Kochi

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After an epic bus journey from Kumily to Kochi, around the hills, past tea plantations, canals, coconut palms and forests we finally arrived at Kochi but then had to catch a rickshaw, ferry and another rickshaw to our accommodation in Fort Cochin (Kochi is made up of a series of islands). It was worth all the travel, Fort Cochin is a laid back backwaters town with plenty of funky cafes, top class hotels (which we did not stay in!) and cantilevered Chinese fishing nets. These nets line the island and are huge. It takes at least four men to operate the counterweights. Unfortunately they are not used often because modern fishing techniques have become more profitable.

We headed out to watch traditional Kathakali which is the dramatised version of a play stemmed from 2nd century. Traditionally the plays were performed from 8pm till dawn but luckily tourists can see a shorter version! We arrived at 5pm where the actors begin applying their makeup using natural products by mixing coconut oil with different coloured rocks to make red, green, yellow and black. We were then given a demonstration about the most common different facial expressions, gestures and hand signals. It takes 6 years to become skilled at Kathakali using a series of precise movements particularly face gestures and sign language. The costumes and head pieces were amazing - a flurry of colour and textures which transformed the actors into the gods, villains and heroes they were about to play. The story was about the demon girl who went to heaven to kidnap beautiful maidens to bring back to her master. She meets the warrior who she immediately falls in love with and changes from her demonic form to a beautiful girl and in this disguise throws herself at him. He wants to marry her but needs his father’s permission first. The girl continues to throw herself at him but he finds this action vile and tells her to leave. She returns to her demon form and tries to attack him but he gets angry and he cuts off her nose, breasts and ears. She then goes back to her master howling. Very dramatic!

We had to catch another 12 hour train back to Chennai. We are now about to go to Sri Lanka - first stop Colombo where Matt is in charge of a surprise day for my birthday!

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