Fort Kockin is 90kms up the coast from Allepy. We got here by train and then caught a ferry to the town which is situated on an island about 2kms off the coast. Its a very pleasant wee town, portugese and dutch architecture, extremely freakishly quiet (for india) and is very nice to walk around in and not get hassled or get a poo on your shoe or have beggars hassling you etc. That being said, again, its very touristy as have been the past week or so, so theres tons of tourists around. Its not always a bad things, aside from the extortianate prices for things in shops. I just laugh every time they tell me a price and its 10x more than what I paid in North India. A couple of times I've said "you know i got this same thing for one tenth the price" then they get all defensive and tell me i must have got the wrong thing etc etc. Most of the shops are run by kashmiris and they are scam artists, charging so much for things which would otherwise cost so much less. I just feel sorry for the tourists who have just arrived and dont really know the difference and what they should be paying for things. Across the island is the small village of Jew town where there are quaint red tiled roofed houses, andso many amazing shops, you could spend a good day just looking around. I'm on a budget know, so had to refrain from buying anything, but it was hard, oh yes, it was hard. Not only souveniers, but amazing original INdian carvings, doors, beds, pots, kitchenwear etc. We biked there and then biked around the island which is quiet and more INdian on the Jew town side. Small roads lined with some small houses, but often much larger and quite fancy houses! Lots of palm trees everywhere, just watching my head for falling coconuts. The ocean fort area has chinese fishing nets and fishermen and their boats lining the shore. If you're lucky you'll see the guys using the chinese net or guys fishing with the hand held nets. The catch is on display in little shops right there and you can buy any kind of seafood you want, take it down to the local restaurant and they'll cook it up for you. We may do that tonight, depending. I dragged paul and his dad along to the original Keralan art called Kathakali. They dress up in elaborate costumes and make up takes over an hour to put on which you can sit and watch. was fascinating to see. The performance is a bit like theatre, lots of expression with the eye, face and hands, almost like sign language. No talking, but they did grunt occasionally through the main performance. A little dancing goes on, but not much. I caught Paul and his dad yawning halfway through, but I found it absolutely fascinating and took about a thousand photos and a few videos on me camera. Was like nothing else i"ve ever seen. really special. Aside from that theres a few good cafes around, and one very sweet one called teapot, where you can get a peice of cake called Death by Chocolate. Boy oh boy, its pretty amazing. And the first proper chocolate tasting thing I've had since I've been here. Ah bliss. But had to walk around for about 2 hours to burn it off! The streets are just lovely and there are so many homestays almost every house offers rooms to visitors and everyone is very friendly everywhere you go. So, this is where we are at the moment (1st feb) and tomorrow we head to Calicut and the Wayanad wildlife reserve, then to Mysore. Will try to do another huge update in a week or so's time when we may just be in Goa already. Hope everyone is well and had a great new years break.

julia x