Kerala is beautiful. It is really, really green and the weather is much better than here in Gudalur! I think it is because we are in a valley in the mountains in Gudalur, it is never really that warm or sunny. But Cochin had perfect warm and sunny weather all weekend. We stayed in a homestay, Spencer homestay to be precise, as we had read in our trusty lonely planet guide that these tend to be good value. And it really was. We had a double room with 2 extra mattresses and it cost us 250 rupees each a night, which is about £3.50! I have found that the pound goes so far here, which is really helpful when it comes to travelling, as my budget is quite tight! There was a bit of a cockroach problem in the bathroom, but we dealt with it. Well I dealt with it, the others wouldn’t enter the bathroom until it had been screened by me first and all pests exterminated or removed! But apart from that, the room was fine and we didn’t spend much time there anyway.
On Saturday we were up bright and early, eager to explore. We hadn’t managed to see anything on Friday, as it was so late when we arrived. We were staying in Fort Cochin, which is where most of the tourists stay, and although it was quite touristy it was really pretty and there were some really nice cafes. We breakfast-ed at a place called the Kashi Art Café where I ate the best breakfast I have had since coming to India. I told you that Mala is a really great cook, and she is…but South Indian breakfasts aren’t really my thing. They often involve fermented rice in the form of balls – called idlis or pancakes – called dosa, and are eaten with curry or chutney. I can never bring myself to eat them for breakfast so we have got through a lot of nutella in our time in Gudalur. And since only one shop sells it as it has to import it, supply is limited and we had been cut off for a few days before our trip to Cochin, so our breakfast at Kashi Art Café was truly wonderful. I just wanted to give you some background to how appreciated it was! We have also been having serious protein cravings mainly meat, egg and chees (well, me and Mona and Julie, Duana is a veggie and she doesn’t like cheese much…weird.), and so when we were able to satisfy these on our trip we were very happy! For breakfast I had a cheese and tomato omelette with thick brown toast and butter and fresh pineapple…I would definitely recommend Kashi Art Café if you are ever in Fort Cochin!
Anyway, enough about breakfast, we spent the morning and early afternoon sightseeing in Fort Cochin. Fort Cochin had previously been colonised by the Dutch and so there were various colonial influences and a Dutch Palace that we paid a visit to. It was a bit of a way away so we took a rickshaw, much to the relief of the numerous auto-rickshaw drivers who had been frustrated all day with our desire to walk everywhere. They were quite funny actually, constantly driving past us saying ‘Ferrari Ride?’ or ‘Lamborghini (don’t know how to spell it) Ride?’ Its low season at the moment so I think they were all very keen to get work. Even though we asked to be taken to the Dutch Palace, our driver had ideas of his own. He took us to a ginger factory and various Hindu temples on his customised tour before taking us to the palace. He even had a comment book from previous tourists he had given tours to as evidence that he gave a good tour! When we eventually got there, the Dutch Palace was not that impressive from the outside, but the intricate Indian wall paintings and murals inside were great. In the evening we decided to go see some Kathakali dancing, which is the traditional dance of the region. Kathakali dancers have to train for 5 years before they can do paid performances, its quite a skill- but more because of the many, many various hand and eye movements which mean different things. Some of the eye movements that they did were really crazy, like spinning their eyes round and round! There wasn’t much of what I would consider dance though! But it was really interesting. The make-up and costumes of Kathakali are also really important and it takes them 1 hour before the performance to apply it, so people turn up at 6 for a 7pm performance to see it being applied. You can see below!
After the performance, we went to an Italian restaurant for dinner…it wasn’t very good Italian food and they didn’t serve wine but we still enjoyed it a great deal- a nice difference to curry curry curry! I also had my first ice cream since coming to India – words cannot even describe my joy. I love ice cream and cannot usually cope without it for prolonged periods of time! After dinner we hit the town, another first since arriving in India. I was in no way prepared for the dancing! It was a crazy melange of bollywood dancing, aerobics, and random exaggerated moves – all very active. Kind of the way I dance alone with my music very loud in my bedroom…I never thought I would get the chance to dance that way in public, but I did! We started off dancing conservatively, as we would in London, but it just looked like we were standing still compared to everyone else and eventually we decided to join them…it was very fun!
On Sunday we had a very chilled out day. We paid to use a fancy hotels swimming pool and we swam and read and I ate an amazing cheese sandwich. I realise I am mentioning food a lot, and it is not that the food in Gudalur isn’t good because it is, Mala makes really yummy curry…we are all just a bit fed up of spicy food and rice! We also did some shopping and I bought my mum a present, (although I can’t say what as I recently found out that my mum reads my blog!) Later on, we went to see the Chinese Fishing Nets, which are the nets they use, inspired by the Chinese ones, to catch fish. Fort Cochin is right by the sea and so they catch lots of fish and sell it fresh and you can get it cooked at local restaurants. It’s a lovely idea although we were too full from lunch to do it!
The Chinese Fishing nets at sunset made for some stunning photography…
On Monday we took a houseboat tour of the Keralan Backwaters…it was very peaceful and beautiful.
Photos to come...Internet being really slow!
We departed Cochin at 5pm and arrived back in Gudalur well after midnight! What a weekend! :)
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