Dear All,
In the end we loved Fort Cochin and ended up spending 5 nights there. Looking back I cant remember exactly what we did every day. Fort Cochin was really laid back with wide streets, swaying palm trees and lots of great places to shop and eat. It was nice to find somewhere with good coffee and great food. My favourite place was called Kashi gallery and it gets the award for the best breakfasts in India. Each day was a special which ranged from farmers omlette, toast and fruit to my favourite special which was warm breakfast cake (carrots, cinnamon, walnuts) with a huge fruit platter. It was great to have a tasty breakfast that didn’t include curry or stale bread. It was a really chilled out café and we spent a few hours there each morning reading, watching the lizards and eating.
One night we had cooking lessons at a local homestay. A lady showed us how to make several traditional keralan dishes in her kitchen and then we sat down and ate it all! We had fish curry, eggplant curry, banana curry (they were rock hard green bananas and tasted more like potato than banana) and a yoghurt dish similar to raita. They were all very tasty and the best part was we copied the recipes out so I can make them at home.
During a lazy afternoon we had traditional ayurvedic massages. I was stark naked laying on a plastic table and then had oil poured everywhere, I was so oiled up and slippery I nearly rolled off the table. The massage was fairly vigorous and is meant to improve circulation. For the rest of the day I was in a daze and felt like napping.
Fort Cochin was inhabited by the Portugese until the 1940’s, so there are huge portugese style houses and churches. Along the waters edge are massive Chinese fishing nets, I’m not sure if they are actually Chinese or portugese? But they’re huge nets connected to frames and weights so that the nets can be dipped in and out of the water for fishing. It may be just for the tourists, but the nets are still regularly dipped in and out of the water catching a few small fish. The work seemed very labour intensive for such a small amount of fish, maybe that’s why they aren’t used as much anymore.
On our one morning we left Fort Cochin we caught the ferry across the Vypin Island and then the bus to Cherai beach. The bus ride was an event in itself, everyone wants to know your name, where your form and then if you like shane warne. It can get a little tiring and after a while the bus driver shooed them all away, however it didn’t stop them staring. Even if you stare back at them they just keep staring….
From Fort Cochin we caught the train south along the coast to Varkala. Varkala is perched along huge cliffs with the beach smashing below. The waves were definitely smashing, Varkala is the most dangerous beach in Kerala with scary currents. We spent an afternoon at the beach and luckily didn’t up half way out to the Indian Ocean. Varkala was pretty however it was definitely the hottest place in India, we nearly melted. It was around 35 degrees however the humidity was the killer, just sitting there sweat was pouring out. So after two hot nights we moved back up the coast to Alleppey.
Arrived late at Alleppey and found a nice place to stay just out of the main city, crashed into bed and slept like a log. We woke up to find that our hotel was almost more of a zoo…ferrets, some strange cat/ferret/possum thing that noone knew the name of…turkeys, love birds, rabbits, cats, pheasants, finches, budgerigars and even an EMU!
Between Cochin and Kollam to the south (just above Varkala) is a huge system of interlinked inland lakes and canals called the backwaters. For 2 nights we stayed on a houseboat and cruised around the backwaters. Not like houseboats in Australia, the boat were on is 60ft by 12ft and looks like a really big canoe. It has a front decking, bedroom, bathroom and kitchen which are all covered in weaved bamboo, it’s a little hard to describe so hopefully ill be able to put some photos up at the same time so it makes more sense. Our boat is one of the smallest, there are huge 5 bedroom double storey versions.
The canals are unending and we’ve spent two days watching the small villages going about daily tasks, watched the fishermen and workers in the rice paddies and looked out for kingfishers and white herons catching fish. We stopped at a locals house and bought fresh water prawns for dinner which were cooked by our chef and then enjoyed with a few beers (10 litres of beer was purchased for around $14 aus. Saw something on tv about being washed up on a tropical island and having to climb palm trees to collect coconuts to drink. For some reason its been on my mind and as the backwater banks are lined with coconut trees each one I look at, I judge the number of coconuts and how high it is and whether I would be able to climb it. I’ve decided that due to a serious lack of upper body strength I would not be able to climb a palm tree…and would therefore die of dyhdration. Not sure why I’m still pondering this..
From Alleppey we are catching the bus back to Kumily for a 2 day trek in the Animal Sanctuary. After the weekend were moving on to Madurai and then Tiruchirappalli (Trichy) ready for when we fly to Kuala Lumpar on the 8th Feb. Wow cant believe its all coming to an end to quickly…
Love to all,
Love Jess xox
Not able to upload photos, will try again soon
P.S. Grandma, We definitely picked the wrong season to visit India. Right now every street I see is lined with Mango trees that are packed with tiny green mangoes !! If only we had waited a few more months I could have had mangoes for breakfast, lunch and dinner…probably a lot cheaper than in Australia too!
