Kochi

Start: Day 0

Kochi was our start point and our end point. We agreed to meet at Kochi as it is well connected to the rest of the world and she could fly in and out of Kochi easily.  I had lived in Ernakulam (the town near to Kochi), but had never been to the islands. I have always wanted to go there, especially the Chinese fishing nets at Fort Kochi. The nets were gifted by the Chinese king to the King of Kochi and in olden times there were more than 100 of them. Now only a few in working conditions exist along the lake side. But still it is the official icon of Kochi.

Fort Kochi

Fort Kochi has a couple of churches built by the Portuguese, including the Santacruz Basilica (the first European church built in Asia) and St. Francis Church (where Vasco Da Gama was buried),  and beautiful old colonial style buildings. It is really nice to walk around, hoping in and out of the various souvenir shops, art galleries and heritage complexes, cafes and restaurant. Being a touristic place, Kochi is not really cheap. But it is still possible to get accommodation of your budget as the place has a lot of home stays in addition to the usual hotels.

I reached there one day in advance. We had a booking at Kimansion Inn. It is a 250 year old building, very spacious rooms and good service. It is about 1.5 kms from the tourist info point, but close to the river in a very quiet corner, with enough places to eat. The location was very beautiful and I liked the place.

 

Day 1:

From Kochi one gets non-stop A/C buses to the international airport and it takes an hour to reach there. I think it is the best way to go to the airport as it is cheap, comfortable and not to worry about the mad traffic outside. I took it in the morning to receive my friend Gela from the airport.  And we took the same to come back to Kochi.

Vembanad lake

I think she liked the place, an ideal slow start to get used to the chaos. We didn’t do much on that day. Had our breakfast and lunch and we walked around the lake front in the evening watching the sunset and the fisherman selling fresh fish.  One can buy the fish directly there and ask one of the restaurants to cook it according to your wish. We went to the tourist info at the boat stop and booked for the backwater trip next day.

 

 

Sunset at Fort Kochi

 

The boat trip along the backwaters was not really in Kochi, but around a place called Vaikom which is about an hour ride from Fort Kochi.



Day 2:

 

The travel agent picked us up from hour hotel in the morning after breakfast. There were 3 other people, a couple from Germany and a guy from England who was also an amateur film maker. He was making a documentary about the places during the monsoon if I remember correctly. The drive took about an hour to reach our starting place which is along the Movattupuzha River, one of the small canals leading to the Vembanad Lake. Our boat was a traditional ‘kettuvallam’ refurbished in the form of a small house boat. In olden times the kettuvallams were used for transporting rice through the backwaters which were one of the major transport systems in Kerala. The backwaters wind up through the beautiful paddy fields and villages and extend from the south of Kerala to the central regions. Once the road and rail transports become prominent, the water transport reduced and the use of kettuvallams almost completely stopped. Then someone came up with the brilliant idea of converting the old kettuvallams into houseboats for tourist. Tourism being one of the major industries in Kerala accepted this novel idea with both hands. A journey through the beautiful backwaters winding through scenic paddy fields and villages while enjoying all the comforts of a hotel and pampered with the traditional culinary of Kerala, the tourists loved the idea. So backwater tourism became a highlight of any trip to the God’s Own Country – Kerala. Though the old villages and the paddy fields are fast vanishing, a trip through the backwater still has its charms, even for someone like me who is born and brought up in Kerala.     



Backwaters

Our boat was not motorised and so we moved at a slow speed enjoying the wind and the scenery around. Sometimes the boat went through very narrow tributaries of the river which is wide enough only for one boat. All the way the guide informed us about the different parts, a little bit about the history and the region. We stopped on the way to a women selling water from the tender coconut. It is one my favourite drinks and at any time I prefer it over any kind of soft drinks. It’s the first time Gela had it and she liked it.

On the way, we stopped at a village where the coir and its products are made. They also had a small spice garden. The coir is made from the dried husk of coconut.  And it has been one of the traditional industries in Kerala. The guide explained how all the contents of the coconut – the husk, the shell, the flesh, the water - are completely used for different purposed in Kerala. All of them are environment friendly.  The old coir products can be thrown out and it is completely biodegradable. The flesh and the water of the ripe coconut are used as an ingredient in Kerala dishes. The shell is used for cooking. But unfortunately the industry is in a decline because of the high farm and labour costs and the availability of cheap plastic items, though it is not environment friendly.

