Alleppey —> Fort Kochi —> Kochi Airport

Up at 730, we left the hostel in good time and walked the 2.5km to the bus station. On the journey it started spitting with rain, but we thought we would not get a Tuktuk we would just carry on...with the bus station in sight it started to pour so we made a run for it. In the train station there was a very small shop called “bakery and cool juice bar”, they were also selling naan/chapati bread with some curry, and it was jam packed with locals which is only ever a god sign. We squeeze into the shop putting out big bags underneath the table and sat whilst the food was brought over to us. We ate with our hands of course and the food was delicious and only for 40 rupee each. Stomached no longer empty we asked somebody at the bus station the best way to get to Fort Kochi, a bus to Thoppumpaddy and then change there to Fort Cochin, all together it should cost around 60-70 rupees each. We got on the bus and oh no it was another “super fast” bus! Would we survive? The ticket man happened to be the same man that we just spoke to at the station, we couldn’t get ripped off now!? 45 rupee for bus from Alleppey to Thoppumpaddy and then we found a bus going to Kochi beach and jumped on that as it was still moving, for 10 rupees - so a total of 55 rupees, or about 60p. We were dropped off and then dumped our bags in a nearby hostel after they agreed to do it for no charge (they initially wanted 150 per bag) and then started aimlessly walking around. It was so hot, 33°C according to our phones, but it felt more like 40° due to there being no breeze and it wasn’t helped by the lack of shade as it was midday.

We walked along the coast and were surprise that locals were just selling tat and there were a lot of older tourists here. We saw the Chinese fishing nets (that neither of us really understood), Fort Cochin beach and then got some shade in St Francis church, where Vasco de Gamas tomb is. Whilst getting ready to leave I felt somebody stroke his back, he thought it was me playing around but it was actually a weird Indian man that had taken a liking to me - weird. We continued to walk around in the heat and after being asked to leave a temple because it was closed we decided to get some food nearby. I did a quick Google and found a local place nearby called Kayees, a local cafe where we went in and were seated next to 2 other Indian guys. We got to talking with them, they were in town on business and we asked them what was good to eat here...they responded with Mutton Biriyani. Shortly after the waiter come over and basically said in very few words that chicken Biriyani was all they had...so our vegetarian stint was now over, however the food was delicious and we ate every bit. We walked around for a bit more after food, but a little slower than we previously were. Before long we were in a street called “Jew street”, where we learnt that Kochi was the oldest Jewish settlement in India. We walked past colourful shops selling spices, antiques and clothing and eventually found a little restaurant where we each ordered a Lassi and enjoyed that in the shade, away from the burning sun. In our British ways, Tom asked the couple behind us if it was okay for me to move the fan in our direction a little, to which the man responded “yes, we mind”, we both laughed and Tom proceeded to spin it around assuming he was joking. He then more seriously said “I said I do mind, air is so important”... (ironic really considering they both lit up cigarette shortly afterwards). Tom spun the fan reassuring them that he wasn’t going to completely take it away from them...what a miserable couple!

After finishing our lassis we walked back to the hostel where we left our bags, unsure whether we would be charged or not by the guy. We collected our bags and didn’t have to pay (RESULT). With our heavy bags on our backs we made our way to the ferry port where I queued up Indian styled (basically it was carnage) and paid 6 rupees each (6 pence) for the ferry back over to the mainland. We then started to walk to the bus station which was around 1.6 Kilometres away, it felt like we were walking for hours not helped by the fact that Tom’s small bag was completely ripped open meaning he had to hold it shut the entire way. We were once again on the search for a bag shop and Tom had his prayers answered on this journey as we walked past a shop called “Magnet Bags”, We walked in and managed to haggle a bag for 600 rupees, or £6 and managed to get the guy to staple up his old bag so it was easier to manage. With a slight spring in his step we made it towards the bus station, but the staples hadn’t worked. Within two minutes the bag was in pieces again. We quickly got to the bus station and eventually got on a bus going to the airport. Initially, we asked the station master which bus was going via the airport. He said it leave at 18:00,m...not exactly the answer we were looking for but we had time so I thought we could just check later. We tried to find some food, but there was nothing around, so went back to the bus station. As 18:00 was fast approaching I was keen to know which bus. The new station master was just as helpful, so I just started getting on all the buses asking which was going to the airport. Nobody knew, typical, so I went back to our bag pyramid. It was at this point I noticed the place name “Nedumbassery”, which I knew was the airport. As I had already been on this bus to ask I went back and asked another passenger and they confirmed it was the right bus...with about 5 minutes to go we jumped on and got some seats. Thankfully this was an AC bus so it was nice and cool, however, we both got cold as what would usually be a 30 minute journey turned into 2 hours thanks to Kochi and it’s roadworks.

Eventually we got to the bus stand where we initially got the bus from the airport the other day and we walked to our hotel ‘Alfa Inn’ for the night. We grabbed a veg biriyani on the way back and got some well needed rest as we’d be up early for our flight to Hubli tomorrow morningRead more