Cochin or Kochi?
Today we are leaving our little bit of paradise in Anachal. We packed our bags and had tea and breakfast with our friend.
When it was time to leave our friend was heading in the same direction on his scooter so said he could take our bags and one of us, if the other was happy to walk. Darryl kindly offered to walk so Christine took the lift.
Whilst Darryl was walking up the road a taxi pulled over and kindly offered him a lift to town, no money!
We didn't have to wait long for the bus, which would take us to Adimaly, where we would catch the connecting bus to Cochin.
It was a short trip and when we arrived the bus conductor directed us onto the next bus. There were 2 seats left but unfortunately whilst Darryl was lifting the bags onto the bus a lady snuck past and grabbed one of the seats. The driver kindly moved his bag so Darryl could sit on the centre console. A lady sitting with Christine offered us a sweets which turned out to be crystalised ginger and was quite spicy. It wasn't long before a seat became available and Darryl moved over.
The journey went quite smoothly although there was a tailback at one point. However the bus was not going to wait and went up the outside of all the cars. We then saw the problem. A police car was in the road, next to a small white car which was in a deep ditch. It wasn't long before the police car moved and we jumped to the front of the queue and were on our way.
The bus took us to Aluva which is the end stop of the Cochin metro. We walked the short distance and got on the immaculately clean, air conditioned metro, what a relief as it was pretty hot outside!
On arrival in Ernakulam we headed straight for food. We found a little cafe which was packed with people and enjoyed a veg biryani which came with pickle and raita and a sweet lemon tea.
We then headed to the waterfront to find the public ferry to Fort Cochin. We couldn't find the jetty we thought we needed and everyone pointed us in the opposite direction. We walked along Marine Drive with views of some very large ships out at sea. The promenade was busy with tourists as it is the weekend.
We found the ferry and paid our 6 rupees each for the journey (less than 6p). The boat stopped at another little island on the way and dropped off some passengers. This ferry dropped us on the other side of Fort Cochin to where we are staying, which wasn't really a problem as the island is only a about 3km wide!
We followed the canal through little villages and passed lots of goats. We found our accommodation and were shown to our immaculately clean room. We freshened up and went out to explore.
First we headed to the sea, passing some beautiful colonial buildings from both the British and Portuguese eras. Down at the waterfront we found a little stall selling Pani Puri and Bhel Puri, two of our favourite street foods. They did not disappoint. This was followed by a masala tea, something we haven't had for a while as on the way down from the north the tea has been tea as we know it back home - just with the addition of a lot of sugar!
Onwards along the waterfront we passed the Chinese fishing nets and lots of stalls selling fresh fish. We found another street stall selling vada pav, so we indulged ourselves again! We then followed the road around the town and found some restaurants which we will try out tomorrow!
Back at base the night was interrupted by mosquitos biting us. So in the middle of the night we erected our mosquito net for a quiet night's sleep.
