India (6): Cochin

Cochin: Jan. 10-14, 2009
Flying from Udaipur, I had two quick layovers and finally landed in Cochin in the southern state of Kerala around 10:00pm. The second I stepped off the plane I knew I would love it. The warm humid air and tropical green trees surrounding the airport enveloped me in a welcoming hug. The driver from my hotel loaded my bag in the car and took me on the slowest ride ever. He tried to be Mr. Tour Guide pointing out sights along the way to Cherai Beach (located on Vypeen Island in Cochin) but, as it was almost 11:00pm and pitch black out, I couldn't actually see any of them. It was a sweet thought anyway.

I checked into my room (Brighton Beach Hotel for 950Rs ($19) a night) and showered. Well, not exactly, because for some reason the hot water only came out of a knee level spout and not the shower head so I filled a bucket with hot water and took a good old bucket shower. (All of the hotels I stayed in while in India provided buckets so you always have that option...in case you really like bucket showers, I guess. Also, there were also no shower curtains in any of the hotels.).

The sound of crashing waves was a great morning call. I strolled over the sandy path to the open air restaurant/patio and ordered some grub. At the edge of the patio was a big rock wall about waist high and just over it was Cherai Beach along the Arabian Sea. The waves crashed right against the wall. Turning my back to the sea was a sandy palm tree covered paradise. A beautiful relaxing last stop on my tour of India. While eating breakfast, I watched two frolicking dolphins and a few fisherman at work in colorful boats just off the coast.

I finished my food, changed into my swimsuit, and slathered on some sunblock. I climbed onto the rock wall, walked down a few paces and climbed over to the beach on the other side. The beach was completely deserted as far as I could see. I laid down my towel on the soft sand. Directly behind me were groves of palm trees and in front of me a gorgeous turquoise ocean.The sun was strong and I soon headed in the ocean for a swim. The water was a cool but not cold and very calm. I could just lay back and float. The weather in southern India is much warmer and more humid than the northern cities as it is closer to the Equator. I had landed in paradise. Ironically, I was sick. My sinuses were all stuffed, my nose was runny, and I had a fever. Oh well.

I relaxed all day on the beach, taking breaks for nourishment on the hotel's patio for lunch and at dinner enjoyed the amazing sunset. While laying out, there were a couple of men that stood on the rocks behind me and just stared at me for awhile. It was rather uncomfortable but they left eventually.

The men in southern India all wear a doti which is basically a sheet wrapped around their waist worn either knee length or ankle length and a button up shirt. The women wear their rainbow of saris. Kerala is a communist state and apparently very proud of it as evidenced by the posters and paintings of a hammer and sickle plastered around the area. Oh, and Catholicism is huge in the south. It was weird walking around and seeing crosses on all the churches and trying to remind myself I was still in India.The language also differs in the south (the government recognizes 22 official languages in India). In the northern cities I visited the predominate language was Hindi. In the southern state of Kerala, the main language is Malayalam. As seen in the sign below, Malayalam (top) is very loopy and round while Hindi (middle), also with some curls, has a line over all the words. The next morning, I got up at 5:30am for a backwater village canoe tour. Actually I was awoken numerous times by a mouse that was scratching around in the A/C vent. The people at the hotel were kind enough wake up and cook me some breakfast and ordered me up an autorickshaw for the 45 minute ride to Ernakulam.

Cochin is a city on the Arabian coast in the state of Kerala comprised of peninsulas and islands: Vypeen Island (where I was staying), Ernakulam, Fort Cochin, and more. Throughout inland Kerala there are meandering canals and rivers collectively called the backwaters. On the ride to Ernakulam, we crossed over tons of bridges and canals wandering through the jungle covered land.I arrived in the urban city of Ernakulam, checked in and paid the KTDC tourism office (400Rs ($8)) for the half day backwater tour. Then I hopped in a shuttle with a group of 6 other people (an Irish couple, an Indian couple and their mom, and our Indian guide) and rode out to meet our canoe.

Our guide showed us a few plants and explained their traditional uses and then we loaded into a large wooden canoe. They had placed plastic chairs single file inside for us to sit on. How odd. Once aboard, we slowly drifted through the peaceful canals with our guide pushing us with a long bamboo pole. The area was gorgeous. We were surrounded by lush tropical jungle including palm, banana, mango, and almond trees and colorful flowers. Many animals curiously watched us: goats, cows, dragonflies, butterflies, cats, and birds. Occasionally we would happen upon a house with women or children bathing in the canal and washing their dishes or clothes in the canal. The women washed their clothes by dunking them in the river and pounding them on rocks or tree stumps. It was amazingly serene and enchanting. I could live there.We ventured into one of the villages to witness local women demonstrating how they use coconuts to make coir rope and weaving rugs out of palm leaves. All of the residents seemed content and enjoying their surroundings. Unfortunately the reverie came to an end and we took the shuttle back to Ernakulam.

