At midday, I hired a rickshaw driver for a couple of hours who took me around all the sights of Fort Kochi. We passed many churches and temples, old colonial houses and streets. Two particular places of interest were the local laundry where all the washing is done by hand, including my own today! It is then hung out to dry in the warm sun and finally ironed using old heavy implements. The other place I enjoyed seeing was the spice market still using the same buil...

Last night was spent at a home stay along the banks of the river. We had an enjoyable evening eating home made food, having a beer and good conversation around the dinner table. Christianity is popular in this part of Kerala and, as it is Sunday, large numbers of people are gathering at the churches which we pass. The other big feature is the huge display of Communist Party banners and posters featuring pictures of Mao,Stalin,Lenin, Marx plus the local Indian lea...