Staying at Home in Fort Cochin
Trip Start
Nov 04, 2007
1
34
62
Trip End
May 03, 2008
Cochin,
India
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
We found a glowing recommendation on the internet for a 'homestay' in Fort Cochin. Since we've been getting a bit fed up with the Lonely Planet accommodation (they all seem to add a Lonely Planet tax and have taken away things like hot water) we decided to give it a try.
Our taxi from Alleppey dropped us off at Beena Homestay and we were met at the gate by Beena. She lead us up to the house and to our room, which we could tell straight away lived up to the recommendation as it was spotlessly clean. No sooner than we put our bags down, Beena asked us if we'd like some lunch. So we freshened up and sat down to the most lovely home-cooked Indian lunch. We had chapati, pineapple curry, potato, cabbage, coconut salad, several types of chutney, all followed by fresh fruit. During our lunch Beena and her husband, Sudi, continuously re-filled the bowls of food until we could eat no more
Chinese fishing nets, Fort Cochin
. This was to be a pre-curser for all our meals at Beena's!During lunch we chatted to an Indian-Canadian family who had been staying with Beena for 4 weeks - you can't really get a better endorsement than that!
A homestay really is just that. It didn't feel like a hotel or guesthouse, it felt like we were guests in Beena's and Sudi's (and their daughter's) home. The hospitality they showed us and all the other guests that we met there was extremely touching. They enjoyed talking and chatting with their guests, sharing jokes, giving them local knowledge of Fort Cochin, telling us where were the best places to buy certain things. We felt more like friends of the family than paying guests, and Beena and Sudi seemed to genuinely enjoy giving such hospitality. After our first day there, I jokingly said to Roz "shall we stay here until May?", and we easily could have! We can't do enough justice in expressing how nice a place this was to stay.
Fort Cochin was a Portuguese colonial town, which was the centre of the Indian spice trade. It has some charming old buildings and it's impossible to miss the Mediterranean influence. It has a large Christian population which shows in the numerous churches around town
Street view, Fort Cochin
. In fact the church of St Francis was the original resting place of Vasco da Gama before his remains were returned to Portugal. Continuing on the religious theme, there is also a famous synagogue in Fort Cochin, although today's Jewish population is much reduced from that of centuries passed. The book I had been reading (Salmon Rushdie's "The Moor's Last Sigh" if you are interested - highly recommended!) was set in Fort Cochin and the synagogue had been mentioned so I was keen to see it, as well as the other sights mentioned in the book. The floor of the synagogue is covered with Chinese willow pattern tiles, all hand-painted and several hundred years old. I can't help thinking that had it been in Britain there's no way that people would be allowed to walk over them, even with bare feet!Apart from pottering round some of the historical sights, one of the main attractions is the Kathakali. Kathakali is an Indian art form that incorporates dance, music, incredible costumes with stories from the Hindu Ramayan. On our last night we went to see a Kathakali performance. You actually arrive well before the performance in order to watch the artists apply the make-up for the show. It took them a couple of hours to apply the make-up and the results were quite stunning. Kathakali is based on hand and facial expressions, each movement with a different meaning, telling a story, and before the performance started we were treated to a demonstration of some of these movements
St. Francis Church, Fort Cochin
. Apparently it takes 6 years for a performer to train, but we suspect it would take a similar length of time training in order to properly appreciate the movements! The movements consist of lots of eye-twitching, mouth-twitching and head-twitching, with a few hand-movements thrown in for good-measure. It seems quite weird at first........ in fact it still seemed quite weird at the end too! Fortunately they handed out a sheet telling us the story of night's performance, so at least we had some idea of what was going on. A complete Kathakali should last about 9 hours, but fortunately the show they put on for the tourists was only a small section of a complete story. It was fascinating to see, and the singing and drumming accompanying the story were fantastic.I think I'll hand this over to Roz now to add her little commentaries as she likes to do!
Ros:
Oh, ok then. Erm....I'll have to think of something to write then - this internet cafe is about 40 degrees....c'mon brain...
Fort Cochin felt a little like Luang Prabang, minus the considerable financial input that accompany the World Heritage status. The little roads were full of really old, beautiful buildings - except most were, to a lesser or greater degree, falling down. There were little boutique shops full of expensive things aimed at richer tourists, boutique hotels and little cafes you could go and while away an hour or two eating cake and drinking tea. (Total number of days spent in Cochin: 2.5. Total number of times we sat down with a pot of tea and wedge of cake: 4. Ahem...) We didn't actually buy anything in Fort Cochin because, although the shops looked lovely, the owners hassled you the second you even glanced in their direction (Owner: 'Just looking, very good price, special day, lovely thing, you want buy?' Ros: 'no thank you'
Fishing boats, Fort Cochin
. Owner, chasing after us down the street: 'Why not?? Lovely thing, good price, just looking, look now, come in, look!' Hmmm...does this hassling actually work on anyone??) and the prices were ridiculous (American tourist in a cafe: 'Would you just look at this? Isn't it wonderful ?' - holds up scarf, of the variety sold everywhere for about two pounds - 'and only $75! I'm getting so good at this bargaining thing y'know!'). But we could have happily killed another couple of days wandering around the alleyways taking photos. Many of the crumbly old shopfronts housed grain or spice warehouses (you often got wafts of spices in the air) which didn't seem to have changed at all in the last 50 years - the signs were old, hand-painted and quaintly worded, the goods packed in old sacks covered in dust and the staff sat about on wooden stools totting things up on old ledgers. Deliveries were made and collected in GIANT brightly hand-painted, seemingly made of tin lorries with slogans such as 'JESUS LOVES US' across the front, which then had to thread their way through the narrow street honking at the sleepy tuk-tuks, cows and goats that littered the way.So that was Fort Cochin really; pretty, sleepy and eminently potterable - as Hugh said, we could have stayed a long time and were possibly getting far too comfy, as the normal budget hotels and frantic Indian towns now seem something of a shock
Hugh, Fort Cochin
! ('What, you mean we have to go out and find breakfast? And pay for the internet? And there is traffic that might run us over? Doh!')Where we stayed
If anyone reading this wants to find Beena's homestay it can be a bit tricky as I don't think they're in any of the guidebooks yet and it's a little way out of town (an easy, 3 rupee, 5 minute bus journey, 20-30 rupee auto ride or 15 minute walk). They have about 8 fan rooms with hot showers and will give you all your meals if you're about at meal times. You can also check the internet for free. The address is:
'Kadathanad', K.B.Jacob Road, Fort Cochin, Tel: +91 - 484 221 5458 or email beenahomestay@yahoo.co.in
