Cochin, Kerala, India (by Kev)

24.2.2025. We're off to the plane station(Emma couldn't remember airport). First plane to Bangkok. Tried to exchange our Laos kip to rupees. Nowhere takes kip, worthless outside of Laos. If anybody needs just over a million kip, going cheap, give us a call. Amused ourselves for 5 hours, then in the next plane. India here we come. We got there really late. Grumpy taxi driver to our guesthouse, sleep.
25.2.2025. Tried to sleep in, didn't work. So we headed out to get some breakfast. Found somewhere not far, we had no idea what we were ordering. Just pointed and asked if that was spicy. The guy spoke ok English, but I'm having a lot of trouble understanding anyone here. We had a nice breakfast, the coffee is really good. We spent the day organising stuff, tried to get the guesthouse staff to arrange a taxi for us but they couldn't work it out. Mel found out that the uber app we use at home works perfectly well here. Organised it ourselves. Had a really nice dinner at a very nice restaurant, we ordered and ate too much, but that's what we do when we eat Indian at home. We're gonna get it everyday so I think we'll slow down pretty quick.
26.2.2025. We got to our new guesthouse, not as great as we'd hoped but it was pretty cheap. Sorta settled in, then we went looking for an ATM that will work for us. We walked for ages and India is quite a bit warmer than SE Asia. Stopped for lunch where we hit a language barrier. Luckily there was a guy there that could speak quite well and helped us out. Pretty tasty and we got some more water. The search for an ATM continues. Finally found one that gave us money, so we hit it hard. Punjab bank ATM works for us. Got back, payed for our room and had a shower. We have come to the realisation India is pretty big, much bigger than SE Asia. Walking anywhere takes a lot more time here. Had dinner, some chapatti and dips.
27.2.2025. First real full day out in India. After yesterday's effort, we ordered a Tuktuk to take us to Fort Kochi. Visited the Bastion Bungalow, there was lots of information about Kochi and its rich history of trading with its neighbours. Was only when Europeans got involved, did they start to get occupied. Apparently pepper was called ‘black gold’ and was worth more than gold and silver. We went to the maritime museum, was hoping for more history stuff but a lot was newer. We did find out though that Vasco de Gama (if that's how you spell it) a Portuguese guy that “first” found India had a lot of help from a bloke who he picked up in Africa. Indian's, African's, Arab's and all sorts of others had been freely trading for hundreds of years. After that the Portuguese occupied them, the Dutch occupied them and finally the English. After the museum's we found a small cafe and had some drinks. The guy who runs the place plays violin and was very interested to find out Emma plays too. Emma had a little go on his violin but it was too big. He played very nicely while we had our drinks. After, we went to a place called Kathakaly. A local performance and arts centre. We watched the actors put on their makeup, bit boring at the start. Then we had a demonstration of all the hand and facial movements. This sorta traditional stuff has no dialogue so they portray it through their gestures and face. It was alot like sign language. After that we were hot, so we found a bar. A/C and our first Indian beer. Kingfisher Ultra. Was ok but not my favourite of the trip. We finished at a nice restaurant where we dialled back on our ordering. The kids got butter chicken, was told not spicy. Apparently still spicy to them. Mel thinks that the sauce always some spice and they just add more if you want it hotter. Might be onto something. Anyway, not spicy here is still too spicy for my kids. I had a medium spicy potato and cauliflower dish. Spot on. Couple bowls of rice and a few naan and we were done.
28.2.2025. Kids did some school work this morning and we blogged a bit. In the afternoon we tuktuked it the Kerala Folklore Museum. A private collection of pretty much everything. Something like 40,000 pieces in there, even the roof was brought in from somewhere. Lots of artefacts from all religions from the area. Throw in some weapons, toys, puppets, lamps, palanquins and some old “books” written on dried banana leaf. All in all was very interesting. After that we tuktuked to The Hill Palace Museum. A massive area built on a bit of a hill, hence the name. In here was lots of information about the royal family and Cochin through the many years. Lots of pictures and reading and walking. We walked up to a room with police outside, through a massive thick door which I thought “that looks a bit like a vault door”. Yep, in here were some valuable jewellery including the crown. The crown has something like 40 diamonds, 120 emeralds and 240 Ruby's or something like that. I understand the big door and guards now. After our visit we walked around outside. The kids played on a swing in a tree on the grounds. We noticed there was quite a few swings set up. Walked some more, found a massive dinosaur. Walked some more, found a pen with heaps of deer. We had had enough and the museum was closing so we headed back for the entrance. There is a playground near the entrance, so we let the kids have a play. Back for dinner and bed.
