Nine buses later we were in Kochi

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We originally wanted to fly/get a direct train from Rajasthan to Kerala but the flights were too expensive and the trains were fully booked for weeks due to the Indian holidays so we knew it was going to be a long slog all the way to the extreme south with only local buses to take us there one sweaty, cramped, smelly, mosquito ridden journey at a time. The stops we made along the way allowed for showers and horizontal sleep and broke the journeys up so that we didn't go completely mad.

All in all we took nine buses to finally arrive in Kochi, our last journey from Gokhana took nearly 24 hours altogether because we had to stop in Mangalore. When we first arrived in Mangalore we were told that all the buses to Kochi that day and next were fully booked and that our only option was to take a train to a town and then catch another bus to Kochi, or we could pay 3000 rupees for a taxi. Hot, tired and fed up we dumped our bags at the bus station cloakroom and retreated to an air conditioned shopping mall to figure out what to do. After having some lunch and cooling down we went back out and went to a couple of other tourist agencies in search of a solution, one agent told us (after informing us all the buses to Kochi were full) that there was a bus to Kochi leaving from the bus station at 5pm that afternoon.

Confused at being told so many different things we went back to the bus station at 5pm and waited to see if this other bus to Kochi actually existed and if it did what kind of fight we would have on our hands to get on it as all other transport connections seemed to be impossible that day. Sure enough the bus arrived, completely empty we got on, found space for our bags and had a choice of seats. Welcome to India.

12 hours later we arrived in Kochi, it was still quite dark so we jumped in an autorickshaw to take us to Fort Kochi which is the area of the city we wanted to stay in. When we arrived we had to go around waking up guesthouse owners to find somewhere to stay, when we eventually found one within our price we were devastated to learn that he couldnt let us have the room until 9am. He let us leave our bags in reception while we went in search of something to do when all we wanted was a shower and bed. Nowhere was open as we wandered around the deserted early morning streets but we soon found ourselves at the sea shore where the famous ancient Chinese fishing nets are used by the local fishermen and are believed to have been introduced by Chinese traders in the early 1300s.

One group of fishermen noticed us watching and waved us to go up and sit with them. Half an hour later we were drinking cups of chai while they showed us how the nets work and we'd forgtton about being tired and stinky. Each fishing net is at least 10 m high and has an outstretched net suspended over the sea and large stones tied to ropes at the other end. The net is pushed down into the sea simply by one person walking along the wooden structure; after leaving the net in the sea for a short time they lift it back out by pulling on ropes. Each net needs up to six fishermen to operate it and our new fishermen-friends let us have a go at pulling the net back out of the sea a couple of times. The catch wasnt great but we had fun and by the time we left it was time to go and check into our room.

When we went back to the guesthouse the owner informed us that actually he didnt have any rooms free after all so we grabbed our bags and went in search of a much needed bed. We ended up at a homestay run by an Indian family who offered us a nice room and meals for a good price. We had a shower and finally went to sleep.

When we awoke refreshed we went to explore the area which had also woken up. The Portuguese settled in Fort Kochi when it was granted to them in 1503, it remained in their possession for 160 years until the Dutch captured the territory in 1683 and destroyed many Portuguese, particularly Catholic, institutions. The Dutch held Fort Kochi as their possession for 112 years until 1795 when the British took over. This colourful past makes Fort Kochi a beautiful mixture of old colonial Portuguese, Dutch and British, so wandering the streets which are lined with houses and buildings from each era is a pleasant experience.

We walked back down to the fishing nets where we had been earlier to find it much busier with a few stalls set up selling what the nets were plucking straight from the sea in front of us. Most of what was caught was quite small but there were some other stalls selling fish that had been caught from the boats and were huge, one stall even had a baby shark. All the vendors were calling us over to try and sell us their fish which you can buy and then take to a street hawker who will then cook it for you - probably the freshest fish you could ever eat. We also couldn't help but notice the large population of cats that hang around the stalls (a living fantasy for Luke!) waiting for little scraps of fish to fall on the floor, some of them even sit on the tables that display the fish and help themselves; they must be the happiest cats in the world.

Just near the fish stalls is a town square where lots of big Indian families were congregating, having picnics and playing games. There was also a stage erected in the square with a couple of musicians setting up equipment so we went over to see what was going on. As we got closer we saw some posters advertising a 'Bob Marley tribute concert', we hung around for a while intrigued to see what this would be like. When they were eventually set up we saw and heard some really strange things, the music that they were producing involved a jazz flute and a free styling drummer and never seemed to end, like a bad dream. They attracted a small crowd who sat in plastic chairs and watched with blank expressions on their faces and when the music did, on a rare occasion break, everyone remained silent and blank faced. Strange.

That evening we went to watch a Kathakali performance at a nearby theatre. Kathakali is a dance-drama which presents the many colourful stories of the Hindu Gods. Famous for its character's attractive make-up, elaborate costumes, detailed gestures and well-defined body movements the stories are presented in tune with traditional music and percussion. Traditionally performances were composed to last an entire night, starting in the evening and ending in the early morning. The more modern shows are produced to last just a few hours only showing a scene from one story, the performance we went to lasted four hours in total but the first hour and a half of that was spent watching the actors putting on their make-up which in some ways was more fascinating than the show itself. The make-up is so elaborate once it is all applied it appears more like a mask so it was really interesting to watch it being applied.

Once all the actors had put on their make up the show began with a detailed explanation of all the different facial expressions and body movements that are used instead of words to communicate. We had been given a programme that described the story being shown that evening so when it began we had a bit of help in understanding what was going on if we couldn't read the movements or expressions. It was amazing to watch, so much effort goes into each show and they perform 365 days a year.

We spent a few more days in Kochi hanging out with the cats down by the fishing nets and pottering around the lovely streets. Then deciding it was time to see one of the main reasons we had taken the frightful journey from Mumbai, we headed to Kollom to see the backwaters.

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