Kochi

Previously known as Cochin, this is Kerala’s principal town & administrative HQ. We spend the first day meandering through the market & street stalls of Kochi fort, remnant of previous foreign occupations – here, Dutch, then Portuguese, then British. The fort covered security arrangements for this long-standing international trading post, enriched by spices, especially peppers’ contribution to extending food lives.

A dinner at a fancy chef restaurant – United Coconut by chef Pillau – was impressively prepared & delivered, which makes a bit of a change. It seems initiative is superimposed by hierarchical employment standards, many being employed as a check box political necessity, regardless of efficiency / productivity.

There are many cantilever Chinese fishing nets, which rely on stones to counterweigh the nets and frame. It takes five people to haul up the nets once they have been released to below water level.

Our second day uses the ‘government ferry service’ into town – yesterday we used the Kochi Metropolitan water transit system (both very good, the latter using electric boats). We spent our energy traipsing around the Kochi Art Biennial entries, with some stunning exhibitions amongst the dross.

We end the night having dinner on a rooftop as a goodbye to both our guide & driver, as tomorrow we take a 6am five hour train journey to Kannur, a six day rest beside the Arabian Sea, before going home.

Kannur