1.3.2025. Off to a late start, did some school work. Off to a couple parks we found along the river. Visited a Hindu temple first cause it was on the way, very different from all the others. Wanted to visit the first park but found out it doesn't open until 2pm. So we went to the second park. Small fee to get in, small fee for nearly everything in here actually. Kids played for a bit then Andrew asked if he could ride a bike. They had quite a few in here. After a small fee to rent one he was off. Emma borrowed it a bit and they swapped out often after a few laps each. A couple hours had passed and we moved on back to the other park. This one was bigger with free entry. Lots of space and playgrounds. Played for a bit, then had coffee and icecream (in the park), then played a lot more. Kids found a couple kids who spoke some English and played with them. Afterwards we walked along the river, we found somewhere to have some dinner and play some card games. Walked back along the river to look at the rainbow bridge. Kinda disappointing, but hey not everything is gonna blow my mind.
2.3.2025. We visited the Mattancherry Palace. Which was built and gifted to the king as a sorry by the Portuguese after they pillaged a temple. There is a synagogue built right next to it so we visited that too, never been in one before. After that we walked along Jew road in Jew town. Lots of shops selling stuff, pretty touristy. We looked at all sorts of things, instruments, games, fabrics, clothing, art, everything. We found a collection of old Indian coins that we bought to add to Andrew's collection. We went inside a “perfume museum”, lots of essential oils distilled from everything. My favourite was the coffee oil. Smelt like coffee liqueur. Andrew's favourite was vanilla. Emma's was strawberries, and we grabbed a little roll-on bottle for her. Mel wasn't sure what the favourite was, just sure we need to give our noses a break and get back outside. We stopped at a place overlooking the water, had a drink and played some cards games. Decided we would walk to our next destination, about 30-35mins. Our walk took us right through the middle of typical Indian streets, busy and bustling. We got used to walking busy streets in SE Asia, but India is something else. After our walk, we found some dinner near our destination. Emma had been asking about these things called Momo's, they were on the menu so she had some. Looked like dumplings, chicken filled and steamed. Emma likes! After that we went and saw a couple more shows at the Kathakali performance arts place. We first saw a martial arts demonstration. Tiring looking stuff, they used different styles and weapons. Unarmed combat, knives, bamboo sticks, swords and lastly something that looked like a very thin sword that rolled up. Impressive stuff, a little nervous since we were in the front row. After that, we stayed for a classic India music show. A guy with two small drums and another playing something that looked a bit like a guitar but had like 26 strings. Really enjoyed the music.
3.3.2025. So, the plan today is to go to… Wonderla!! An Indian amusement park. After an hour taxi ride(about $10) we were there. Tickets acquired and in we went. They have a land side and a waterpark side. Decided to do the land side first for a few hours then change and hit the water. Started with a very small rollercoaster. Then some other little rides. Neither of them were tall enough to go on the BIG rides, not that they wanted too. I did! After a few other small kiddy rides we finally got them to try something a little bigger. Guess what, they loved it. We saw a 3d movie then had some lunch. The time had flown by and it was time to hit the water. The kids are more used to water rides as we had already done a water park in Phnom Penh. The trouble here was finding one they were allowed to go on. Too short for this one, tall enough but not heavy enough for this one. Was a little disappointing but we found a few we could all ride, and we did, a lot. It was getting late so we decided to change and if there was time hit some more land rides. After that we rode a Tuktuk back to Fort Kochi to a restaurant I had wanted to go to. The place was packed, what? It's Monday night what the hell. We ordered, took forever to get our food. Emma was hungry as and tired as, so after everyone else had gotten their food and she hadn't, we got a little upset. I asked where our last meal was and hey presto look at that it turned up. Kids were hungry all right, I barely got any left overs.
4.3.2025. Blog day. That's it, probably some food at some point and a little bit of packing since we're off tomorrow.
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