Cochin (Kochi)

Like many places in India, Kochi has resurrected its original name, moving from the colonial name, Cochin. Bombay (Mumbai), Calcutta (Kolkata) and Calicut (Kozhikode) are other examples. I find that people just interchange the names, there is no political, religious or racial sensitivity to which one you use.

I’ve spent 4 days here and had a fabulous time, even a trip to the hospital this morning was positively enlightening but more of that later. The only negative is the presence of those pesky bastards who have an unhealthy love for me – mosquitoes.

My personal swimming pool

The Dream Hotel, Cochin is situated in Ernakulam, the mainland of the city. It may not have been my first choice to stay if I had booked this holiday in advance, back in Amsterdam. However, I have been very happy here, in fact, for some bizarre reason I have been treated like a V.I.P. The only explanation is that Travelogics, my travel agent are either using me as a guinea pig or have a promotional deal with the hotel. Not only did I get a hugely discounted rate but I have

a premium room in the hotel and what seems like about 6 staff personally looking after me. I have received bowls of fruit and also a bouquet of flowers. The staff was horrified this morning when I pointed out my lumpy mosquito bites to them. One of those annoying pests really had a bumper meal out of me last night as it dined out on my right hand, fingers and the areas around my eyes which all swelled up à l’Elephant Man.

View of Kochi from my room

The hotel has a roof top swimming pool which I’ve had to myself when I’ve been up there. The water is surprisingly refreshing in the morning and to immerse myself into a weightlessness state is wonderful pain relief for my back. I’m not able to swim traditional strokes anymore, so I’ve invented a couple of my own: the feet forwards doggy paddle and the lazy wake. I’ve also created some aqua stretches which help my pain. Despite all this, the most effective, temporary healer is the big, yellow, hot thing in the sky. Magical heat.

When I left the Ayurveda place, I decided that I would spend my remaining time in India eating healthy, vegetarian (except fish), local food and will continue to be tee-total. Both have been inordinately easy. For breakfast, I have been eating fresh fruit (pineapple, melons, papaya and grapes) with plain yoghurt followed by Indian dishes such as puri, paratha or uttapam (a rice and lentil pancake) with sambhar (a vegetable and lentil stew/broth) and bhaji (spicy potato gravy). I’ve only had lunch once and for that, I walked out the hotel and went exploring for a good place where Kochi people eat. I came across a vegetarian eatery which was full of locals refueling their stomachs, all eating with their hands, well hand….the right one. It looked interesting and smelled good so I walked in having no idea what to order, there was no menu so I just sat down and within a minute, I had a tray put in front of me with a popadum, 3 lots of vegetables, (bindi, beetroot and potatoes) some yoghurt and 2 different chutneys, then a boy arrived who dolloped spoonfuls of rice onto my plate and then a man carrying 2 what looked like metal wine coolers, one containing sambhar and the other a coconut curry sauce ladled a bit of each over the rice. Yum. Cost – 38 rupees (60 cents)

Kochi Ports Authority

Kochi is built around a salt water lagoon in the Arabian Sea is a collection of islands an peninsulas, Fort Cochin has retained the old Portuguese, Dutch and English architecture and is a world away from mainland Ernakulam. My trip over there was very enjoyable. First I got a tuk tuk to the boat jetty and then went to buy a ticket for the ferry to Fort Cochin, an experience all of its own. “Queue” is not a word in the Indian dictionary. Where you would expect to see it, there is an entry which says “see barge”. “Personal space” is something else ignored. I was man-handled by several old, short, chubby women (I was in the Ladies queue but 

The ferry to Fort Cochin

Little Britain were more ladylike than these Indian women). My grasp of the local, Malayalam lingo has been fairly shoddy to date but I just had to vent my disapproval of this behavior so I reverted back to that much used Anglo/Irish expression, “For Fucks Sake!” and was predictably completely ignored. If this was what it was like just to queue for a ferry ticket then I can only imagine what it was like when tickets went on sale for India v England in the Cricket World Cup.

Anyway, with my ticket in hand (cost 2 rupees), I got on the surprisingly well-equipped, safety monitored, single decked ferry for the uneventful journey to Fort Cochin which took about 20 minutes. The weather was sunny and hot, very hot. My back wasn’t giving me too much grief so was OK for a bit of a walk but how my face lit when I saw this sign just 50 metres from the ferry!

Perfect, I hired a Dutch bike at 6 rupees an hour and began to explore the area. Fort Cochin has a ridiculous amount of churches serving the population but they are all different and architecturally interesting. St. Francis is considered India’s earliest church from the early 1500’s.