Our next stop was in a house where we had a traditional Kerala lunch. Nothing new for me, but for all others who got a first-hand impression of how spicy the food can become. After lunch we were back in the river and then to the mighty Vembanad Lake which is largest lake in Kerala, and it is also the longest.  The boat  snailed though the strong currents of the lake before entering one of the tributary rivers and back to the boat stop where we started. The agent dropped us back to Fort Kochi around evening time.  We strolled around a little bit had our dinner and went back to the hotel.  A day well spend I think.

Day 3:

After breakfast we left Fort Kochi by bus to the royal Hill Palace at Thripunthra. It was a long drive partly through the morning crowd in the city. But we were not in a hurry. And it was also an opportunity for Gela to experience the local life. The bus that we took from Fort Kochi was a local one with people hopping in and out at every km. The crowd in the bus varied from heavily crowded to sparsely crowded as the it moved along.



Hill Palace

Thripunitra is the erstwhile capital of the kingdom of Kochi. The huge palace in the middle of a beautifully maintained garden was in a bad shape. I remember seeing it in one of the Malayalam movies about 20 years back. The palace in its traditional Kerala architecture looked majestic. The old charms are still there, but I wished they maintained it well. As with many old architectural beauties in India, the funding they get for maintenance is very poor and most often inexperienced and untrained people do the day to day maintenance. There was a museum which displayed the crown, the jewels, paintings, artefacts from old times.

From the palace we took a bus to the jetty and then a boat to the Dutch palace in Mattanchery.  When compared to Tripunithra palace the Dutch palace was really well maintained. It was gifte by the Portuguese to the Maharaja of Kochi.  The coronations of Kochi Maharajas are always held here. Though much smaller in size, the museum inside had really beautiful murals and wall paintings. We roamed around and then walked along the streets. It is proper touristic place with lots of shops on both sides selling handicrafts, clothes, jewellery at exorbitant prices. We decided to have a drink in one of the silent cafeteria on the lake side. It was a part of a big antique shop and the best part of it was the location. The worst part of it was the price. I think it was priced too expensive even for a foreigner. I really hate this greed in humans, and unfortunately I experienced it quite often in India. The only place in India I experienced the opposite was in Ladakh. I really believe that the Buddhist culture has a big role in that.



Kathakali

We took a boat back to Fort Kochi and then went to watch a Kathakali performance. It is one of the traditional art forms of Kerala and the masks used by the dancers always forms part of the tourism promotion videos of India. In olden times the performance last throughout the night and is usually performed at temple festivals. Now a days the length has been trimmed down to match the busy lifestyles. The stories told in them are usually taken from the epics of Mahabharata. To understand the mudras one usually have to know the stories. So the organisers usually give a leaflet at the beginning explaining the story. Even after knowing the story it is difficult to understand the performance. But watching a Kathakali performance is one of the must do activities in any tourist itinerary in Kerala. The elaborate costumes, the settings and musical background is eye catching and  special even if we do not understand each part of the play. I have watched Kathakali only few times in my whole life. So I found it nice to watch it there along with Gela.

 

 

Day 4:

We took the early morning boat to Mattanchery again today. Mattancherry is a former trading city. The destination was the Jewish synagogue and Jew street which was constructed in 1500 by the Jewish refugees from Jerusalem during the Crusades. The synagogue has a very unique architecture, and old, and includes some manuscripts from the old times.  A place to visit if you are interested in the history.



Jewish Street

 We roamed around the Jewish street and visited some interesting antique shops. But as expected everything overpriced, clearly  aimed at foreigners. Afterwards we took a bus to visit the Bolgatty palace, which is situated in the Bolgatty island. It is the island where the British established a Royal Residency. But it was time wasted as it was not open to visitors! The palace is now a 5 star hotel and so you have to book a room in the hotel to visit this historical building. From there we took a rickshaw to Marine Drive. We just sat on the lakeshore, chatting, enjoying the view and relaxing. Gela had some entertainment from local palm reader. Since he didn’t speak any English it became my task to translate whatever he nonsense he told in Malayalam to English. I don’t know how of what he said he believed, but she was having a lot of fun. Anyway it was good to see her laugh and relax inspite of paying him an exorbitant tip in the end against my liking. It was a good time. We took the ferry back to Fort Kochi. We spent some more time at the river side watching a beautiful sunset behind the Chinese nets. It felt really good to be away from the mad crowd and the traffic and just enjoy the simple things in life.

Chinese nets, Fort Kochi