India, Sri Lanka and The Maldives - Days 34 to 36 - Kochi, Kerala

A brief stop on the way to Kochi at the Marian Pilgrim Shrine, built in 1997

Day 34

Bearing in mind how much Shareef had complained about the journey to Periyar, he’d said nothing about this journey which was 4 hours on Google maps, leaving at 08.00 (and we couldn’t get breakfast any earlier than 07.30) and with our walk around Fort Cochi starting at 13.00.

Another brief stop on the way at a rubber plantation. It shows how the tree bark is scored at an angle to allow the latex milk to drain into a collection cup. Apparently trees need to be 5 years old before they can be used for rubber extraction and they will then last for 25 years before being chopped up as firewood. Shareef told us that each tree produces an income of 1600 rupees (£16) per day throughout its life. Look how many trees in this photo and, of course, the plantation was huge. It's quite a good income once planted out

Stop for a church, to look at a rubber plantation and at a bakery for a drink and snack and actually met our guide, Rayesh, bang on time, outside St. Francis Church, the oldest European church in India. We had been here before, on the cruise. This is the only cross over point we have, so it was going to be interesting and it was actually one of the better shore excursions. We started off with the church and the Chinese fishing nets, both of which we’d seen before, along with the fisherman giving a fresh fish to a cat, that we’d also seen before. The information gained and the walk between the two however was much better. We were then back in the car for the ridiculously short distance to Mattanchery, which we didn’t realise we had also been to before, this is the little shopping area we ambled around in and where Brian bought his shirt. It is also the home of Jew Town and the synagogue, open for the 2 remaining Jews in the area, that was shut on our last visit.

Shareefs car (and all new commercial cars) runs on both petrol and CNG (Compressed Natural Gas which is a bio fuel being made from underground methane. You can see the yellow frame containing the storage cyliners

The Synagogue was quite interesting with some lovely hand painted Chinese tiles on the floor. They had been bought by the Rajah who had then been told that the paint had been mixed with cows blood, so he decided he didn’t want them! We followed this with a visit to the museum which was also quite interesting, though sadly I hit a wall. It was so hot, I really do struggle. I’m missing the mountains we have come from so much. It was plenty warm enough there, but here it’s awful, and I suspect it’s not going to get much better!

Under the filler cap are two fillers and the CNG is connected. Regulations are pretty tight, we had to be outside the car during filling and on board gas cylidners have to be certified for use every three years. On this fill up he took 7.54kg and it cost 656 rupees (£6.50). He says the car will do about 350 km on this fill, so its pretty cheap and it was filled in the time it takes to refuel a petrol car. Very cheap to run and with lower emissions

They managed to pour me into the car, and on, to the homestay, which isn’t really a homestay at all, but is ok, except the man in charge wasn’t here when we arrived and we couldn’t work out how to get the AC on (it’s the breaker outside the door). Father who couldn’t make it up the stairs, or speak English did well to get us in to our room and ring his son who appeared very quickly to sort us out. Just over an hour then before we were out to our Kathikalli dance performance. We arrived half way through the make up session, but that was planned, recommended by the guide, Shareef and a Western woman I was talking to somewhere. That was plenty long enough. We then had an introduction to the power of the eye movements which was actually quite good, but they didn’t really explain the umpteen hand gestures that also mean very specific things. We had a written description of what we were going to see, a 40 minute section of a performance that would usually go on for about 8 hours! The sinister Kichaka, was going to attempt to seduce Malini, when that failed to try to violate her, before she ran off to her husband, Bhima, disguised as a palace chef. He tells her to invite Kichaka to the dance hall that evening where he would lie in wait and kill him. Yes, that took about 40 minutes with lots of hand gestures that meant nothing to us, but in theory said so much more! It wasn’t for me!

A place we've been to before. St Francis Church, original burial site of Vasco de Gamma, now moved to Lisbon

Dinner out, which was delicious, right on the water front, two different prawn curries, finally got something spicy. We did rush a bit though as Kochi is where Shareef lives so he can spend the night at home before driving off with us tomorrow for the next 18 days.

