Hi everyone!
I can't remember when I posted last but I think I was in Delhi. Yes, I had just posted photos of the golf club. My last day in Delhi was nice and then I boarded a plane to Kochi, Kerala - Ceinwen got on a plane from Jodhpur and she found me easily in the airport, waiting at the gate. Our flight was a bit delayed but the airline (Jet Airways) amazingly gave us meals for every part of the flight! Ceinwen got food from Jodhpur to Delhi, then we got food from Delhi to our stop in Chennai, and another meal on the last stretch to Kochi. The flight was about 4 hours once we took off.
In Kochi we had to take a rather expensive taxi to the homestay we were at because it turns out the airport is 45km from Fort Cochin, where we stayed. We arrived in the evening and settled in and went to bed. In the morning the couple who runs the homestay, Sheeba and Ashley, served breakfast on the rooftop patio. It was very nice and yummy and we met the other travellers at the homestay. Then we walked to town - it was such a beautiful walk! Kerala is quite wealthy I think and the streets were so clean and the town is so pretty! There are Chinese fishing nets lining the shore and lots of shops and restaurants, cause I guess Fort Cochin is a touristy place. We took a public ferry to the next island over (Fort Cochin is on an island) and then a hour-long city bus up the island to Cherai beach. The beach was beautiful and very long and we swam in the Arabian Sea! It was sooo warm. We then ate a buffet lunch at the Cherai Beach Resorts (only place to eat- good but sort of expensive) and went back to the beach for a bit. We got back to Fort Cochin before dark and got fruit shakes at a cute little place before going home to shower. Then walked to Oceanus (restaurant) for a seafood dinner. Sort of another expensive place but I'm learning Kerala is a real tourist spot unlike most of India so the prices are closer to home standards. Kerala is also a democratically-elected communist state, which is super cool, and it has a matriarchal society. When you take the bus, all the women use the front half and all the men the back half. It's so cool because in Dharamsala there is a rule where 33% of seats are reserved for women but NO ONE follows it and often all the men sit while the women stand. It was an issue our NGO was targeting when we left, but it's great to see it working well here - and not just 33%, but a fair half!
We also spent a lot of the day with a man named Andy who we met that morning at the homestay, and who was going to the beach as well. He is from London and living in Thailand, and quite a nice guy. He showed us the shake shop. ALSO - he was telling us how he's waiting for some friends and their kids to arrive because they are all doing some fancy vacation over Christmas. I thought it was cool that he would stay in a little cheap place like ours and then go to their fancy resort when they arrived. Anyways, to the point! He told us that the night before he had met his friend's sister, who lives in Cochin, for dinner and she took him to this fancy hotel in Fort Cochin for drinks and he was saying how it was all so boring cause everyone was stressed at a meeting on their iPhones, and then he told us that in the group was M.I.A. and John Abraham (a Bollywood star). And he was whining about how he didn't want to go to dinner with this woman again!! Ceinwen and I stalked the hotel a bit in the evening but didn't see M.I.A.
Today we woke up and took a rickshaw tour of Jew Town, which is near Fort Cochin. Then we took a taxi to Alleppey, a town 1.5 hours away. We were going to take the city bus but we luckily found a couple at the homestay who were also going and we split the cost with them. We are going to do our overnight backwaters houseboat tour with them also cause we will save 500-1500 rupess ($10-30) by taking a two-bedroom houseboat. That will be Monday/Tuesday. When we got here we checked into our homestay (not as cute as the other place but there is wifi and that's a big plus!) and walked to find food. That took a while of walking back and forth and it made me feel like a real traveller again, not being able to find things and all. We eventually found our way to the beach which is 15 minutes walk from our place. We found a nice place to eat and had masala fish and prawns. Mmmm. The beach was so beautiful and we walked on it as the sun started to go down so it cooled off an we could walk in our bare feet. No one was swimming (our Lonely Planet says it's dangerous but doesn't elaborate so we are gonna investigate why it's not safe) except some teenage boys playing frisbee and stuff. It was cool to see lots of locals there with their families enjoying the spot. It was very clean and made me happy there is more wealth here. I love to see the people who belong in a place enjoying its amazingness.
Now we are back in our room showered uploading photos etc. I think my mom and sister may call tonight which will be nice. Oh! Another nice surprise was that Sheeba, at the last homestay, offered for us to leave some stuff behind for the week, since we'll be back there the night before our flight to Mumbai. So I left my big backpack and took just a day pack and a canvas bag!!! It will be so nice moving around without the pile of parka and boots and souvenirs.
I can't remember when I posted last but I think I was in Delhi. Yes, I had just posted photos of the golf club. My last day in Delhi was nice and then I boarded a plane to Kochi, Kerala - Ceinwen got on a plane from Jodhpur and she found me easily in the airport, waiting at the gate. Our flight was a bit delayed but the airline (Jet Airways) amazingly gave us meals for every part of the flight! Ceinwen got food from Jodhpur to Delhi, then we got food from Delhi to our stop in Chennai, and another meal on the last stretch to Kochi. The flight was about 4 hours once we took off.
