Cochin (Kochi), India The Queen of the Arabian Sea…

 We woke up to another cruise terminal, gray skies and another city… We are entering India today and inside that building we will show so many pieces of paper and documents that I might have given away my first born child….Its all a tremendous amount of stuff to do just to get into this country.  We have a 10am tour and therefore are to report to immigration for processing by 9:15…an hour later…we finally get cleared (everyone needs our paperwork, even the military doorman) and head to our bus where we find it has been sent ahead and we will now join another bus that is already loaded to go.. that makes 45 people on this included tour  ( it should have been 25) and off we go cramped into submission….

Today we are to see a church, a palace,a synagogue and fishing nets… just heading out of the terminal our attention is drawn to the huge amounts of trash, abandoned buildings and old vehicles left along the roadway.. not the best first impression… But , I remind myself that  every country values different things, so cut them some slack….

Again we see the tuk tuk parade waiting for passengers. There does seem to be more scooters here than in Sri Lanka.

Our first stop is at the Mattancherry Palace, also know as the Dutch Palace. It was built in 1545 by the Portuguese as a gift for the king of Cochin.  It was built to appease the king after they had plundered a temple nearby.. Vasco da Gama had come there in 1498 and had been welcomed…After that the Rajas of Cochin became attached to the Portuguese..Then the Dutch came and they took over the palace in 1663. The palace is filled with murals depicting the portraits and lives of the Rajas of Cochin.  

The glory of the palace is the murals from floor to ceiling in the best tradition of Hindu temple art. We were not allowed to take pictures of any of the murals for fear the light would damage the artwork.  There is also a few items that were used by the Rajas such at the chairs to convey them from place to place. And one chair that sits on top of an elephant. Again no pictures allowed 

Wooden carved above the doors

An amazing carved wood and brass ceiling 

Can you imagine sitting inside that box in 88 degree temps and humid as 75% while men carried you from place to place???

A lock on windows.. amazing workmanship

One robe worn by a Raja..spun from gold and silver thread

After our visit to the Palace, we walked through a small women’s collective market and arrived at the oldest synagogue in Asia.  At one time there was a large Jewish population in Cochin.  After the creation of Israel, most immigrated away, Now there are only maybe 2 Jews left . The synagogue is more a historical place now.  Below is a sign naming the road the synagogue sits on.

The Paradesi Synagogue was built in 1568. It is the oldest synagogue in the Commonwealth of Nations

Front of the building 

Entrance room to the worship place. The floor is tiled with Chinese tiles.

The tiles were a gift from China and each one is slightly different

Many of the chandeliers were gifts from Belgium

The building was built on land next to the Mattancherry palace on land given to the from the Raja at the time.  Inside there are many Hindu influences.

On our way to the St Francis Church we saw these guys trying to either repair or steal phone service….When you don’t have a ladder… improvise.

The Church of St. Francis, original burial place of Vasco da Gama. Once again we needed to take off our shoes to enter.

More tie flooring down the center aisle

Looking upwards. Lots of ropes and pulleys..

All along the sides of the room, these large cloth fans are hanging. There would be someone pulling the ropes and causing the air to be blown across the seats before there was electric fans.

The burial spot of Vasco da Gama. After 14 years, a relative requested his body be dug up and sent to Portugal for reburial.

The inner worship area

Us, outside hot and tired

Our next spot to visit meant a walk a few blocks to the sea side to look at the Chinese fishing nets.  On our way we passed this white gated fence and were told it was where the Marigold hotel was, but Im not really sure about that…

In the background you can barely see the tall poles and nets 

Fish on the ground…not caught in the Chinese nets as those are not really used anymore.

We would have stayed longer to look however a horde of beggars started gathering around us and became quite insistent. While we walked the few blocks back to our bus, they continued to shove trinkets in our faces and ask for money.  It was a difficult walk and even when we got to the bus they blocked our way into the bus trying to sell us stuff. I was drained from saying no…it was worse than when one of my kids badgered me to do something and I said no…these women and children didn’t stop!!

Returning to the ship very hot and very tired,we were treated by a group of  instrumental musicians playing traditional instruments. Drums. Horns,strings… all at a volume to break my eardrum! They took their greeting us very seriously and gave us a full on concert!

Tonight we will leave Cochin and head towards the city of Goa.

TUK-TUK RIDER!

 Today is the day! 

While heading to our chariots I snapped a picture of this mounted traffic policeman.  Horses are not found in Sri Lanka except for the off spring of those brought here by the British. 

It was interesting to see him try to organize the traffic.. somewhat a lost cause I think!
We arrive and meet our Tuk-Tuk driver, Ronin

He spoke some English but there was a lot lost in translation.. he was very proud to share his vehicle with us! 

We are ready to roll!

The dashboard..and below that on the radio was a Bob Marley sticker! We are gonna be flying with the Gods!

