Pondicherry was once a French colony and it still has a French quarter which serves up steak, wine and crossiants. It was miles away from what we had seen in Trichy, the cobbled streets were so clean and it actually looked a bit like France, with colonial houses and flowers all around. We drank lots of tea and did the Heritage walk around the little streets and beach front.

We found accomodation owned by the Sri Aurobindo Ashram which only cost one pound fifty each a night - our room had four beds, a balcony and was really clean (which was a really good thing seen as most of our time was spent in the room as we were struck down with food poisoning for three days) The Ashram also had a peaceful and beautiful garden for meditation, all you could hear were the waves crashing against the shore...bliss! This Ashram was a world away from the strict regime that we experienced at the previous one with more of a focus on yoga and meditation - and we definitely recommend it if you're in Pondicherry.

We finally had our clothes washed properly (and pressed) at the laundry service in the Ashram - our beige clothes suddenly became white again!

We were fixed up on 3 types of antibiotics after a visit to the hospital in an attempt to kill anything lurking in the depths of our stomach and we just about managed to crawl on to the three hour bus to Chennai!