In Kochi we had to take a rather expensive taxi to the homestay we were at because it turns out the airport is 45km from Fort Cochin, where we stayed. We arrived in the evening and settled in and went to bed. In the morning the couple who runs the homestay, Sheeba and Ashley, served breakfast on the rooftop patio. It was very nice and yummy and we met the other travellers at the homestay. Then we walked to town - it was such a beautiful walk! Kerala is quite wealthy I think and the streets were so clean and the town is so pretty! There are Chinese fishing nets lining the shore and lots of shops and restaurants, cause I guess Fort Cochin is a touristy place. We took a public ferry to the next island over (Fort Cochin is on an island) and then a hour-long city bus up the island to Cherai beach. The beach was beautiful and very long and we swam in the Arabian Sea! It was sooo warm. We then ate a buffet lunch at the Cherai Beach Resorts (only place to eat- good but sort of expensive) and went back to the beach for a bit. We got back to Fort Cochin before dark and got fruit shakes at a cute little place before going home to shower. Then walked to Oceanus (restaurant) for a seafood dinner. Sort of another expensive place but I'm learning Kerala is a real tourist spot unlike most of India so the prices are closer to home standards. Kerala is also a democratically-elected communist state, which is super cool, and it has a matriarchal society. When you take the bus, all the women use the front half and all the men the back half. It's so cool because in Dharamsala there is a rule where 33% of seats are reserved for women but NO ONE follows it and often all the men sit while the women stand. It was an issue our NGO was targeting when we left, but it's great to see it working well here - and not just 33%, but a fair half!
We also spent a lot of the day with a man named Andy who we met that morning at the homestay, and who was going to the beach as well. He is from London and living in Thailand, and quite a nice guy. He showed us the shake shop. ALSO - he was telling us how he's waiting for some friends and their kids to arrive because they are all doing some fancy vacation over Christmas. I thought it was cool that he would stay in a little cheap place like ours and then go to their fancy resort when they arrived. Anyways, to the point! He told us that the night before he had met his friend's sister, who lives in Cochin, for dinner and she took him to this fancy hotel in Fort Cochin for drinks and he was saying how it was all so boring cause everyone was stressed at a meeting on their iPhones, and then he told us that in the group was M.I.A. and John Abraham (a Bollywood star). And he was whining about how he didn't want to go to dinner with this woman again!! Ceinwen and I stalked the hotel a bit in the evening but didn't see M.I.A.
Today we woke up and took a rickshaw tour of Jew Town, which is near Fort Cochin. Then we took a taxi to Alleppey, a town 1.5 hours away. We were going to take the city bus but we luckily found a couple at the homestay who were also going and we split the cost with them. We are going to do our overnight backwaters houseboat tour with them also cause we will save 500-1500 rupess ($10-30) by taking a two-bedroom houseboat. That will be Monday/Tuesday. When we got here we checked into our homestay (not as cute as the other place but there is wifi and that's a big plus!) and walked to find food. That took a while of walking back and forth and it made me feel like a real traveller again, not being able to find things and all. We eventually found our way to the beach which is 15 minutes walk from our place. We found a nice place to eat and had masala fish and prawns. Mmmm. The beach was so beautiful and we walked on it as the sun started to go down so it cooled off an we could walk in our bare feet. No one was swimming (our Lonely Planet says it's dangerous but doesn't elaborate so we are gonna investigate why it's not safe) except some teenage boys playing frisbee and stuff. It was cool to see lots of locals there with their families enjoying the spot. It was very clean and made me happy there is more wealth here. I love to see the people who belong in a place enjoying its amazingness.
Now we are back in our room showered uploading photos etc. I think my mom and sister may call tonight which will be nice. Oh! Another nice surprise was that Sheeba, at the last homestay, offered for us to leave some stuff behind for the week, since we'll be back there the night before our flight to Mumbai. So I left my big backpack and took just a day pack and a canvas bag!!! It will be so nice moving around without the pile of parka and boots and souvenirs.
 |
| Me at the Lotus Temple |
 |
| Lotus Temple |
 |
| Walking to Old Fort Cochin from the homestay |
 |
| A church in Fort Cochin (there are lots of churches all over in Kerala because it was a colony) |
 |
| The ferry to Vypeen Island to go to Cherai Beach - split men in the back women in the front |
 |
| Vypeen Island |
 |
| Vypeen Island - these are Chinese fishing nets |
 |
| On the rickshaw ride to the beach |
 |
| Cherai Beach |
 |
| In the backwater canals behind the beach, on the island |
 |
| More of the canals |
 |
| Sun setting on the ferry back |
 |
| On our rickshaw tour this morning |
 |
| at a ginger warehouse |
 |
| a blurry photo taken by our rickshaw driver |
 |
| On our taxi ride to Alleppey our driver spotted an elephant coming up the road and pulled over so we could take photos. Look at it!!! |
 |
| Alleppey Beach (Ceinwen and a family) |
 |
| Me at Alleppey Beach |
 |
| Me again |
 |
| A big fancy church in Alleppey |
 |
| the church's cemetery xo can't wait to see you all! 17 days till Christmas!!! |
