Cochin in Kerala

Our next venture out of Bangalore was to the beautiful state of Kerela. It is south of Bangalore and known for its many long and winding backwaters.  We are travelling with my in-laws (Trevor and Kay) which is really nice to be showing them some of the well known areas of India. With 6 of us travelling we decided to see a bit of Cochin prior to a night on a houseboat in the backwaters. I assume that most people would spend longer on the houseboat but with two young boys, we thought one night will be enough. Give them some time to run around.

So Cochin. It is a major city in the south of India, and happens to have the largest shipping port in all of India.  The city is obviously expanding quite quickly with the development of a new Metro system well underway.  We stayed at a lovely hotel on the manmade island of 'Willingdon' which has shipping channels on either side.  The hotel is located at one end of the island and has many dolphins swimming in the nearby waters. This kept many if us entertained.

We went on the sunset cruise the first night which was lovely - although I get very concerned about going on boats and ferries in India, as there are no apparent rules or regulations of numbers, seating, safety is completely on non-existent and I spend most of the time begging to get to our destination quickly and in one piece.  Let's hope the house boat is substantially better......

Today, we went and discovered the area of Cochin called Fort Kochi which is the area heavily influenced by the Dutch and Portuguese explorers and settlers.  The majority of the sites are churches or basilicas highlighting the large christian influence.  The Chinese fishing nets were quite the site with men pulling the nets up with large rocks as weights.  They are now really only used as a tourist demonstration, and we saw them catch about 15 fish - not really the catch of the day !  Mike and I walked around with me trying to improve my photography and to experience 'street Kochi' - it was lovely, apart from the many tuktuk drivers harassing us for a ride, but the heat and humidity did get to us.  All that was left to do was to return to the hotel and lie by the pool and enjoy a relaxing swim.

Next blog......the houseboat.