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Kochi/Cochin
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24-25th January 2005.
Kochi is an old town built around a fort that boasts Chinese fishing nets, Jewish communities and a palace. About 500 years ago, the Portuguese were here. They built many beautiful houses along the streets that you can amble along. It would be quite a pleasant place if there was more to do, and if the shops and tuk tuks didn't constantly hound you for their business.
We had already booked a train out of Kochi in advance, so we stayed longer than we wanted....however, there was great coffee and chocolate cake in town, and Jason got to drink beer with Jack, who could also only drink no more than three pints before slurring (sorry Jack).
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The best part of Kochi (apart from the chocolate cake) was watching the fisherman, the locals, and the other tourists at sunset along the waterfront.
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The Chinese fishing nets are lowered into the water where they catch fish as they are pulled up.
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The fisherman work in teams, pulling hard on the ropes of the Chinese fishing nets. Apparently January isn't a good month for fish and we didn't see them catching too much.
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There are some stunning houses that Jason has promised (fingers crossed) to build for Claire one day.
We visited the Portuguese museum and the synagogue, and the Palace. Most of these were pretty low key which is very consistent with the town itself.
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If you want to unblock the old stomach - eat one of the many ice creams that are in town. We have never seen so many carts in one place. We think some tourists would be cursing 'Uncle John' by the next morning, as the electricity in town is up and down like a whores drawers, and we all love re-frozen ice cream.
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Kochi is a laid back kind of place. The locals go about town in a slow easy going style and we soon slipped into their habits.
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On the local gossip front, it appears that Coke built a factory that has dried the water table up in some back-of-beyond town. This seems to get the commies terribly excited as it presents a great opportunity to slag off big business, and therefore allow them to remain in power.
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We took a boat to Vypeen Island where we were promised an elephant festival. We are not quite sure where this festival was, as everyone thought we were mad coming a day late. However, we did get to see the most fantastic picture of the Tsunami hitting the beach as locals drove along the road.
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The beach. This is the only time that we were alone. As soon as we took off our clothes and sunbathed, the locals were out in their droves, spending far too long walking around us and trying not to be obvious. So much for the empty beach.
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Another Indian /Communist classic. We didn't see any starving train drivers outside the managers office, so I guess the strike was resolved. Else it appears that the call to starve to death for the man who was fired for leaving early didn't appeal to anyone else.
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