Inside the lovely old St Francis church with Vasco de Gammas now empty burial chamber on the right (out of site). Note those lovely old fans each side that used to be operated by a man outside via a rope pull

Day 35

A couple of hours towards Alleppey and we were on our luxury houseboat. If you are on facebook you know all about this but I still have to write it.

The Chinese fishing nets, still in use today. They lower the nets into the water, leave them for a while then lift them out and see what they've got. Nothing while we were there but apparently then can get quite a few

The boat was 4 berth, but there was only the two of us, and three staff, driver, chef and Manu the cabin boy. We were welcomed on board, slightly early, with a fresh coconut which was lovely. We didn’t immediately depart as they were moored somewhere Shareef hadn’t expected them to be so we hadn’t passed a liquor store (or he didn’t listen to me, or he’d forgotten!) driver was dispatched to get some beers, and then we were off. The breeze on the water and the constant fans kept the temperature just about bearable so we settled in for some luxury. It was a delight. Coffee? Yes please. Do you want a go at driving? Yes please (Brian). Bird spotting and chilling as we travelled across the lake.

The cat gets a fish. Its a standard tourist attraction, we saw it last time we were here. Its to get you talking to buy a fish. They will then deliver it to a nearby restaurant who will cook it for you. We didn't!

Shareef had told them seafood, so chef had showed me 2 pomfret when we arrived, as he was preparing chicken, all in a very small space. Lunch when it arrived was rice and pappadoms, 5 vegetable dishes, the pomfret and half a chicken. The fish and chicken were both stunning, so we ate most of them, had a go at the vegetables and rice but could hardly make a dent in them. I hoped what we didn’t eat would either be our or the crews dinner, but no, it all went over the side. Rest time for everyone then for an hour or so, till chef decided it was time to go. Driver was asleep on the kitchen worktop but that didn’t seem to matter, and off we pottered. Further round the lake till a shout came from the kitchen and we went down one of the canals. We didn’t know where we were going, but it didn’t matter, as long as they did, and Shareef knew where to pick us up all is good. Driver finally reappeared so chef offered us coffee. Anything to keep me from dozing and missing stuff. This came with fried banana, like we needed it. A little further on we stopped at the seafood stall on the water’s edge. I think they would have cooked us chicken, which sensibly would have been more than enough, however the sight of the tiger prawns and crab was just too much. We did turn down the expensive, local huge prawns with very long legs as we just wouldn’t have done them justice. I’m not sure how we ended up buying our own catch for dinner, but we went with it.

Lovely old colonial buildings, built by the Dutch, Portugese and British, who've all ruled over these lands (that's after the Egyptians and Chinese had had a go too) 

We moored up a little further on so we went for a walk in an area only accessible by boat, not sure where the nearest road is, while full scale action went on in the kitchen. We clapped the locals playing cricket as Brian kept popping off to see if the sun was setting. Back to the boat for beer and crossword. Snacks? Nooo. Dinner was late for us, but I could still really only eat the prawns and crab, though the steamed vegetables, dhal and chapattis were very nice.

The historic synagogue (King Charles (when he was prince) visited here in about 2018. 

We eventually retired to the cabin, where the air conditioning had been turned on. What a joy, leading to a good nights sleep

Inside the synagogue, built in 1568. Maintenance of this old building is apparently paid for by donations received from Jews in New York

Day 36

I got up early, partly to enjoy the cool of the morning, and partly to turn on the WiFi. Lovely way to start the day, coffee in hand. Breakfast which I didn’t really want was omelette, and toast and jam with fresh pineapple juice which is amazing. As we were eating we were pottering towards the nearest road, where we were met by Shareef, bang on 09.00. It turns out he had gone back home again, and returned, by bus, well it was only an hour and a half away.

Evening Kathikalli performance during makeup beforehand. It has to be absolutely right as everything means something, as does every hand gesture and eye movement. This is the baddie, Kichaka

The next homestay, Nelpura, one of the Guardian’s top 10 in India in 2010 was only half an hour away so we did a little shopping on the way, before Shareef loaded us, with our luggage into a dugout canoe. We are here today and tomorrow, so he is again going home by bus. If we have an emergency, ring and he’ll be back in 2 hours. It’s fair enough to us, particularly as I remember “doing a flyer” on more than one occasion while working for the BBC!

