A First Taste of India

We arrived in India at 08.30 after a comfy 90 minute flight from Colombo - a small cock up on our part saw us flying business class which was a real treat – I only wish the flight had been longer!

Our taxi was waiting and we started the journey to Fort Cochin travelling through the large city of Ernaculam to get our first sights of India. It’s busier and a bit scruffier – and the heat even this early in the morning is a stifling 29C.  The driving however does seem a little more organised and isn’t quite as frenetic although everyone has a hand permanently on their horn (ooh er mrs).

The journey to Fort Cochin takes as long as the flight from Colombo. We are staying in a homestead which is very clean and Judith, our landlady speaks good English and is very friendly.  All the streets here are close together but our homestay is a little oasis surrounded by chaos. In the garden there are turkeys, doves and a Brahimy Hawk who likes to sit on a post next to the pond.  A well manicured garden has fantastic plants and shrubs including flowering cactus in pots and a climbing pepper corn growing up around a tree.

Eden Garden Homestay - Fort Cochin

We venture into Fort Cochin which is a small fishing port.  There are lots of tourists who have descended here to spend New Year’s Eve.  Walking along the sea front we watch the men fishing with Chinese nets.  These huge contraptions are operated by teams of men and look like giant boomerangs.  Lowered into the water and counterbalanced by large weights, the nets allow the fish to swim over them which are then hauled up by teams of men who strain to pull up the nets to scoop up the fish.  Each dunk of the net requires a lot of effort and the return of a few fish doesn’t at first sight look like a fair return but over the course of the day each net has a considerable haul of fish.  It must work as the nets have been here for more than 600 years.

Chinese Fishing Nets

Visitors can buy the fish and carry it over the road where for 100 rupees they can have it cooked on a grill come BBQ affair.

Jew Town is a short tuk tuk ride.  There are a couple of streets that house spice and antique shops catering almost exclusively to the tourist trade.  

Jew Town Quarter

The small shop fronts often open up into extraordinarily large galleries stocked with all manner of items from boats to stone carvings, silks and carpets. 

You can almost smell these spices

We eat at the Ginger House Restaurant which is on the river and offers cool breezes.  The chefs are busy preparing mouth-watering food in a large and spotlessly clean kitchen.  I wander in to the open plan kitchen to watch the food being cooked.  The skills and attention to detail of the chefs is remarkable.  Every dish is cooked from fresh ingredients and the prawns are kept alive in a bucket until ordered. One lady uses a torture device to extract coconut from its shell which goes into one of the many curries that are on the go. No microwaves or reheating left-overs here and the quality and taste of the ginger prawn curry is scrumptious.

A busy chef hard at it in the Ginger House

Whilst the shops and galleries are lovingly restored and offer a cool and pleasant experience it would be fair to say that not all the facilities are as inviting. 

Sounds inviting but the reality........

....is something different!

As usual we realise that tourist maps are not to scale and what looks to be just around the corner on the map is often a good mile down the road.  Luckily tuk tuks are cheap and plentiful with most journeys costing about 20 rupees (25p including tip!).  Reassuringly, tuk tuk drivers appear to have had driving lessons although a driving school named after the patron saint of lost causes is an interesting concept.  Training also appears to include the skills more often associated with Glasgow taxi drivers as we’re asked for supplements after 9.30pm – they haven’t yet introduced the boundary charge for Eaglesham but I’m sure they’ll get there.

Speaks for itself.

The town is decorated ready for the New Year’s celebrations - we will let you know how that goes in our next blog.  Until then, have a very prosperous NEW YEAR.