Our grouping, well I suppose you’d call it a convoy, of tuk-tuks all had Sri Lanka flags flying on the right side of the windshield just as the dignitaries or embassy cars have! Certainly made us stick out in traffic, but wow how fun is it to just be special?We were told by our guide that the drivers had been told to keep the speeds to 15 mph…..but of course that only gave them a challenge when traffic got in between the vehicles and they could speed ahead to catch up! I was able to get a few pictures as we flew along. The ride is low and there were grab bars hanging so I had to wait till we slowed down to snap a pic!

This is a man made lake and it surrounds a beautiful Temple.

The above video was taken from inside the vehicle.  As you might notice, we are extremely close to everyone around us. I’ve realized the traffics lane lines are only a suggestion and in reality are merely a way to show the way along the road. The best way to travel the lane lines is to put your vehicle squarely in the middle of a line and go as fast as you can, only yielding into the correct lane when forced into it.

Nothing like two policemen on one scooter and a traffic cop letting them go..

Traveling through the market area

The downtown area had various streets dedicated to a specific area of product. Fruit and veg on one long street, plastic wares and paper products on another long street, meat and fish on another. We saw no large multi product grocery stores.

A row of buildings..some look well taken care of, others not so much. I have realized that the humidity takes a terrible toll on the cement used to build here in Asia.  Even though a building might be only two or three years old, it will show signs of mold and deterioration.

In a previous post I showed a picture of a meditating golden Buddha. This is the park it sits in. We got out of our tuk-Tuks and walked though the park. It was a beautiful area with various native and non native trees. The shade was very appreciated, as we were starting to feel the heat again.

As our ride was ending , I mentioned that I’d really like to own one of these Tuk-Tuks and Ronin assured me that he would be glad to sell his to me sometime in the future!  It was a fabulous ride around time for us. I really do want to look into having one of these at home.  They are street ready, can be electric powered if desired and would be great to run around town in to do errands! Think it might have a learning curve of driving what is basically a supercharged tricycle but think I could certainly manage it…. It is now on my Christmas list!

Now we head towards India tonight. This is our view as we sail from port.  Sri Lanka was an interesting country and Colombo a welcoming city.

Day 2 in Sri Lanka… we can’t visit the elephants with Viking so we go to the zoo instead.

 Okay, the Pinnwalla Elephant Orphanage was supposed to be our tour today… BUT there has been some discussion on board and I guess also on land of the possibility that there was mistreatment going on.  I haven’t run into but ONE person who felt that there might be an issue… ONE. So, until the actions can be 100% investigated, the tour was cancelled.  This is a case where the desires of the few seem to outweigh the actions of the many….. So after some gnashing of teeth and harsh comments to the shore excursion staff, and getting no where… we go to the National Zoo instead.

Now bear in mind… We are in a country that has views about animal welfare that may, I said MAY, differ from those of our country.  Each country is able to proceed with its zoo in however it sees fit. The budget may hold only so much in the way of up to date and modern zoological practices.  With this firmly in our minds, we headed off by personal taxi with our driver Peter to take the four of us to see what was happening at the zoo

We were greeted immediately by this little monitor lizard walking across our path …and why??

To get to the other side!!!! ( its a long standing wankel joke)

In the exotic bird aviary, these guys were the great ing party. Each of them were at least a foot tall not including their tail feathers. The aviary was small but filled with many species.

We did get to see a couple of elephants. These were in an fenced enclosure and it was a far cry from the wonderful exhibit area at the Tucson zoo… but trying to remind myself that here, many places, these are still work animals.  As it happens, later on in the zoo we see more of the elephants in a much larger grassed enclosure along with other hooves animals.

There were two rhinos here..again, the enclosures weren’t great, but not as bad as Ive seen before in the US in small,old zoos

THE MOST EXCITING  BIRD AT THE ZOO!!!!!

The Cassowary

I just stood mesmerized by this bird. The brightness of its blue head, the red waddle contrasting so brightly and the dark,dark beak and black feathers …not to mention the incredible clawed feet. Knowing that this bird is considered very dangerous adds to its mystique. It can appear docile and shy but if it feels threatened, will charge and kill. The middle claw is like a sword. 

As we calked along, we noticed this tree with the large hanging fruit.  While trying to ask what type of tree is is, we approached many Sri Lankans, who seemed to not understand any English…finally we found two young fathers with their children who spoke English..They informed us this is a Jack Fruit tree. It was amazing to see the actual tree. I had no idea they grew on trees like that! (Side note- after that interaction, suddenly everyone spoke English to us and everyone told us it was a jack fruit tree😂) We were the only tourists in the zoo! It was family day and the zoo was filled with children and parents!

A close up of the jack fruit. I can’t imagine how those fruit stay on the tree.. many of them were larger than a football or basketball!

Our day continued after the zoo with a lunch at the oldest colonial hotel in Sri Lanka and then it was time to head back to the ship. We were worn out with the heat and humidity..

My overall impression of the National Zoo  ( and we did not see more than half of it) is that it is trying to do what it can for the animal population. It has quite a way to go to match some of the world’s great zoos, but it does offer the local population an opportunity to view and observe wildlife in a safe and secure environment. 

Tomorrow we take tuk -tuk rides through the city,