We had originally planned to travel from Goa by train, taking a week to reach Kochi via Hampi, Mysore & Snooty Ooty – but Plan B was an extra week in Goa to help Debbie’s shoulder recover as she wouldn’t have been up to the joys of overnights on Indian Railways just yet. So an IndiGo (Indian easyJet) flight to Kochi was booked – fully flexible ticket in case of further changes to plan, which also came with free long legroom seats, meal and increased luggage allowance – all for £57 each!
The journey started eventfully, with IndiGo desperately trying to page Debbie at the airport. She didn’t hear it so they eventually WhatsApp called her just as the flight was ready to board. There was something suspicious – maybe a lighter – in her luggage and it needed to be opened. She remembered that there was indeed a lighter in the toiletry bag, used for mosquito repellent coils, oh dear. But no, it was Steve’s rucksack (labeled as being Debbie’s) that was the issue. She watched on a screen as, somewhere in the bowels of the airport, Security opened and emptied the rucksack – good luck in getting everything back in guys. GoPro batteries turned out to be the offending items so were confiscated. Of course they were – they were worth about £150! By now our flight was being called so the airline representative hurried Debbie out of the security room saying the batteries ‘might’ be returned at the gate. Of course there was no sign of said batteries, but Debbie was not taking any shit and asked for them to be returned. We got them back 🙂
IndiGo was fine – at least in the front row long legroom seats. Our pre-selected meal of chicken biryani was ‘interesting’ though – we were asked whether we wanted it raw or prepared (really?) and it turned out to be like a pot noodle (but quite tasty).
Kochi Airport is ultra modern and super efficient (the world’s first solar powered airport), we were out and in the waiting taxi within 15 minutes of landing, arriving at our hotel about an hour later after driving through the modern part of Kochi (Ernakulam) – passing fancy car dealerships, international hotels, KFCs and even an M&S – before heading across the waterways to Fort Kochi. It was after midnight, but we had some house admin to do so it was a late night.
Accommodation – Solo Inn by Hawk Hospitality – a lovely old mansion house in the residential back lanes of Fort Kochi, recently converted to a small hotel. Perfectly nice, we got the only balcony room (Debbie, always in travel agent mode, had requested it), it was just over £30/night including breakfast, and well located a 10 min walk into the main tourist area, or Rs 40 (40p) in a tuk tuk if feeling lazy.
Fort Kochi is a total contrast to the modern Ernakulam part of the city – a thriving port and centre of the spice trade, colonised by the Portuguese and taken from them by the Dutch, it’s a lovely & intriguing blend of cultures and architecture. Very grand houses abound, some converted into heritage hotels, others into arty cafes and galleries, or just private homes or homestays. There’s definitely been wealth here, and still is if the members-only Cochin Club is anything to go by. The area in which we were staying was very leafy and suburban, almost middle class, but further across the peninsula towards the Mattancherry area became more ‘local’ and urban.
Although only a 1 hour plane ride 500 miles South of Goa, and supposedly the same temperature, the heat and humidity hit us like a tonne of bricks. There’s very few photos of us in Kochi as we were hot and sweaty most of the time! What you need when it’s hot and humid is a nice cold beer – not so easy in Kerala as it’s officially a dry state. Some restaurants do sell alcohol, but the majority don’t, bars are scarce and the state-run outlets sell drinks. Steve suggested we should go dry while in Kerala – Debbie told him to sod off and luckily had insisted on bringing a £3.50 bottle of gin from Goa. We found tonic and ice cubes so all good. But on our 2nd night (1st February), Steve got off his high horse and was gasping for a beer. The only bar we’d seen was closed (odd for a Saturday night) and none of the restaurants who advertise availability of alcohol were serving any as it was ‘DRY DAY’. WTAF? It turns out that the 1st of every month is designated a totally dry day – it’s payday and is intended to stop the Keralans (who amazingly have the highest per capita alcohol consumption in India) from blowing their wages on booze. Oh well, gin & tonic in our room then!
