Interwoven with countless rivers, backwaters and canals, the coastal state of Kerala, meaning land of coconuts, is without a doubt our favourite part of India so far. We arrived into Ernakulam in the middle of one of the incredibly heavy, although usually brief monsoonal downpours which inevitably leave you at the mercy of the auto-rickshaw drivers... This time was no exception, although, now armed with a little local knowlege and the essential haggling weapon, a big smile, we managed to get to the island suburb of Fort Cochin for quite a bit less that the price suggested by the Lonely Planet. Our guesthouse, a lovely old converted Portugese home, is in a perfect location, 2 minutes fromt he village centre and with the seafront at the end of the street - it's busy little fishmarket selling the spoils of the huge bamboo Chinese Fishing Nets, which line the shore. We had lunch one day at one of the little 'fast food' huts next to the nets, where they will cook up the fresh seafood you have just bought from the market - yum!!! In the capible hands of our auto-driver and guide, Mr Johnson (his catholic name, he proudly told us) we explored the pungent spice markets of Jewtown (which, like so many other Jewish pockets throughout India, was deserted when Isreal came into being) and looked through a ginger preserving house - still done the traditional way! We also had a lesson in Indian ettiquette thrown in for free at lunchtime when, under the watchful eye of Mr Johnson, we mastered the finer points of eating fish curry and rice with our right hand! Although we were very impressed with the still-vivid walls in the 16C Mattancherry Palace with it's depictions of the Ramayana painted entirely with vegetable dyes, we probably wouldn't be metioning it if it wasn't for the other paintings...in the secret ladies chamber below the palace... This was where the king was 'entertained' by his concubines and, to help to get them over the belief that sex was a sin, he had all the walls painted with murals of gods, men and animals (and no, not all seperately) 'enjoying themselves' as our guide delicately put it. Krisha seemed to by having the most fun of all - his eight arms (and two legs) put to good use on the surrounding milkmaids - he even seemed to have dropped his trademark flute int he excitement! That evening we went along to a Kathakali (traditional Keralan dance-theatre) performance which involves men in incredibly elaborate costumes and makeup relaying a story in a type of sign language, accompanied bytraditonal drums, cymbals and the narriator, whose sing-songy chanting reminded us of the Native American music from the old westerns. It would take years to learn al the signing, but luckily we had the storyline explained to us before the performance - and let me tell you, it's not for the faint-hearted:- guy loses at gambling to the king and is banished to the forest (with Krishna) for 7 years. In the meantime, the king abducts his wife and humilates her by making her do housework and trying to rip her clothes off (luckily Krishna had made her clothes magic so no mattter how many layers the king ripped off, she was still fully clothed). So anyway, the wife tells her husband she won't be avenged until he washes her hair in the king's blood (and fair enough too, after making her do housework!). So the husband transforms into his 'furious' alter-ego, kills the king, rips out his heart with his bare hands (complete with much fake blood), tears out his intestines with his teeth for good measure and washes his wife's hair in requested blood. Ahhh, I love a happy ending! Speaking of happiness, we've found a little place on the seafront that serves 'special tea' (i.e. beer disguised in a teapot) and Nige has been downright British with the amount of tea he's been drinking in a day! ;o)