Day 1. Fort Kochi

 Our guide, Dennis, has very kindly offered to show us around today, even thought today is not part of the tour. We thought that today would be a rest day to get over the travel, but actually we aren't feeling too bad !

We had been watching all the different boats going up and down past our hotel. There is a ferry crossing right beside the hotel that seems to be running all day and part of the night. It is always jam packed with cars, trucks, tuk-tuks, scooters and people. We'll, neck minute, we were in the middle of all that, going across to have a look at the fish market.

                          On the ferry

                              DENNIS

 The weather was hot and the smell at the market was up there, but was interesting. We watched the fishing nets for a bit, then caught a tuk-tuk to the fish market. Quite a lot of fish that we could recognise. Skipjack tuna, small grouper, snapper etc to name a few. The back in the tuk tuk to the ferry back over to Fort Kochi.

                  Traditional fishing nets

                                   Unloading

I had let Dennis know that I was interested in a bit of shopping. Dennis was flat out on his phone the whole time, some of that must have been to arrange stuff for us - like gettingus right in to the fish market !  So next thing we turned into a car park outside this  ordinary looking building, and we were ushered in to the Heritage Museum, Fabrics India. So much different on the inside !  Hindu statues, Fabrics, carpets, jewellery. An Alladins cave.

                          What to choose?

I was keen on getting a tunic, so I was quickly shown a range of fabrics, measured up and it was to be made and delivered to our hotel by 7pm tomorrow night !  So Dave thought that he should get a shirt - same procedure.  We were next ushered in to the carpet showroom, where the salesman applied a bit of pressure on us to buy a hand knotted rug. They were all very lovely, but we hadn't factored in spending that much, so he missed out there. Bought a few other things and escaped 😅

                        Random street scenes

                     Check out the wires

By now it was lunchtime, and off we went to Seagull restaurant, not very far from the hotel. It is a seafood restaurant, you pick your fish and say how you want it cooked. We had a feast. Starters were beef dry fry and a tiger prawn dish, followed by a small grouper that was grilled in butter garlic, some light herb and spice. Served with rice, a Dahl sauce and poppadoms.  Dont forget the Kingfisher beer, that went down easily, the temp must have been in the 30's by then.

After lunch we got dropped off back at the hotel to have a bit of a rest.

                       Extra hotel photos

        

              Area where the tea is served

                         Ferry coming in

There was a small afternoon tea on in the gallery (above)  that is complimentary, then followed that with a boat cruise of about 1 hours duration around the harbour, also complementary from the hotel. Interestingly, dolphins are a common sight, and we saw quite a few !

     

Back on dry land and it was definitely time for a drink. It seemed fitting to have a Blue Sapphire while in India.  Followed up with dinner in the "Historic Restaurant" in the hotel.  That's it for Day 1. Pretty busy and HOT !