Cochin

We reached Cochin earlier today (May 7) and are taking it all in. It is late after dinner and we will update the blog soon. We hope all is well with all of you.

UPDATE FROM COCHIN:
Cochin is very similar to Mombasa, Kenya. The people are laid back, air is humid and water everywhere. On our first day here we had a city tour and we visited the first European church in India which was built by the Portuguese and saw Vasco de Gama's tomb, and visited a Maharaja's museum. We also visited Fort Cochin and saw Chinese fishing nets which was really interesting to see. It is an old process that the Indians learned from the Chinese over 400 years ago and they are still using it today. We saw the Dutch Cemetary and the Jewish Street called Jew town. There are a lot of Anglo Indians here in Cochin because the area was settled by Dutch, Portuguese and British explorers who came here for the spice trade. We also went on a boat cruise on the backwaters and saw various islands filled with coconut trees. Kerala, means land of the coconut. This was beautiful. We then watched a Kathakali performance in the evening. This in itself was an experience. The dancers were both men and the had on heavy makeup and made very exaggerated facial expressions to tell a story. Basically the whole story is told by the facial expressions and it is amazing to watch, and bizarre at the same time. The man was dancing with his eyes and eyebrows.

Yesterday we spent most of the day chilling at the pool. After lunch we went for an Ayurvedic massage which was let's say..authentic and intrusive. It was no oasis spa let me tell you. Azam and I are both still very traumatized from the experience. Overall, our muscles felt good but we can't really comment on the rest as this is a family blog..hahahhah!!!

Then we walked down MG road, the main street here, and went shopping to a famous local sari shop. It was crazyyy in there and the main problem was that they didn't really understand English or Hindi, and we got a lot of blank expressions and ladies running around not knowing what we were asking for. Anyways, I still managed to do some shopping.


Today was an amazing day! We spent most of the day on a houseboat touring the backwaterrs and Cochin's largest lake on the way to Kumarakom. The picture you see really does not do the reality much justice but we were cruising in the waterway that you see in the picture. We stopped by and picked up some fresh tiger prawns that were the size of Azam's arm, and then our personal chef cooked us our lunch which consisted of different curries, freshly caught fish and the above mentioned prawns. It was delicious. Afterwards, we were sitting and enjoying the breeze and it put us right to sleep. We took a short nap on the boat and when we awoke, there was fresh chai and banana fritters ready for us.

We forgot to mention our tour guide/personal assistant for the stay in Cochin. His name is Johnson and he is shorter than me! I think the best purpose he has served us is personal photographer. Funny guy, this tourism is his side job and he is actually a gym teacher. The thing that cracks us up the most about him is his command on the Indian head gesture/jingling. He has the Indian nod down pact and Azam and I can't stop laughing when he talks to us. Overall, the people here are very friendly and nice and we are having a beautiful time. Azam seems to be especially fond of this place because it really reminds him of Mombasa.

We are sitting here in the business center of Le Meridian hotel and our chai walla has just served us chai and cookies as we update this blog. I can really get used to this life.


take care
Saima and Azam