Kerela state- part 1

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  Fort Cochin, Kerela, India
Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Hi all - we're still here and back on the grid after about 3 weeks of travelling amonst very slow/ non existant internet connections.

We left Goa on the 7th May and following a 16 hour train journey we arrived in Fort Cochin, Kerela. A few facts for ya -  Kerela is the most literate state in India with 91% literacy rate and a population of 31 million.  Main languages Malayalam and Tamil.  Temperature...bloody hot!!!

 Fort Cochin was another old Portuguese colony so lots of colonial buildings and architecture.  Vasco De Gama died here and his remains were buried in St. Francis Church for 14 years until they were returned to the Jeronimos Monastery in Lisbon.  This is also the place of Chinese fishing nets and traditional Kerelan dancing - Kathakali

001 St.Francis Church-Vasco DeGama original tomb

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** CHECK OUT THE VIDEO OF THE CHINESE FISHING NETS!! **

Based on the Portuguese influence, we were pleased to find out Cochin was very laid back and relaxed.  Also the food in this area was very distinctive seeing a fusion of Portuguese, Dutch, French and Indian cuisines.  We had a fantastic 3 course slap up meal at a restaurant named 'History' which talked you through what each nation brought to the food.  EG: the Portuguese introduced the chilly plant.  The meal cost us 1600R's (approx 20GBP)- pricey for India!.

We thought the sea food in Goa was excellent however Kerela seemed to be even better. We can confirm that we are now officially addicted to curries (good job really!) and chai. The food is fantastic! We have even mastered eating with our hands - one meal we didnt even have any plates let alone cuttlery - curry served on a banana leaf and eaten with our hands!!

Kerela is also a place of very limited drinking/bars. The few government bars we visited all have blacked out windows and pitch black inside - literally! We couldn't see sod all when we walked in, classic. Margarida was also the only female drinker in sight! Other than in the licensed bars it was served on the sly in tea mugs at the odd place!

We had our first traditional ayurvedic massage here - which took us slightly by surprise in that we had to be in the buff with a lady massaging us ALL over.  (Jim rather enjoyed his...especially the towelling down at the end!!)

We had the first signs that the monsoon's were on their way with a couple of heavy thunder storms overnight.

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002 History Restaurant	003 Anne's Residency - Home in Cochin!	004 Local Corner Shop	005 Local Egg Delivery Man!
006 Kathakali Dance - Make up Prep	007 Kathakali Traditional Dance	008 Govt Licensed Bar	009 Afternoon Tea at Posh Colonial Place!
010 Jim' first Indian Haircut (only R50!! 65p ! )	011 Chinese Fishing Nets - VIDEO!!	012 Pick your fish/seafood to be cooked for R100!	013 A Large Sea Bass on the end - 15Kg!!
014 Breakfast at the 'Court Yard' - Fort Cochin

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