Kochi: Henna, theater, and a hospital visit

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We arrived in Kochi, a seaside city near the southern tip of India, at 6:00 a.m. after taking a train from Mysore to Bangalore followed by another overnight train. Drowsy after having gotten little sleep due to our cabin mates' late night noisy chats, we hailed a rickshaw to the peninsula of Fort Kochi where we'd booked a guesthouse called the Vintage Inn. Our host was very nice and accommodating, showing us promptly to our room (which was huge!) so we could get some sleep before going back downstairs to check in. We originally only planned to stay in Kochi for a few nights, but its clean, quiet neighborhoods and laid back atmosphere, as well as its vague resemblance to Charleston, made us want to stay longer. We really needed a break from the frequent train and bus rides and thought this might be a good, albeit expensive, place to relax.

Another reason for our extended stay was the fact that I spent the first two days sick with a fever and sinus infection. Since there weren't any private doctor's offices in the town, we made a trip to the local hospital to get a proper diagnosis and some medicine. This turned out to be an expensive and unnecessary hassle - the place was extremely disorganized and frightfully unsanitary. I was first led to a makeshift "waiting room"/receptionist's office/infant immunization room where I sat, puzzled, until the doctor was ready to see me. I told him my symptoms, and his immediate reply was an inquiry as to whether I would like to be hospitalized for a few days. What?? I politely declined, and he proceeded to have me lie down on a table while he gave me a thorough (and by this I mean thoroughly uncomfortable) looking over, from which he deducted that I wasn't merely suffering from a sinus infection, but also a "fever virus" which required further investigation. He began by insisting that I needed a face x-ray...I insisted that I did not. Instead, we settled on a blood and urine test, after which Scott and I were made to wait in a tiny room until the results came back. This took FOREVER - long enough for my fever to come back. At least there was a bed in the room so I could sleep. Finally, we were informed that I did not in fact have a "fever virus" or malaria or anything else besides a sinus infection. The doctor did prescribe me some medication for swine flu, just in case, along with the antibiotics I needed. After several wasted hours, we paid our outrageous fees, got my medicine, and went back to the guesthouse where I rested for most of that day and the next. It was a pretty frustrating experience, but better safe than sorry I suppose.

When I was feeling better, we walked around the town and along the water, where we saw fishing nets similar to the ones we saw all over Vietnam. We shopped a little bit and I bought some cheap jewelry, postcards, a bakgammon set, a few gifts for our families and some delicious chai off a street vendor. During our time in the town, we discovered it had several good "western style" restaurants serving both western and Indian food. We particularly liked Kashi, an "art cafe," The Teapot, serving a variety of teas, snacks and meals in a cute little place decorated with tea sets, Dal Roti, specializing in amazing Indian wraps, and Oceania, where we ate some delicious local seafood for Valentine's Day.

An adventure - or misadventure, rather - we had while in Kochi was my first experience getting henna. We visited a boutique/spice shop that advertised henna design. Not knowing any better, we looked through the "portfolio" of computerized designs, and I picked one with the understanding that it would look like (a) the picture I'd chosen and (b) the real life examples posted at the store's entrance. The design I picked cost 500 rupees, and the "artist" seemed like she knew what she was doing, so I thought it would turn out okay. Wrong. Not only did she rush and finish what supposed to take an hour in less than twenty minutes, she applied the henna in a haphazard, sloppy manner with thick blob-like lines. What I ended up with was what appeared to be a five-year-old's interpretation of the design drawn on my hand with a fat, brown permanent marker...yay. The next day, we went back to complain, and, after talking to the "artist" and coming back again later to speak with her boss, we managed to get our money back - not without a fight, though. Even though it's well known in India that henna is supposed to be impressively intricate, the ladies kept insisting that the design I picked was "just a picture," as if it were preposterous for us to assume the final result would in any way resemble what we were paying for. In any case, at least it was free and, even though it was supposed to last for 3 weeks, it's already washed off! Despite the hospital visit and henna fiasco, we really enjoyed our time in Kochi. Most of the people we encountered were very friendly, the traffic wasn't too bad, and the scenery was lovely. Definitely a place I'd like to visit again. 😊

Since Kerala is known for its unique form of theater called kathakali, we spent one night going to a show. In this type of theater, the actors tell their stories through elaborate eye, hand and body gestures, each with distinct meanings, while accompanied by authentic singing, cymbals and drums. First, the actors (3 men) spent an hour having their extremely detailed and extravagant make-up applied onstage. After that, there was a demonstration of the various gestures and eye movements (some of which were, while impressive, a bit intense and creepy) followed by explanations of their meanings. The show itself involved the 3 actors, one playing a demon, one playing a prince, and one playing his wife, each in extraordinary costumes, portraying a story of seduction, fear and revenge, all without speaking. The show was quite interesting and culturally enlightening, even if it was somewhat difficult to follow at times.

During our stay, we ran into some fellow Americans from Oregon who were cycling through southern India, which I thought was pretty cool. We ended up seeing them again a few days later in the next town we visited, Alappuzha. Another exciting accomplishment in Kochi was finally buying our plane tickets home! We were lucky enough to find a direct flight (which I'm very happy about) that was slightly more expensive but will get us to Charleston in 21 hours instead of 30 something like last time. We'll touch down in the low country at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, March 26th! 😊 Can't wait to see everyone in just over a month!

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Never good to be sick on the road
We are nurses so when we travel we attempt to get a look inside a hospital as a visitor not a patient. Sounds like your experience was dreadful. Going to the theatre sounded wonderful.