We have spent the last couple of days in Fort Cochin. We got the train after breakfast at the shack in Varkala on Thursday. Once we arrived in Ernakulam we caught a local bus to Fort Cochin. The bus journey was a bit crazy as you can see from the video.

Friday we spent the day wondering round Cochin. You can see the strong Portuguese and British influence here through the architecture. As you walk along the streets you can't miss the sweet smell of the open sewers until you hit Bazaar Road where the smell of spices over powers everything else. Along this road is where wholesale spice, rice and tea sellers have there stores in run down Portuguese buildings.

The sea front is lined with spider like Chinese fishing nets that are lowered in to the water by hand.

Yesterday we took a relaxing ride through the backwaters of Kerala. The day was split into two halves. In the morning we went on a small canoe and floated down stream. Along the way we stopped off at local villages and saw how spices are grown and coconuts processed. We got the chance to try peppercorns straight from the tree and cinnamon from the bark.

We stopped for lunch on an island. Thali was served which is a traditional wedding meal. It is made up of rice, a few different curries and chutneys; this is served on a banana leaf. This gave us another opportunity to try eating with our hands. It was very tasty!

We then got on a houseboat for the second part of our tour. We learnt how the local women make rope from coconut hair. We met a lot of other travelers on this trip who have recommended places for us to visit and stay.

There seems to be more power cuts here than anywhere else. Last night we had one that lasted five hours! This may be due to the massive storm we had. We have not seen such impressive lightning before, it lights up the whole sky purple. We had dinner at the "Salt n Pepper" restaurant; they were too scared to turn the Wi-Fi on as they feared it may attract the lightning and set on fire.

We have noticed a trend in all the places we have visited so far. When we arrive there seems to be very few westerners; however when we come to leave there seems to be lots of westerners around. It's good for us as when we arrive the hotels are pretty empty so we are able to haggle the price down.

Anyway, we are having an amazing time and we have settled in well to the Indian way of life.