We woke at 4:20am for a 5am departure from the Lake Palace. We got away reasonably smoothly, we forgot to take our pastries from breakfast with us to eat on the plane so Deb went back to the room. Next thing here she is with our luggage in tow, the porters hadn’t colloected our bags so she brought them back with her! No stopping this girl!
Next we had to get off the Island, so we boarded an awaiting boat only to be told that there wasn’t enough room for us and asked if we would mind getting the next boat. So we got off and onto the next, which was more comfortable as it was just us on board, there were about 3 groups leaving at the same time as us.
Once we got to shore we meet Mangeet, our driver, and the A&K rep, and set off for the airport, 35km / 30 mins away.
Once at the airport we both gave Mangeet a hug and said our good byes. He had been with us since the first day we arrived (minus our short trip to Varanasi and Khajuraho), it was sad to see him leave, and we both wished him a safe drive back to Delhi (670 km a 14 hour drive). He introduced us to the “Three requirements for safe travelling in India” Good Horn, Good Brakes and Good Luck 🙂 We used a fair portion of each on our travels with him, mostly the horn, like all other drivers here. 🙂
Now we had to negotiate Indian Airport security. First you have all your travel documents checked by an armed guard just to get into the terminal. Then your check-in luggage is X-rayed and you go to the checking counter. Here you receive tags for your carry-on luggage. I asked to be seated together with Deb, and the guy said no problem and asked if an exit row was OK. I said no problem, very happy. Next we went through the third line of security, where your carry-on luggage is x-rayed, and you have to go through metal detectors and the customary pat down (Men and woman have separate queues for this patdown “service”). At this point your carry-on has the tag security stamped, and they get to go through all your stuff!! They went through all the jewelery of woman in front of us, it was a bit bizaar. They went through our carryon with all our chargers and electronic gear in it. Eventually, we made it through and while waiting at the departure, noticed that Deb was sitting in Row 20 (the exit Row) and I was in Row 29 according to our boarding passes, this is the second time we have been separated after asking to sit together. Deb asked at the gate to have it fixed and they said the cabin crew would fix it, as we boarded we asked again, and the cabin crew basically said fix it yourself! I sat next to Deb, and when the young man whose seat I was sitting came up to me, I explained what had happened and he shrugged his shoulders, gave me that quintessential Indian head wobble, and said ok, and went to the back of the plane and sat in my seat. They are so laid back in some cases, very good.
We transited through Mumbai airport and so we had to collect our luggage, but luckily not change terminals even though our onward flight is with a different airline. An A&K rep met us at the luggage carousel and guided us through the transit process, well took us to the right check-in counter and showed us where we had to go to get to our, yes you guessed it, through security again! Same process, different location. We had a 3 hour transit in Mumbai, so it was a good opportunity to catch up on our photos and things. We arrived in Mumbai at 8:30am and boarded the next flight at a bit after 11:30am, leaving around midday for Kochi. Woo Hoo, we got exit row seats and next to each other, although once in the air we spread out a bit as there wasn’t anyone in the aisle seat.
It was interesting flying into then out of Mumbai. The first thing you notice is that there is a very thick grey/brown layer of smog hanging over the city. We are hoping a bit of wind gets up and blows it all away before we come back in a week. (wishful thinking!) There were also a large number of slums, a lot around the airport and there seems to be quite a few inbetween some of the highrise buildings. We will see when we get back and take a tour of some of them. I am reading a book called “Shantaram” which is based mainly in Mumbai, so it was interesting to see the city from the air, and some of the areas in the book seemed to jump up at me, particularly where the slums approach the seafront.
We arrived in Kochi at about 1:30 and after being picked up by the A&K rep we drove off to our hotel, arriving at about 3pm. We were greeted with the usual ceremony of a Tikka and cool drink. We have a corner 3rd floor room that overlooks the confluence of the Arabian Sea and Vembanad Lake. We can see everything from a traditional fishing village to a busy container terminal from our window. The shipping lanes seem pretty busy, so there is always something to gaze at. We have only been here a short time but have already noticed many differences here in the South from that in the North. The first thing you cannot help but notice is the huge billboards all around the place, mainly advertising Bollywood Movies. There are a lot of new, modern buildings and they have a new metro train system under construction, so there is a lot of capital works going on. There are many large car showrooms featuring everything from the local brand Tata to Nissan and Mercedes. Speaking of cars, the traffic here isn’t as manic as it is up north, but that may be because there doesn’t seem to be as many cars and bikes on the road. It looks as though our new driver, Sajan, has adopted Rule 1 for safe driving (Good Horn) for his own!! There are a vast array of different churches down here, yes Christianity is the main religion in Kochi, but Hinduism takes over in the rural areas, and is still the main religion of Kerala (the State we are in). The weather here is very tropical and the surrounds are very green, and it’s significantly more humid than up north. The main industries here are: IT, Tourism, Fishing, Ship Building, Port Services and Labour Export. Kochi has a population of about 2+ million, with about 30+ million in Kerala. Kerala has the highest literacy rate of State in India, at about 97%.
This afternoon we went down for afternoon tea in the hotel gardens followed by a “Backwaters” Cruise. The cruise took us passed the old chinese fishing nets about 600 years old, some waterfront colonial style hotels, part of the local fishing fleet and the container terminal. It was a fun way to see our first sunset down here and over the Arabian Sea.
For dinner we went to the hotels seafood to which is their speciality and picked out a freshly caught Bakthi (caught off the coast here in the Arabian Sea) and had it prepared three ways, firstly by their famous signature dish, Meen Pollichathu in banana leaf, (Vonnie’s friend at work told us to have this) secondly spice coated and grilled, and lastly in a coconut curry, all served with roti, rice noodles and rice pancakes. It was delicious, so much we couldn’t do dessert! 🙂
On the day after we leave this hotel, Prince Charles is staying here. I am sort of glad we will be gone, I think the security might just be a bit over the top while he is here!! No doubt he will miss seeing us!
Tomorrow we start exploring the south. 🙂
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Charlie’s loss 😉
Yes, Carly no doubt he will be very disappointed!!
The food all sounds amazing – makes my mouth water!!