Kochi

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Hey Guys,

Well we’re still in Kochi. We’ve been in desperate need of saving some money so we’ve hung around here keeping expenses to a minimum. We’re staying in Fort Cochin which is definitely the nicer part of Kochi (you’ve got mainland Kochi known as Ernakulam and then there’s a number of islands around the harbour). Due to the various different past rulers there’s an interesting mix of Portuguese, Dutch and English architecture thrown together with an Indian influence.

Because of the European history the main religion here is Catholicism, and as such there are a number of impressive churches scattered around the area, including St. Francis church, which is said to be India’s oldest European church. There is also the Santa Cruz Basilica, which is more impressive inside, but 300 years younger.

The Chinese fishing nets are wicked. They are basically huge nets that are lowered in and out of the water at high tide and are supported by a wooden frame (check out the photo). A small group of men are needed to operate it. They raise and lower the nets quite often so the catch is usually pretty small but frequent. There are a number of stalls selling the fish, shrimps, crabs, sharks (!) and other catch along the waterfront (Dani wasn’t too impressed by the smell!) and most of the restaurants specialize in seafood. There are a lot of restaurants in the area and we’ve visited quite a few of them since we’ve been here. Most of them have been good although Dan had a pretty dodgy fish at one of them (which he sent back…. and then they replaced it with an equally bad looking one!), needless to day, we haven’t been back there! Last night we found a very good little Italian place that did a brilliant vege lasagna and awesome desserts.

Before dinner last night we watched a performance of Kathakali (which means ‘story’-‘play’) in a small wicker hut just down the road from the hotel. The whole story is told through sign language, facial expressions and movement, with the aid of singers and musical accompaniment. As you can see from the photos, the costumes and make up were fascinating (they begin getting ready an hour and a half before the show!) but the storyline was a little hard to keep up with to say the least! Even so, it was definitely worth watching and gave us a good insight into some of the Keralan culture.

We leave here tomorrow evening for Madras (Chennai) on another 12 hour train journey (we’re just praying this one’s on time!). We then have a couple of days in Madras before we fly on to Kuala Lumpur Friday night (yay!). India has been absolutely fascinating, if somewhat exhausting at times, and we’ll certainly miss it!

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[Mum A]

Male Pride
Crabby says if Dan could take that snake he'll have a go at the crab.