It is a beautiful place, so relaxing, but so very hot, I don’t really know what to do with myself!

And here he is on the left in all his gear, seducing Malini (also a man). The guy without the shirt on at the back was gently singing some local music to a couple of drum musicians out of sight on the left. This went on for 20 minutes or so, where they both moved their eyes, twitched their faces and moved their hands to illustrate Kichaka attempting to seduce Malini.

Next scene and Bhima (Malinis husband) is hiding beneath the sheet in a prearranged meeting where Kichaka thinks it is Malini. More gesticulating and prodding...

...before Bhima reveals himself and stabs Kichaka to death. Malini comes back on, there's much rejoicing - end of performance. Total time, about an hour and a half. I did quite enjoy it, although I know Jackie didn't, however it could have been half hour shorter for me (but no doubt locals would have missed certain innuendos). We'll leave the full 8 hour performance!

Excellent evening meal by the sea

Next day, Day 35, we arrive at our luxury houseboat for 24 hours in the backwaters of Alleppey. The man on shore was our chef, the two onboard were the other members looking after us

We had all this area to ourselves. The pilot sits in the chair at the front with the towel over it, we've got a three piece suite, dining table and chairs and benches round the side 

A nice bedroom with en suite

A handwashing area. The door almost out of view on the left was a second bedroom in case there were four people

I had a go a driving. What do you think of my shirt? Fantastic isn't it! Childish Jackie behind!

Lunch was enormous. A fish each, half a chicken and huge amounts of side dishes all very yummy

And bird spotting. Just managed to get this Brahminy Kite with his lunch of eel that he'd just swooped on over the lake and caught

There's lots of people going about their daily business in these waters

We were able to sit back and let our pilot lead the way

There's a heron

This is what the locals call a snake bird, but John says its correct name is an Oriental Darter

There's a Brahminy Kite in a tree looking for his next meal

Two Bee-eaters in a tree

A fisherman paying out his net

In the surrounding fields (which are lower than the river, which is contained by walls and banks) are big paddy fields, which have been dried so an adapted combine harvester can cut the rice. No hand labour here!

Other houseboats chugged past us. We waved, sometimes they waved back, often they didn't

A hotel! There's no roads here so it's for passing boats

This man in this tree is harvesting the round fruits you can see. They use them to make Toddy, a palm wine. We haven't tried it yet

Afternoon coffee and banana fritters

Late afternoon pull in to buy fish for dinner. Once again, there's no roads here, this is just for passing boats

We had some of these prawns

And a couple of these crabs

There you are guys, go and cook those

which they duly did, with all manner of spices that added to the flavours. They were amazing!

A little walk before it got dark and here's a Kingfisher looking for his dinner

Setting sun from the boat

We watched some guys playing cricket

And watched the sun set

Next day, which is today, Day 36, we got up, had breakfast and chugged through the waters to our rendezvous with Shareef to take us to our Homestay in Alleppey. There we people about playing in the water, including these people

A Cormorant drying himself in the morning sun

Other Houseboats

And fishermen. He's using a kind of rake with a cage on in so he's scraping the shallow bottom to try to scoop up something

After stopping at some shops so Jackie could buy some Indian clothing, we arrived at the dock for our transfer to our Homestay, which is on an island. Here's our pilot loading our suitcases onto his dugout canoe, ably assisted by Shareef in the white

Ready? Well, we suppose so. Shareef took this, handed the camera back and has now gone off to see his family in Kochi for a couple of days while we chill at the Homestay

Here we go

Across the wider channel

And into a narrower channel

And finally arriving at the Nalpura Homestay, or base for two nights. 

Its a three bedroom Homestay but, so far, we're the only people here. There's two hammocks in the garden, they'll do nicely till it gets a bit cooler and we can go exploring. That's it for now, see you next time

This was the other photo I took of the Brahminy Kite with his eel