St. Francis Church

Kimansion

It has served several religions such as Roman Catholic, Dutch Reform, Anglican and now Church of South India. The Santa Cruz Basilica is fairly imposing but the standing structure is not the original. I was expecting more examples of Dutch architecture but apart from this building next to the Dutch Cemetary, there wasn’t much. The Portuguese and English influence is more prominent and many of the buildings are stunning. I particularly liked one particular well kept building, little did I know at the time I took the picture (right) that I would be staying there at the end of my trip!

Dutch Influence

Fish

I really was like a pig in shit, cycling around on my bike with no gears and dodgy brakes, looking at architecture, the fresh fish stalls and watching a bit of cricket on The Parade ground. The Dutch Palace there was a disappointment but I appreciated getting out of the sun at this stage and the fans were a great relief. The museum at the Dutch Palace (entrance 5 rupees) was small and not really full of anything, the odd mural and some paintings of very ugly, miserable looking Maharajas.

Chinese Fishing Nets

In 36 degrees, you definitely need lots of fluids, especially if you’re cycling around like Lance Armstrong, which I most definitely wasn’t. Eventually the heat got to me so I stopped at the Salt n Pepper café/restaurant, sat under an umbrella and ordered the first ice-cold Diet Coke of my trip. Sod you Ayurveda for dictating cold drinks are bad for you, this saved me from keeling over with heat exhaustion. I also had a quick snack of vegetable pakoras which were absolutely delicious. I shall return to Fort Cochin later and intend to watch the fish being landed from the Chinese fish nets at which time I shall pick out my fish and get someone to cook it for me.

I’ve had one Keralan fish curry served with Keralan (red) rice which was spicy and delicious. I ate at the hotel as I was too knackered to go anywhere else so I plonked myself down in front of the restaurant’s TV and watched India v Ireland in the CWC. The waiters were a bit confused having this English girl, in India, with a West Indies tattoo, supporting Ireland. I don’t blame them. You can’t really escape the cricket here but I don’t mind, it’s better than being inundated with crappy Wendyball. I just hope England and Ireland qualify for the quarter-finals and The Convicts don’t.

Today started with a trip to The Welcare Hospital. The thought of going didn’t exactly fill with me joy but it was necessary. I had got swimming pool water in my ear and it wouldn’t come out and had rendered me about 80% deaf in my left ear. It was also becoming painful, probably from my attempts to rid it of the water so off to the hospital I trotted - actually the hotel arranged a car to take me there. The casualty area was clean and surprisingly quiet. I had to register first (no ID required) - 150 rupees, then I was called to an ENR specialist. No fancy, modern equipment, just a torch, some warm water and a very old-fashioned looking metal syringe which he simply filled with the water and flushed out my ear, removing not just the water but about enough wax to start a candle business. Done. 385 rupees for the treatment and 9 rupees for some eardrops and I was back at the hotel within an hour. So called state of the art, Western health services, sit up and take note. Treating foreigners doesn’t have to be complicated.

Onions, shallots, spuds, carrots etc.

I’m a bit sunburned and mosquito bitten today but at least I have impeccable hearing. As it was my last day in Ernakulam, I went to have a look at the markets. I love wandering through markets, especially foreign ones. The fruit and veg stalls were immaculate and colourful and the spice stalls, fragrant but I have still yet to find cassia bark, which I can’t find in Amsterdam. Maybe I am barking up the wrong tree......There is something heartening about seeing market traders working hard and still having time to say hello with a big smile on their faces. I didn’t buy anything despite being tempted by a few metres of hosepipe and a   kitchen sink.

Imaculately presented vegetables

I have never felt threatened or uncomfortable in India, it really is a very safe place and even if you are the token, single, white girl, wearing minimal clothing, the attention you receive is friendly and good natured. I haven’t exactly been walking the streets at 2am but would feel comfortable doing so. I’m not daft though, I wear practically no jewelry, in fact today, nothing at all as it was sensible to remove my rings from my swollen fingers.

That's right. Run those evil bananas over and KILL them!

Yesterday, I went to the Travelogics office and sat down with Sanoj and we sorted out the rest of my trip. That man has some patience! After 2 ½ hours, I had my trip booked and he secured a huge amount of discounts for me. In India, it really is worth having a travel agent as they do get “special price” for you. Next stop is Munnar and then onto Thekkady, Kumarakom, Alleppy, Kollam and back to Fort Cochin. If anyone can recommend things to do or restaurants in these places, please let me know.

I leave Cochin tomorrow morning. The hotel’s chef collared me this morning and told me he would cook me something special this evening. I might even treat myself and have another Diet Coke!