Kochi, Kerala

Another foggy view from our balcony before we left.

Working in the tea plantations.

A very interesting church with a beautiful view over the plantations.

The view over the valley from our snack stop.

Repairing my shoe again for 20 rupees.

 Crazy traffic that overflows onto the sidewalks.

 Not particularly inviting.

Tourist boats that ply the bay.

Wednesday, March 7^th.

We were off earlier than usual today as we had a long drive to do. We left at 8:00 and travelled on a very windy through a series of hills, or small mountains. We went over a number of narrow scenic passes as we descended from the more elevated Thekkady and Periyar region to Kochi and the west coast. We stopped about a half hour in to visit an interesting Catholic Church that had a commanding view of the lush green landscape. We drove through tea plantations in the higher elevations and rubber, pineapple and banana plantations in the lower regions. Rubber trees are the most prosperous crop in the state of Kerala and we could see the evidence of that in the size and state of the larger houses. Later we stopped for a coffee or snack and a toilet at a little shop that had a great view of the mountainous area. As we drove I noticed that this state, Kerala, is much cleaner than Tamilnadu just as Thoufeeq had indicated it would be. There is a lot less litter laying around and the waterways we passed seemed to be less polluted.

The whole drive took about 5 hours as all of the roads were single lane and were very windy. This makes passing other vehicles very exciting. They honk their horns frequently to converse with the other drives, ‘here I am’, ‘look out for me’, etc. Many times we passed or were passed on a turn, so horns announce our position and the on coming traffic just slows down to allow the passing car to get back in the correct lane. It’s all a bit hair raising, but again it just seems to work and is the accepted way of driving. It is actually a societal norm for safety reasons and is actually very courteous. 

We arrived at the Grand Hotel in Kochi about 1:30. It is located on Mahatma Ghandi Road, the main drag. The whole city is undergoing a massive overhead metro construction project and the city is a bit of a mess. Thoufeeq gave us some tips on where to grab lunch. After checking in John and I walked across the street to the aforementioned restaurant, avoiding all the holes in the sidewalk because of the construction, and found it was closed. So we walked a little further. I found a cobbler sitting on the sidewalk and asked if he could repair one of my Keens that was coming apart again. He fixed it by gluing it and stitching the side together again for 20 rupees (about 30 cents). Then we found a nice, clean little local restaurant where we had fun with the young waitress who was obviously a little flummoxed to be serving two foreigners who spoke English. We eventually figured out what we wanted and had a nice meal. Then we walked to the Cocoa Tree coffee shop where we treated ourselves to a brownie (John), and a crème Brule (me), before going back to the hotel to avoid the heat and catch up on e-mails. 

Around 5 John and I went for a walk to investigate an area that Thoufeeq recommended, Marine Drive. To get there we had to walk along Hospital Road, which we decided was named that because either the cars would hit you or the pollution would affect you and either way you would wind up in hospital. As we walked along the chaos of the traffic and the street with no serviceable sidewalk we found we were walking faster and faster as the adrenaline kicked in to keep you from being run over.

When we finally got to the park by the Arabian Sea we walked along the Marine Drive boardwalk which was supremely underwhelming. The view was of a large body of water looking at the port and the street was dirty and smelly. However, the local people seem to like it and we noticed several sets of young lovers sitting on the benches. Each to their own.

Then we returned to the hotel in time to join a little birthday party for one of our members, Trish from England. Thoufeeq had gone out and bought a bottle of rum and brandy and some mix and a little black forest cake. We had a couple of drinks and played a game called psychiatrist, with John being the psychiatrist who had to figure out what was wrong with all of us. It was not a simple game and eventually John got frustrated with it because he had to ask us questions and we were to answer based on what we thought the person to our right would say. John asked questions that were too involved. Anyway, it was sort of fun. Then we all went to the hotel restaurant and had a good meal before toddling off to bed.