Pondycherry

Van 18 September until the 21 of September we stayed in lovely Pondycherry. Pondycherry has this European feeling somehow, the streets are very clean there wide boulevards and streets. The food is European with a lot of French influence.  We stayed in the Park guesthouse overlooking the sea. We didn't do that much, but we enjoyed the food en the beautiful old French houses. We went for a drink to the Promenade hotel (65 rps for 0,6 liter of beer) it is even cheaper then Comfort hotel in Chennai. On the 18 we met David an Irish guy travelling in  India with his Endfield. We met him before in Mamallapura he has a dry kind of humor he his vegetarian but loves drinking beer. So with him we went to the Promenade hotel. On the 19 of September we went to the Sri Aurobindo ashram. The rest of the day we relaxed at the different eat places. So in all Pondicherry is a nice place to relax and read as many books as possible.

 

On the 21 of September we left for Thirunvannamalai. Later more about this nice little village.

 

Some links:

Sri Aurobindo ashram
Pondycherry

Thirunvannamalai

Ramana Maharshi Ashram in Thirunvannamalai
--
Happy travels,
Ohm shanti, shanti, shanti
Meinoud
http://www.rijnentravel.blogspot.com
From Amsterdam to India by bus and train

Polo in Leh 2

Polo in Leh somewhere in June 2006, just remember this is on an altitude of 3500 meter.

Mamallapuram etc

At the end we did not work one day but two days on the set of Bhagam Bhag. The second day Bouke was dressed up as a policeman.  Bouke likes to work he even worked on his holiday, but he had good fun. Working as an extra is not that glamorous, it is a lot of waiting, sometimes for hours in the baking sun. But when it starts it is a lot of fun. I had a good book with me and there were some nice people it all counts.  The next day Bouke stayed in Mamallapuram for some more relaxing and sightseeing. I went to another movie set this time Vattaram  this is a Tamil movie with a lot of fight scenes. This time the foreign extras were very small only 5 people. The movie set was on  Golden beach just below Chennai. Luckily it was a cloudy day otherwise we would have been fried. Many takes had to be taken over and over again, yeah it was bit boring. At least I spent the whole day on the beach and they pay me a bit. In the evening we went for dinner somewhere along the beach.

The 17 of September we decided to make a daytrip to Kanchipuram.
It takes the bus about 2 hours. Most amazing about buses in India is that they mostly leave on time, amazing. So we were on time and we could sit. In Kanchipuram we saw  5 amazing temples with many devotees. I guess the most impressing was the Ekambareswarar temple. It is  a working Shiva temple with many devotees and Sadus and a lot of drums making it a very impressive temple. After seeing so many temple and devotees we were glad to be back in quite Mammalapuram. On one of these evening we had dinner at a restaurant called Nautillius the have the best spagetti saus in India. Just amazing I could eat that stuff every day.

The 18 September we moved to Pondicherry, we planned to go early but at the end we left around 1 pm. We had a nice and long breakfast at the Nautillius. After a few hours we arrived in Pondy.. we stayed in the Park Ashram guesthouse this is a very nice place near the beach, overlooking the sea.

But later more about beautiful Pondy.

From Manali to Leh by jeep on 5400 meter

In june I travelled by jeep from Manali to Leh in Ladakh. In the video you see a bit of the ride.

mamallapuram

Since yesterday I 'm back in Mamallapuram. The 5 of September was my last day on the movie set of Bhagam Bhag. On the 6 of September  I moved to Mamallapuram for a couple of days relaxing after the "hard" work on the set. Mamamllapuram is great place to do absolute nothing I read a book, drunk some beer it was very relaxing.  On the 9 of September I returned to Chennai to pickup Bouke from airport. He is came for a 3 weeks Holiday in India so the next 3 weeks I will travel with him. In the evening of the 9 September I had nice talk with Petra till after 1 am, she is as old as me and has boyfriend with the age of 26 years. She is very lucky...

 

In the very early morning of 10 September I picked up Bouke from the airport, without his luggage, his luggage arrived a day later. We hanged around Broadland lodge i introduced him to eating with his right hand most people eat with their hands not with other utilities.  Later on the day we went for shopping to Spencer plaza, this is a real shopping centre in Chennai. Bouke bought some shirts and a trouser and I bought a 3 quarter trouser. In the morning of the 11 September his luggage arrived at the hotel. I finally got the licorice yummie " Snekers Zoethouders" they are unresistingly.  To celebrate this we went to " The park" hotel for a something to drink and later on for dinner and a waterpipe to Mocha. We had a great day out.  Yesterday we moved to Mamamllapuram and we stay in Laxmir lodge. Tomorrow Bouke and I are working on the set, just for one day.

 

--
Happy travels,
Ohm shanti, shanti, shanti
Meinoud
http://www.rijnentravel.blogspot.com
From Amsterdam to India by bus and train

Buddha imaga in Pollunuwera

Buddha imaga in Pollunuwera,
originally uploaded by mjrijnen.

I added a lot of new pictures to the set of Sri Lanka. Click on the picture to see more pictures.

Figurant at a movie set, Chennai (India)

I'm still in Chennai, at the moment I work as a figurant on a movie set here in Chennai. Every morning (7 am) I get picked up by the people of the movie and then in the evening they bring me back. For this movie they needed 100 foreigners. All the foreigners work as "exta" on the movie. most time we are waiting, waiting and then I have to do something like walking in the background, so we are the background people. They give us breakfast, lunch and some snacks.