Blogs from Kochi, Kerala, India, Asia

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Asia » India » Kerala » Kochi March 10th 2021

The thought of backwater cruise, wildlife at national parks and carpet like tea plantation lured me to visit Kerala. Back in March 2018, I, my sister Nyta and my friend Kiko left Jakarta with Malaysian Airlines, transiting in Kuala Lumpur and arrived in the evening. Our driver, Jotish picked us up and took us to Cochin Marriott. On the first day of our visit, we had a city tour, visiting Fort Kochi, famous for its spice trading in the 16th century. We could see the legacy of the spice routes from the historical Portuguese architect design buildings, the names of the street and Chinese Fishing Nets along the coast. Kochi is rich in history as merchants began trading spices, primarily cardamom and black pepper, with European, Middle Easterners and Chinese since 1500. Its history was quite ... read more
St Francis Church
Sight at Old Town
Jew Town

Asia » India » Kerala » Kochi January 16th 2020

Thursday 16 Jan 2020 Preparing for our trip - 6 days countdown - should we start packing? So tempting to get those backpacks out.... read more

Asia » India » Kerala » Kochi May 11th 2019

We had again done our homework for Kochi and worked out that it was a lot more spread out that Mumbai was. We planned to get a Tuk Tuk to the fishing nets and then work our way back towards the port. Unfortunately, all the drivers only wanted to do a tour. We asked a couple about a one way trip and they just walked away from us. This was a big clue for a rethink. Eventually, we went to the taxi tent that had been set up for the cruise passengers. They gave us details of a tour around Kochi. It was either 1000 rupees (£10) for three people in a tuk tuk or 2000 (£20) for four people in a taxi. So we agreed to a Tuk tuk tour. Our driver was very knowledgeable. ... read more
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Asia » India » Kerala » Kochi April 22nd 2019

Its finally here. The last day. We woke up to a gorgeous day and back to the sweltering pre-rain heat. We were all determined to make the most of this final day and set about getting down to breakfast to then finish off last chapters of books, soak up some final sunshine and get some last swims in. We had games of backgammon - Dad and Lucas followed by Dad and Phoebe. Mum actually went into the pool - a moment of great excitement for everyone! Dad spent ages getting slow mo pictures of Chloe and Lucas doing silly jumps into the pool. Phoebe was also keen to get a photo with the geese, but ended up getting chased by them instead - which was very funny.... The last day was filled with a mix of ... read more
The Geese gave chase
Waiting for our taxi to take us home
Beautiful girl

Asia » India » Kerala » Kochi April 8th 2019

It was an 8.30 start as Anoop didnt want us to get into town too late and then get caught by the sun. Today we were shown round Fort Kochi - which includes the Fort (built by the Portugese, then destroyed and re-built by the Dutch). We started with the a rather curious trip round the laundry of Fort Kochi which used to wash all of the military clothing. We've still no idea why we wnt round it but it was quite interesting to see a traditional laundry still in working order - no washing machines and irons heated by coal! Our guide tried to make friends with Chloe by teasing her which she was not impressed by and made her cry!! After the laundry we went to the Roman Catholic Church that Vasco De Gama ... read more
The Laundry
Catch of the day
Slightly more appetising catch of the day

Asia » India » Kerala » Kochi April 7th 2019

Another early start as we rose at 7am (or 2am in UK) for breakfast. Once again the hotel staff were remarkably attentive, to the extent we felt like we were the only ones in the hotel (this was actually probably true). Breakfast was a pretty disappointing affair which no one really touched before we headed off to the local airport for our 1 1/2 hour flight to Kochi with Indigo airways. We got to the Domestic airport and stood inline to be checked through before joining a gigantic queue to check in. It actually only took about 45 minutes in the end and then we went through to the gate. Everyone was a bit grouchy at this stage following 2 early mornings, a decent bout of jet lag and very little to eat. As we waited ... read more
The Pool at The Casino
Breakfast at the airport hotel
Breakfast at the airport hotel

Asia » India » Kerala » Kochi August 12th 2018

It was very peaceful on the houseboat in Alleppey and we slept very well in the air conditioned room, in our sleeping bag liners under our mosquito net (the sheets were a little dubious...). Unfortunately there had been more rain overnight and the water level had risen noticeably. We were pleased to be leaving the area today. Breakfast was amazing. Chef had made us sweet coconut dosa, fresh pineapple, toast and traditional igli. We sailed back to the mainland for a 9am finish. We were picked up by our tuk tuk driver and taken to Cochi (our original plan had been a bus or train but being a Sunday there weren’t any running at the right time). The advantage of this method of transport was that we went along the coastal road as oppose to the ... read more
Chinese fishing nets
Cochi - street goats
Chinese fishing nets

Asia » India » Kerala » Kochi March 13th 2018

Kerala port of entry: Cochin aka Kochi– day 4-7 Airport security is high, an armed man checks you have a ticket at the door and looks at all your passports & faces, no ticket no entry. Queuing & check-in is quicker in Delhi than Sydney international airport, although I expected as much volume in Delhi domestic terminal. Vistara airline premium economy very nice, booked cause that’s what was available. No inflight entertainment so kids on own devices, they were pretty good but air hostess did notice how “alive” they were! Vege food all good, pre ordered but in hindsight I don’t think I had to. Nice to see sunrise from way up in the clouds, 5yo was amazed. 3 hours later: hello Kochi. Got the hotel to pick us up as I could see it was ... read more

Asia » India » Kerala » Kochi January 20th 2018

Woolly says – Our last day in Kochi arrived with the sun blazing in, a slow get up and the need to pack everything back into the bags, it never ceases to amaze me how much mess can suddenly disappear into two backpacks and three rucksacks, but it does. A breakfast of boiled egg and toast hit the mark well and we set off to amble around the fort town for the last time. Fort Kochi has little left and is now more about the small town rather than the fort itself, the Fort was built in 1538 as a Portuguese settlement and remained in their possession until 1683, when the Dutch colonial troops captured the territory and destroyed the Portuguese institutions. The Dutch held the fort in their possession until 1795, when the British took ... read more
Street goat
Street art
Candlelight Procession

Asia » India » Kerala » Kochi January 18th 2018

Woolly says – Our journey from Madurai took around nine hours, it just seemed like a lifetime. Having been unsuccessful in procuring train tickets we had our first bus journey to look forward to. Climbing on board and finding our seats was the easy part, the lack of space, even with legs as small as mine and Jo’s, once the seats were reclined, was small, it also meant that the person who was reclining towards you had their head nearly on your lap. It was a long night as we went over huge bumps in the road at speed nearly jolting my tusks out of place, listening to the constant barrage of honking and blaring horns in between the snores from the gent in front of us. Our arrival in Kochi at six in the morning ... read more
Pond next to the Palace
Elephant at rest
Chinese Fishing Nets




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