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Published: June 16th 2007
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For another of the weekends during the Ayurveda course, I took a solo adventure down south to a little place called 'Kochi'.... and had SUCH an awesome time right from start to finish!!!
I got the 5am train and met 2 lovely Indian ladies sitting next to me.....everyone was so nice to me all weekend.....I've never had so many smiles and waves from strangers!!!
(I especially liked the old man who came running past me on his way to the fish market who gave me the most excited and happiest/enthusiastic 'good morning' and smile (with no teeth) I've ever seen! It was beautiful...made me laugh and put me in the best mood for the rest of the day!!)
Arrived at Kochi ... and was picked out of the crowd by one of the millions of auto-rickshaw drivers that swarm the train station! At first he looked a bit dodgy....but boy can looks be decieving....
His name was Jojo and he ended up being my chauffeur and friend for the whole weekend!!!
I'd planned to stay in a guesthouse but Jojo said "no no, too expensive, i'll take you to some cheaper ones...save your money friend"....and
I thought 'ah oh....here we go....commission based finding Foreigners here we come!
....but I was wrong...he was just genuinely doing it to help me out and save me some money!
Jojo ended up driving me around to all the sights and sounds of Kochi and was so patient while I looked around at everything and anything!
One of the highlights for me was looking at the 400+ year old paintings depicting scenes from the Ramayana legends that were on the wall inside the Mantacherry Palace. I couldn't take my eyes off them and they stuck an emotional nerve within me. Astonishing and beautiful! It was the best 2 rupees I've spent (for entry!).
There were 2 guys inside that were 're-drawing' some of the paintings on the wall and I asked one of them (who had about an 8th of his current page covered) how long that had taken him and he said 2 months!!
What a life! ....it was so peaceful and chilled in there.......if only I could draw!!! hehe!
Jojo took me to some really obscure places that I never would have found by myself. Visited some ginger factories and I've never
seen so much ginger in all my life. Also to essential oil factories which smelt beautiful!! He accompanied me for dinner at the Krishna veg cafe and got me around and back to the guesthouse safely!
I'd been recommended by one of my friends to go and watch the fishermen pulling in their nets by the beach in the early morning, so I woke up at 4:45am on Sunday only to find that there was a 45 day strike/ban that had just started! I didn't mind....it's better for the little fishies......and there was still loads of action going on at that time anyway!
India never sleeps!!
I took a chillaxing stroll along the 'promenade' and took in all the sights and sounds. I stopped at the yummy chai stand from the day before that Jojo had taken me to (I can't get enough chai tea!!) and was the only white person within cooee!! 'Chatted' (as much as the language barrier would allow) to the locals and it was all very nice!
I stumbled upon the hype of activity that was the Santa Cruz Basillica Church and decided to join in on the Sunday mass with the
locals. Again, the only whitey anywhere, but all the locals were so welcoming and happy to have me around to enjoy all the churchy songs....of which I couldn't understand a thing. It reinforced the strength of music being the universal language and I got fully immersed in it all!!
The tummy was starting to rumble by now, so had breaky at an old Hotel and then strolled down the cobbled streets to a few more specialty shops (with way too many nice local jewellery and fabrics to tempt me!). Jojo was then waiting for me to pick me up and take me back to the train for my journey back to Kannur.
Had a brilliant weekend....and it was very last minute that I decided to even go to Kochi! Often the most spontaneous of adventures turn out to be the most fun!
I'd recommend Kochi to anyone that might be in the Kerala region!! And Jojo as a tourguide!!
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non-member comment
Your journals are great -- seems a brilliant trip!