6 March 2013 Kochi, India

Hello and Best Wishes for 2013 to you all.

Kochi day 1

So now I am in the city of Kochi (=Cochin) in the state of Kerala, SW India. The Queen of the Arabian Sea, it is famous for it’s huge natural harbour through which it became the centre of the world spice trade for hundreds of years.

I am staying in the Jasmin Homestay Villa. Jasmin is a lovely lady and an excellent cook. A wonderful evening meal, rice with breaded prawns, cabbage, beetroot and some tasty orange stuff. Luckily it’s guest Kate’s birthday so cake afterwards too.  Yummy.

This is not my room, or even where i am staying. Just an interesting old house.

Today I walk around the old historical area known as Fort Kochi. No fort here, but I find a cannon. Just the one.

And Chinese fishing nets, big ones on fixed bamboo frames at the end of a pier. They lower the net into the water and raise it when they think there are fish in it. They catch two tiddlers as I watch them.

Inland are narrow streets with lots of small shops and wholesalers all mixed together. Spices and tea dominate, but general traders too. Looks like it hasn’t changed for centuries. 

This is the debtors’ prison.

Next I visit the Mattancherry Palace also known as the Dutch Palace, built by the Portuguese to placate the local Raja after invading his kingdom, later refurbished and renamed by the Dutch after they took over. (All this, of course, before the British added Cochin to their Empire.) 5 rupee = 6p entry. Amazing 17 century Hindu murals on the internal walls, 1000 sq ft of them.

Lots of Catholic churches here. There is also a Jewish area with an ancient synagogue which I pay another 6p to have a look inside.  This community traces it’s history back to one of the enclaves established by Jews here in India, and all over the then-known world, after the Romans chased them out of Palestine. The Hindu Royal Family of Kochi, who can verify their bloodline back to the 16th century, were welcoming to all faiths, including Muslims from Arabia who were invited to spread their message here by one 19th century Raja.

Stanley Wilson is Jasmin’s husband. He runs his own tour company in Kochi and is helping me organise my time here. I think I struck lucky.

More tomorrow, bye for now, John