I wanted to check out Fort Cochin before heading back to Vypeen Island (where I was staying) and lucky enough the couple from Ireland were heading there also. We walked down to the dock and got into a packed ferry for the short ride over to Fort Cochin (3Rs ($0.06)). The tip of Fort Cochin was lined with large cantilever Chinese fishing nets. None of them were in use at the time we were there though. The area had many tourists, more than I had seen in any other part of India. The prices reflected this abundance of consumers.

We walked around town awhile, watching Indian families playing in the park, men and boys playing cricket and soccer in the fields. We found the St. Francis Catholic church. It was constructed by Portuguese Franciscan friars in 1503. Vasco de Gama, who died in Fort Cochin, was buried here for many years. The church itself was nothing special. I stumbled upon an English language book shop, serendipitous since I was about to run out of reading material. Then we stopped at a cafe for some lunch and refreshments.

Afterward, we parted ways and I went to the dock to catch the ferry to Vypeen Island (2Rs ($0.04)). The boat ride was only about 5 minutes. From the dock, I luckily found a bus heading toward Cherai beach. The bus was crowded and zoomed down the street at a frightening speed given the pedestrians and animals around. I found a guy who spoke English and he let me know when we had reached my spot. Unfortunately, when I got off, I think they were guiding me to transfer to another bus but I got confused and just started walking. I thought I was much closer than reality later made apparent. The walk from the bus stop to the beach was about 30 minutes.

The main beach at Cherai was packed with Indians. There were people, cars, and buses everywhere but no rickshaws to be found. I still had to get to my hotel up the road and it was getting dark. Of course this was the one day I didn't bring my flashlight with me. It took about 45 minutes to walk there. It was a little scary with no lights except sporadic passing headlights and random sounds of stragglers on the beach. I kept hoping a taxi would pass but you can wish in one hand and poo in the other and see which one fills up faster. So, the gods were against me.

I finally reached the hotel and ordered dinner, enjoying the crashing waves and the moon glittering on the sea. When I went to shower, there was no hot water. Great. When I asked about it, an American girl dating one of the Indian hotel guys offered to boil me some water for my bucket. Sweet. That night I slept soundly until I heard the mouse scratching around again. I even saw it's tail in the vent. It took me awhile to get back to sleep. The next night I closed the vents for more peace of mind.

The next day I took an autorickshaw down to the main beach to call my sister and then walked over to the beach. I passed a large group of young Indian women who curiously surrounded me and asked me a bunch of questions. Only two seemed to speak a little English. They all wanted photos with me. It was a bit intimidating. As I strolled down the beach back to the hotel I was stopped by at least 5 different groups of people to get photos with me.

Even though it was very warm and humid, I only saw men swimming and wearing tight little swim trunks. The women just put their feet in the water and none of them wore swimsuits, just their regular clothes. Just past the main beach all the people dwindled away and I had the beach all to myself. I ate lunch at the hotel and sent out an email. Later, I laid out and swam for awhile.

On my last day in Cochin, I strolled down to the north end of narrow Vypeen Island. The small road meanders back and forth from the beach side to the inland canal side and was surrounded by palm trees. The inland canal side had numerous Chinese fishing nets. I found a few in operation. The men work together hauling up and dropping down the counterweights that cause the nets to raise and lower in the water. Click on the link to see one in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z934-Wo79sw Each time they brought it up, there weren't really any fish. They had been at it all morning and when they showed me their tin bucket, their catch of the day amounted to 10 pinky-sized fish, and maybe 4 palm sized fish. Not much. There were also many colorfully painted fishing boats heading into the sea, hopefully they had better luck. Many men, with their skirt-like dotis, were at work at the tip of the island hauling huge boulders to build a wharf. Women were at work too, slapping their wet clothes on rocks or tree stumps and fetching water from local spouts. Everyone was really friendly, waving and shouting hello to me. Most of the houses were concrete block in a variety of pastel colors and a few were more like huts. Some had goats tied up outside. A few people passed on motorcycles or bicycles. I saw one tourist on a bicycle that stopped to chat. He was from Moscow. The rest of my last day was spent laying on the sand, swimming in the calm ocean, and eating snacks on the patio. I packed, settled up my bill (there was some confusion because on my first day, I was told I could pay with US dollars but now they were saying I couldn't but I didn't have enough rupees and they didn't take credit cards. Since it was their fault, I gave them the US money and they took it to an exchange office), and ate dinner.

The next morning I woke up early, showered, ate breakfast, and got in the taxi headed for the airport. Then end of my trip. Click the link to view all the Cochin photos: Cochin photo album