! It was so hot and sitting on a bike for long time is a pain but riding on it is a pleasure! Our next destination was Chidambaram. I have heard about the temple many times but this is the first time I am visiting it. As every south Indian temple's notable feature, I felt the cool atmosphere when I stepped inside the temple. It was such a nice feeling. We went around the temple and then we came out to have a photo session.
Our very next destination was Pondy. We drove a non-stop drive for a strech of 65kms in an hour which made us to reach pondy by 1:30PM. We finished our lunch in Banana leaf, a small restaurant in the French quarters. A roasted chicken, mushroom Gratin and Quiche was a good choice for lunch. At 3:30PM, we bid bye to the ladies and started our long journey back to Chennai.
We had just one pit stop for some juice and we accerelated to Chennai and reached the SNR link road by 6PM and it started to rain. Couple of minutes waiting, we started again and reached Gui's apartment around 6:30PM. The rain made our souls so fresh. We started to watch the movie "Jackie Brown". Around 8ish, the ladies came with our back pack. Thank you! After a small smoke, we bid bye bye to each other and departed! It was quite a peaceful weekend with unplanned plans! After a very long time I pen down my travel experience. But in those quite long time gap, I was travelling and it took a while to understand it!
When a lot of people earn almost like me but got richer day by day I just felt stupid of not having accumulated cash in my account. Then came the memories of beautiful mountains, lovely villages, tempting pools and wonderful time spent traveling. And then I felt rejuvenated. (courtesy to Amal to read my mind voice)
