In Puducherry, we decided we going to "splash" a bit and indulge ourselves to a rustic, quaint french designed accomodation.
So on arrival at Puducherry, we checked into the Le DUPLEIX Pondicherry, a French colonial heritage building , now converted into a boutique hotel. A few weeks earlier we booked thru booking.com online, as it is cheaper than walk-in rates. And also, this hotel gets booked out fast.
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| lobby of Le Dupleix |
This elegant hotel is set in a converted 18th Century residence that once housed the Mayor of Pondicherry. Its a 4 minute walk from the Rock Beach on the Bay of Bengal. Featuring antique furniture and colonial style touches, the individually decorated rooms comes with wi-fi, TVs and minibars plus tea and coffee making facilities. Our room even has a antique cast iron style balcony, which overlooks a green park.
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| our room has a beautifully designed balcony |
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| the rooms |
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| couldnt resist a photo shoot at this giant swing along the terrace on our room floor |
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| my room with a loft |
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| stairs going up to the loft |
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| antique furniture and tall french windows open out to the beautiful cast iron balcony |
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| in front of Le Dupleix,along roadside |
in AUROVILLE Sept 23 - 25th, we stayed in Greens Guesthouse , one of the many homestays in Auroville. The hosts and staff are very friendly and obliging and kind. From Pondi, we hired a private car to Auroville, about 30min drive. There are also buses going to Auroville but we had quite a bit of luggage with us and a private car is more convenient and in fact shared among 4 of us, each is only US 2 !!!
Arrived to our doorstep of Greens Guesthouse, welcoming sight of shades of Green , triple storey building with a character.
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| in front of Green's |
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| not sure who or what she was waiting for??? |
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| Yean and Nat were holding up the roof ..... |
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| another building (modern) at the back of the Greens Gesthouse with more rooms |
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| the YeanNat yoga pose |
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| breakfast the the cafe |
the Quad room. 4 singles beds and a bathrrom
AND going on to CHENNAI, we also called a taxi . 127km north of Auroville, but took the taxi almost 5 hours to reach our Hotel Lotus Sameera in Chennai. Normally it is about 2 hrs 30 min drive straight but we wanted to detour slightly to the east at the beach where there sits a UNESCO archaeological site at Mahabalipuram .
Hotel Lotus Sameera is unusual as the entrance on road level (which is also the car park ) is just a simple lift or elevator going up to 2nd floor. 2nd floor opens out the lobby and reception area. Clean and modern designed. Quick check in.
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| entrance to carpark of Hotel Lotus Sameera |
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| the Lift going up to Lobby |
and our room 
............................ AU REVOIR ..........................................................................................................
