Kortn's Crib: Puducherry Airbnb video tour

Puducherry, Pondicherry, Pondy… whatever you choose to call it, it’s in southeast India and it’s where the Earth Vagabonds world tour has landed now.

Our current Airbnb rental in Pondicherry is just a block from the seafront (the Bay of Bengal) in an ‘authentic’ Indian neighborhood. It’s an easy walk to one of the more interesting and ‘refined’ urban centers in all of India — the French influenced ‘White Town’.

Below is another edition of Kortn’s crib, a short video tour of our current digs. This apartment costs $28.20 per night PLUS another $6.40 in local taxes and Airbnb fees — totaling just under $35 (includes the long-stay discount).

The place is clean, comfy, spacious, well-equipped, and modern. Two bedrooms, two baths — necessary because we are now hosting my mom for her annual ‘winter escape’ from freezing cold Cleveland, Ohio, USA.

Also included: ROOSTERS – living right next door! It’s kinda like a flashback to our time in the Philippines.

Check out all the details in the attached video. Then read on for more info on this unique French inspired Indian city.

Kortn’s Crib: Puducherry Airbnb video tour

The story behind Pondicherry is a legacy of European colonialism involving the Portuguese, Dutch, Danes, British, and French. Ultimately, the French ruled the area from 1814 until 1954 when the territory was turned over to the nation of India (the agreement finalized in 1962).

As a long-term French settlement, the area continues its ties to France today. We’ve heard lots of French being spoken. And the preserved colonial area known as ‘White Town’ comprises about a square mile along the waterfront where there is a decidedly ‘continental’ ambiance.

There are French themed cafés, restaurants, hotels, guesthouses, gardens, etc. There’s a French consulate here. The streets are even called “rues.” It’s a pleasant, quiet, clean, shady, charming neighborhood — with a very different feel from the present-day, bustling Pondicherry found just a few blocks away

The White Town area also hosts the world-famous Sri Aurobindo Ashram. Aurobindo (died in 1950) is also connected with Auroville, “The City of Dawn” — a renown experimental township located about five miles north of Pondicherry (picture below).

Pondicherry (as most locals refer to it) is officially a “Union Territory” on India’s southeast coast. It’s not a state or province (Pondy is surrounded by the state of Tamil Nadu). A Union Territory is a administrative division in the Republic of India — like Washington, DC, or India’s capital of Delhi.

We’ve really just begun to explore Pondicherry and surrounds. As in all of India, there’s lots to see – and lots of people. We have briefly visited the Aurobindo Ashram and Auroville — and we’ll undoubtedly be back at both. We’ll be here for another month with mom… and the roosters.

As always, be thankful and generous, happy trails & more beer.

Life is NOW!