A tourist destination inevitably means hassle/touting and potential scams, and it was a bit of a shock after the bubble of Goa but very low key compared to what we will no doubt encounter in Northern India (and probably no worse than Leicester Square). We heard the tales of tuk tuk tours diverting to shops selling expensive jewellery, perfumes and tat, and the tourists not being allowed out until they’d bought something. We had no problems as we resisted the tuk tuk tours and just asked to be dropped where we wanted to go. Tuk tuks are everywhere when you don’t want to be hassled for a tour, but there’s not one to be found when you actually want one (as you have ice cubes that are melting and need to get home quickly)
Keen to understand a little Keralan culture, we went to the theatre. Kathakali is a traditional form of Indian classical dance and one of the most complex forms of Indian theatre. Almost exclusively performed by ornately made-up men, who have trained for upwards of 10 years, the art form focuses on facial expressions and hand gestures to express ideas. The performance we attended was an introduction to Kathakali, with narration in English making it very easy to understand. Without this, we’d not have had a Scooby what was going on! Absolutely stunning and fascinating – and only a fiver each.
The Chinese fishing nets are the feature that most will associate with Fort Kochi – beautiful, huge, quite primitive structures, lifted and lowered by several fishermen using a cantilever weight system. I’m not sure how much they actually catch, but fish is laid out in the 30+ degree heat for tourists to purchase and have cooked for them – no thanks.
Trying to get the perfect shot of the fishing nets we realised that we needed to get on to a pier, which turned out to belong to the Fort Kochi Water Metro station – who knew such a thing existed? The first in India apparently. Fascinated, and wanting to get onto that pier for the photo, we purchased tickets to High Court (wherever that may be) and made our way to our boat. Wow, a fully electric and air conditioned fleet of 75 boats transport tourists, locals and commuters across the waterways of Kochi harbour and beyond. There are also some older and far cheaper ferry routes, with the main passenger ferry being the exact same vessel type as Dartmouth Higher Ferry back home.
Fort Kochi is very touristy in places, with the associated hassle and sale of tat, but charming, cosmopolitan and arty too. There are some fabulous cafes & galleries, some decent shops and overall, it’s a nice place to just ‘be’ for a few days
We ate some good food – obviously curry, but also a great pizza in a garden behind David Hall gallery, a real burger on homemade brioche bun, some excellent ravioli in Gorgonzola sauce, and finally the best meal we’d had so far in India. Our ‘weekly indulgence’ was at the East Indies restaurant in the posh Eighth Bastion Hotel. We weren’t dressed for it, but what the hell – they had beer & wine and it looked a lovely place. This was our first alcohol purchase in Kerala – we had to extend the scale on the large Kingfisher price index (a fiver a bottle) and don’t even ask about the price of wine. But it was worth it – the service and food exquisite – shrimp roast and spiced calamari for starters, followed by prawns and fish fillet cooked in banana leaf. The chef, wearing a very tall hat, came out to check everything was good with the food. Yes thank you, it was indeed 🙂
After a couple of days of just wandering and ‘being’ in Fort Kochi, we felt the need to do the sights, so off to Mattancherry in a tuk tuk we went. Firstly to the ‘Dutch’ Palace – a very plain exterior but rather beautiful inside with frescoed walls, intricate wooden ceilings and an exhibition detailing the history of royalty in Kerala. Then a brief walk through Jew Town to the 16th Century synagogue. A very touristy part of Kochi, but in a nice way – bustling rather than tacky, loads of antique shops, and not particularly heavy on the hassling.
Fort Kochi is an important naval base and the Maritime Museum was close to our hotel so we dropped in – an impressive depiction of the history of seafaring in India and the Indian Navy, and we were amazed at just how big their fleet is.
It’s a small world – walking down a small lane near our hotel we bumped into Bridget who we’d met at cooking class 3 weeks ago in Goa, and then we saw her again that evening. And a couple we’d met on the water metro the previous day were at the Dutch Palace the following day.
Did we like Fort Kochi? On balance, yes, but it was more touristy and less quaint than Debbie had hoped.
We have high hopes for the next destination – heading 4 hours inland and up into the mountains to Munnar……
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