India - Cochin
"In other countries a long wait at a train station is a dull thing and tedious, but one has no right to have that feeling in India. You have the monster crowd of bejeweled natives, the stir, the bustle, the confusion, the shifting splendors of the costumes--dear me, the delight of it, the charm of it are beyond speech." - Mark Twain
At a lot of the places we visit, if you arrive by boat you can immediately see the beauty of where you are. I'll always hold Thailand sacred for this, and Langkawi is similar, you'll first notice the clarity of the crystal clear waters, you can spot schools of fish darting around together from the edge of the boat or a bridge and sometimes the odd jellyfish, as you look towards the island there are trees everywhere as far as the eye can see, in mountainous clumps and towering over buildings and settlements, and beautiful white Sandy beaches. I find this far better than being driven in alongside buildings and you get a real sense of the place and a great first impression. The port in Cochin, India was not an example of this, plain and concrete with a crumbling exterior and a real industrial vibe, there's nothing of the rich and vibrant culture you're about to witness visible here, it's more reminiscent of some of the ports I've seen used for shipping containers. Take a bus or tuk tuk 15 mins into the city centre and you'll find a different story, the streets are bustling with activity, bikes weaving in and out of traffic and beeping from every direction, basically there's lots of people here and although I was told most places would be shut because everyone was celebrating at Cochin carnival there's plenty to buy and eat or do. Cochin is another place famed for it's local crafts and there are beautiful wood carvings and tapestries in almost every store.
At a lot of the places we visit, if you arrive by boat you can immediately see the beauty of where you are. I'll always hold Thailand sacred for this, and Langkawi is similar, you'll first notice the clarity of the crystal clear waters, you can spot schools of fish darting around together from the edge of the boat or a bridge and sometimes the odd jellyfish, as you look towards the island there are trees everywhere as far as the eye can see, in mountainous clumps and towering over buildings and settlements, and beautiful white Sandy beaches. I find this far better than being driven in alongside buildings and you get a real sense of the place and a great first impression. The port in Cochin, India was not an example of this, plain and concrete with a crumbling exterior and a real industrial vibe, there's nothing of the rich and vibrant culture you're about to witness visible here, it's more reminiscent of some of the ports I've seen used for shipping containers. Take a bus or tuk tuk 15 mins into the city centre and you'll find a different story, the streets are bustling with activity, bikes weaving in and out of traffic and beeping from every direction, basically there's lots of people here and although I was told most places would be shut because everyone was celebrating at Cochin carnival there's plenty to buy and eat or do. Cochin is another place famed for it's local crafts and there are beautiful wood carvings and tapestries in almost every store.
For me the true beauty of the place lies in the backwaters and jungle so I went beyond fort Cochin and the city centre to take a boat through the rivers and narrow canals of the jungle. Our boat was impressive, made mostly from various parts of coconut, each treated a different way to change the texture and use, it was a sturdy vessel with a craftsy handmade element to it, honestly it felt like I was floating down the river on a picnic hamper. We steered the boat with a long bamboo stick, the idea was to sink the stick into the water bed and push against it to propel yourself along. We each had a go, it was incredibly difficult and I was constantly worried that I was going to drop it on the river bed and leave us to the mercy of the water snakes.
We travelled through the river to a place where they tap coconut trees for a type of natural liquor, in doing this the tree will never bear fruit but I'm told the alcohol, known as ‘toddy’ is pretty great. We next went to a space in the jungle that's used to grow various fruits, herbs and spices and our guide pointed out several trees that look safe to eat but bare poisonous fruit, handy to know. There's a ban on using boats on this river after 6pm as that time is allocated to the fishermen putting out their nets so as we travelled through the jungle there were lots of little short term living spaces for people who might end up stranded or want to stay late. Next we made a stop for lunch, served on a large banana leaf, we were given several types of curry to try with a popadom and rice, there was ginger and mango chutney, banana curry, pineapple and vegetable, everything we were given to try was vegetarian which was great because I don't usually have so much choice, the food was delicious, the bulk of it was freshly grown where we were eating it. Next we were shown how they weave coconut “hair" into ropes which was amazing, the ropes were rated to hold a lot of weight and often sold to ships for heavy duty jobs. We went for a swim in the river after that, the water wasn't too deep so we could jump off the boat and stand up in it, the river bed was sludgy and absolutely covered with shellfish, we stayed here a while then made a loop back round to the start. Once we left the river bed we got back on the bus and our driver flipped a switch and turned it into a party bus which took us all by surprise, I felt like I was on a cheesy hen party with all the lazers and disco lights going off but it was a good laugh. All in all an amazing day out, the sleepy village life of the backwaters and the bustling city centre were both fantastic to explore. I would have loved to spend longer here but this was a one day only visit. Some advice for anyone visiting - be wary of getting in a tuk tuk that offers you the ride for free in exchange for looking in some shops run by his friends, unless you have a lot of extra time, the shops he will take you to will be good quality and open to bartering but as he makes a commission on sales and gets free petrol for bringing you, it's likely he will try taking you to a tonne of places. next up I'll be in Goa, looking forward to it!
We travelled through the river to a place where they tap coconut trees for a type of natural liquor, in doing this the tree will never bear fruit but I'm told the alcohol, known as ‘toddy’ is pretty great. We next went to a space in the jungle that's used to grow various fruits, herbs and spices and our guide pointed out several trees that look safe to eat but bare poisonous fruit, handy to know. There's a ban on using boats on this river after 6pm as that time is allocated to the fishermen putting out their nets so as we travelled through the jungle there were lots of little short term living spaces for people who might end up stranded or want to stay late. Next we made a stop for lunch, served on a large banana leaf, we were given several types of curry to try with a popadom and rice, there was ginger and mango chutney, banana curry, pineapple and vegetable, everything we were given to try was vegetarian which was great because I don't usually have so much choice, the food was delicious, the bulk of it was freshly grown where we were eating it. Next we were shown how they weave coconut “hair" into ropes which was amazing, the ropes were rated to hold a lot of weight and often sold to ships for heavy duty jobs. We went for a swim in the river after that, the water wasn't too deep so we could jump off the boat and stand up in it, the river bed was sludgy and absolutely covered with shellfish, we stayed here a while then made a loop back round to the start. Once we left the river bed we got back on the bus and our driver flipped a switch and turned it into a party bus which took us all by surprise, I felt like I was on a cheesy hen party with all the lazers and disco lights going off but it was a good laugh. All in all an amazing day out, the sleepy village life of the backwaters and the bustling city centre were both fantastic to explore. I would have loved to spend longer here but this was a one day only visit. Some advice for anyone visiting - be wary of getting in a tuk tuk that offers you the ride for free in exchange for looking in some shops run by his friends, unless you have a lot of extra time, the shops he will take you to will be good quality and open to bartering but as he makes a commission on sales and gets free petrol for bringing you, it's likely he will try taking you to a tonne of places. next up I'll be in Goa, looking forward to it!
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