Cochin14 | bellsandtrance's Blog

Subject: Cochin 14

Our flight back to Mumbai wasn't too bad and we are booked into our uber cosmopolitan hotel, thank goodness we could store our luggage there, as its getting real hectic with all our bags - big-time. There are Indian children singing Christmas hymns in reception as we arrive and the kids enjoy that , the food at this place is utterly fabulous and we are all packing on some serious pounds.

We spend our last day in Mumbai sitting on the beautiful beach, called Chowpatty (very dirty though) and it looks a bit like Durban to be honest, there is a marine walk and skyscrapers on the shore line. The beach is very wide,and in the shade of the palm trees the "slum people" are just chilling and doing their daily chores. No worry no hurry! It's very hot and humid here. We chat to our female guide about Indian society, she tells us that when young Indian girls get married(arranged) they move into their husbands homes with their dowry of gold jewellery. They have to obey their husband's family, especially their mothers in law. She says that when she had her second child her mother in law forced her to give it up to her own mother as it was a girl. ( My mother in law hates me as my skin is too dark for her). There are even cases of mothers in law throwing hot oil on their new daughter's in law faces, thereby rendering them "unfit" wives, the husband can then get remarried and the family gets more dowry.It's illegal here but it still happens. On the other side of the coin there are many women who get total freedom and the best education too, it's just tradition in some cases and castes.

We arrive at Cochin a couple of hours later. We are are staying on the 14Th. floor of an extremely retro looking hotel, I mean blue LEDs in the bedrooms that you can set for relaxing moods man. It's like cheeewow man, time for chilling. Revolving crystal chandeliers in the foyer that change colour periodically. Huge silver elephants statues that welcome all guests,electric blue cool drinks to refresh weary travelers and everything is black and white, I feel as if I have stepped into an old episode of Dallas or an Austin Powers movie.....shagadellic baby!

Cochin is a South Indian city with a population of two million. It is VERY hot and humid and I can't imagine what summer must be like in this place! It's a coastal town with Palm trees growing everywhere, really scenic. We bypass all our designated tours of palaces and temples (very naughty) and opt for a walk on the beach and a boat ride instead. On route we see the old Chinese fishing nets...very interesting. It is a method of fishing brought to India by the Chinese. It works with what I can only describe as a huge sling shot with net in between, this rests in the water and is maneuvered by the very friendly Rupee seeking fisher man by a system of huge rocks attached to ropes - this all acts as a pulley system ....we get to pull with the fisherman and behold! We catch one tiny teeny little fish, shame poor fish.
We board the boat and take a cruise along the shoreline of Cochin/ Kochi. The boat ride is just perfect! We all enjoy it as to be honest we are all a bit tired, no wait exhausted.It's been a busy time for all of us but we are now in the gateway to the back waters of Kerala which is country side and our pace is going to slow down now.

Oh and we have a new driver, his name is Jobi or call me Joseph! He drives like a formula one racer and he loves closing the frilly curtains of his bus every five minutes!
Much love
Us