We have arrived to Pondi!

We arrived in Pondicherry earlier than scheduled even with a 2 hr flight delay at the airport. We could have gotten a few more hours of sleep had we known :( Boarding the flight I was a bit worried about flying Kingfisher Red since they said "limited inflight services". Wasn't sure what that meant. Apparently it means no reclining seats or blankets. But it doesn't include a full meal, several bottles of water and lemonade! Haha. I think I can manage without a blanket to be fed instead!

Our poor taxi driver had been waiting for ages for us at the airport, confused about what time our flight was coming since no one told him the flight number only the time. But he was so awesome! He was a super chatter box and we all just chatted the whole drive down. We stopped for lunch in Mammalapuram and had a yum south indian meal buffet for 70 rupees.

Made it to our hotel, or homestay as it is. Janikka had booked the hotel so I had no idea about it at all. It's actually pretty great. It's double the price it's supposed to be due to the NYE holiday, but it's relatively centrally located and is super clean and pristine. We have wireless, free water and English tv. And the best part of all is that it's literally a 2 minute walk to my chappal (sandal) maker. I had 3 pairs of shoes made from him 4+ yrs ago and was wearing one of them when i found his shop. He knew his shoes for sure, and once he saw my name written down, he also remembered me! Crazy. But i've now ordered another 3 pairs.

It's great to be in Pondi with Paul and showing him all the places that Tina and I visited when we were here in 2004. It is a lot more crowded than it was then, but mostly the same.

Today we get to visit our rickshaw and do any pimping that we need to do. We have a lighter adapter (for ipod power) that needs to be installed. We are getting super excited. However I must state that my stomach was in knots all day yesterday as we drove down here seeing the absolute choas on the roads! How will I manage to not hit the millions of animals wondering the streets?! Or how will these huge state buses manage to not hit us! Haha.

Welcome to Pogo Land and Dizzi World.