Currency:
Indian Rupee

Highlights:
Our new adoptive mother Sheeba, the beauty of God's Own Country

Our Adventure:

South India is truly a whole new world! It was really difficult for us to plan 2 weeks in India as it's such a big country so we looked a lot to our friends who had travelled here previously for advice on the best places to go. Our friends Katy and Sam spent their honeymoon in the southern state of Kerala last year and were able to provide us with some great tips of places to go - and we were so glad we took their advice as we love it here!

The parts of north India we saw were fascinating too but there was so much sadness and poverty to witness each day. South India is a lot wealthier and the scenery is also completely different as it is so much more tropical here.

It was a long day of travelling to get here. We had the choice of a 26 hour train trip or a 4.5 hour train and 4.5 hour flight - and we were so glad we chose the latter! It was another early start in Agra (4:45am!) and from there we took a train to Delhi and flew to Kochi via Mumbai.

Day 1 - Arriving in Kochi

We started our south India journey in the charismatic little town of Kochi. Lonely Planet describes it as:

'Serene Kochi has been drawing traders and explorers to its shores for over 600 years, and today stands as a living homage to a vibrant past unlike any other. Nowhere in India could you find such a melange: giant fishing nets from China, a 400-year-old synagogue, ancient mosques and Portuguese houses, all mixed in with the crumbling residuum of the British Raj. The result is an unlikely blend of medieval Portugal, Holland and an English village grafted onto the tropical Malabar Coast. '

The town has been just as charming as the guidebooks promised. We took LP's advice of top pick and booked into Greenview Bethlehem owned by a lady named Sheeba. LP advised that Sheeba would want to sign our adoption papers as soon we walked in the door - but I think it was more the other way round. Upon arrival, instead of bombarding us with an array of paperwork (as all the hotels here do - you have to basically fill in your life story in their guest books that the government checks), she ushered us to their rooftop deck where we had some tea. Shandy and Greg checked into their room at Sheeba's place (most of the places to stay here are home stays which make a lovely more personal change after staying in hotels for so long) and we headed down the road to Meckenzie Gardens to our home stay which had been arranged by Sheeba. We are also being looked after by a friendly guy here, Raj - and between Raj, Sheeba and Sheeba's husband Ashlee, there has been some serious non-stop head wobbling!

Our stomachs were more than grumbling at this stage so we headed for LP's top pick restaurant, Dal Roti, which was luckily right down the street from us. Some people stuck to their usual curry choices but Shaun and I ventured out and tried a kati roll (basically a wrap) and parantha (thick pancake with savoury fillings) - amazing!

You can view our photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=387610&id=713415257&l=1be88c3b25

Day 2 - Exploring Kochi

We finally were able to wake up at a decent hour and started off the morning with a simple but good breakfast on Sheeba's roof deck. We were really able to appreciate our surroundings then (as we had arrived in the dark the night before) - her garden is basically a mass of tall green trees giving the impression when you sit on the deck that you really are in the middle of the jungle!

After some touring advice from Ashlee and a lovely long convo with Sheeba, we hit the town. We were supposed to be doing a walking tour but the heat here (must have been about 32 today and humid- and it's supposed to be winter!) combined with the inherent laziness that we seem to have acquired on tour meant that we made it about halfway before succumbing to a tuk-tuk trip for the rest of the tour (plus we need to support the local economy right?!).

Our trip around town included:

• The beach
○ Not a lot to see here (we had been warned though to be disappointed with the beaches after being in Southeast Asia).
• Santa Cruz Basilica
○ Oldest European church. (We have been amazed at how many Catholics there are in this part of India but it makes sense given their big European influence).
• The Chinese fishing nets
○ Unique to Kochi.
○ All the fishermen were then lined up on the banks displaying their catches from which you could choose a fish and have it be barbequed for you. (The Westerners in us though were a little scared as we wanted to keep our record of no-sickness-yet-on-India-tour intact).
• Jain Temple
○ Every day at 12:15 pm, the pigeons are fed. And we arrived at 12:10 so it was perfect timing. We weren't expecting much as we were all thinking of what a nuisance they are in Trafalgar Square but it turned out to be really fascinating. There are literally hundreds of pigeons and upon hearing the gong from the guy's drum, they circle around the temple three times and then come in for the feed. There are two men who say some prayers and then everyone gets to grab big handfuls of seeds and feed the pigeons. I wasn't too convinced about the pigeons clawing my hand but Greg was well into it!
• All Spices Market
○ This was a true adventure for the nasal glands as we walked through two spice markets and got to see how they prepare ginger and various other spices for export (which they do a lot of from here).
• Dutch Palace (Mattancherry Palace Museum)
○ This was a quick walk through as none of us are that keen on museums (except for Greg!). There were some interesting Hindu murals but that was about it.

It was then time for our second favourite time of the day - lunch! We headed to Solar Café - a hippy-type place that serves organic food - and enjoyed some delicious pastas and sandwiches all round (we need to break from the curries every now and again!).

We chilled out for a while after that as the heat really does sap it out of you (at least that was my excuse for my divine two hour nap - really going to miss those when we're back in the 'real world'!). And later we took a lovely walk into town and checked out the main street Princess Street before heading to Oy's Restaurant (another LP recommendation) - which had some fun lounge-type chairs and played Café del Mar type music in the background. Most of the food was good except Shaun and I were a little disappointed with our veggie dish of aloo prakash (potato and spinach) as turns out that they purify the spinach here - hmmm.

Another walk home finished off our chilled night. India is not so much the place to party at all - everything shuts by 10:30 in the smaller towns and it is very difficult to find alcohol at most restaurants (probably good for us :).

You can see our photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=387613&id=713415257&l=13de04f13d

We're off further south in the morning…

Cheers,
Lara + Leise