Week 4 (part 1) - Fort Cochin and Munnar

Fort Cochin

We left Mumbai on a plane and landed in Cochin or loving called Kochi by her people. We’ve had a driver arranged at most of our places to come and get us and Denisan was there at the airport waiting for us. We had about an hour drive to get to our “homestay” at Reds Residency.  We drove through a HUGE shopping district. The main island of Kochi (where we landed) was really built up. We were so surprised at the number of billboards and car dealerships. Really a different site then so many other places we’ve been.

When we arrived at Reds we were greeted by Mary Anne, who was so sweet, gave us a map and explained where to go to see the Chinese Fishing Nets, beach, places to eat, historic district, major sites, etc. We went up to our room, which was on the top of this 3 floor home and had a balcony on one side and a patio on the opposite side. The lock to our door was AWESOME. It’s the traditional lock of Kerala (the state that Kochi is in).

We started walking toward the beach and I said to David – This is my FAVORITE place. (I said it about a thousand times). I really liked that it was a residential place, we weren’t being hassled to buy anything or take someone’s rickshaw on a tour, and there were awesome trees lining both sides of the road. We walked straight to the Chinese Fishing Nets, which are pretty amazing - they were catching TONS of fish. We watched the sun set and then went to eat a DELICOUS meal of freshly caught squid - boiled in garlic butter - and coconut prawns!

We walked home after dinner and just really enjoyed our first day there. Our second day we enjoyed a little less, cause the hassling began ;) and we were trying to look in some of the shops for different things. And UGH! Do we hate shopping? We just hate how it’s just STUFF! There were so many “junk” stores that just are selling junky stuff – poorly made, or actually dirty, or just the same as the store next door, and the prices are so ridiculous. David and I don’t like to bargain. It’s not our thing. So we just end up leaving, frustrated at the whole process – fighting that feeling of obligation to get something for everyone from the countries we visit. Ugh. We hate shopping.

We saw a traditional Kathakali dance that night. The make up is fantastic and takes over an hour to put on, which is something people are welcome to watch before the show. David and I laughed a good bit during the performance – the actors are incredibly expressive with their face and eyes, there’s no words, but there’s a visual language with their expressions and hand motions (we of course couldn’t crack the code – but back in the day all the audience would know it).

This was a good guy ;) Although he ended up killing the "lady" you see below - like I said, we didn't crack the code.

The next morning before we left Fort Cochin we stopped off at the a museum. This is a personal collection that took 25 years to compile and was so much more amazing that the national museum we saw in Delhi. It was spectacular the things this man had collected, and the incredible condition they were in. Really amazing things.

We then took a BEAUTIFUL drive to Munnar. Munnar is in the mountains, and we loved our ride. So many picturesque moments on the drive. We really enjoyed just staring out the window for the 4 hours it took to get there.  We visited a Spice Plantation on our way there, and that was really incredible. I’ll write more later about thoughts I’ve had about food and our proximity to our food in the US.

Munnar

Oh Munnar! How we love you! I LOVED this place. My ABSOLUTE FAVORITE! I laughed when we got here how much I’d raved about Kochi, cause this was by FAR my favorite. First, our room was amazing! We had a second floor room, so our balcony was open air able to look out on the beautiful mountains and tea plantations, and also the beautiful sunsets and stars and moon as they came out at night. We spent both nights out on our balcony and they were so wonderfully peaceful.

The place we stayed was INCREDIBLE! So peaceful, the people who owned it and worked there were so kind, and it was in a beautiful place. Our room was wonderful, the meals were amazing (prepared by owner’s wife- fantastic chef) and the morning yoga sessions (given by the owner himself) were the absolute BEST I’ve ever attended. We were in an open air gazebo facing the mountain, and I literally had the sun break on my face as I was doing sun salutations. LOVED it!

David and I did get out and go on a long and beautiful drive through the mountains and around the tea plantations. But we turned down an opportunity to go to another National Forest in order just to go back to our little haven and relax on our balcony. This was really the first place where we’ve just kicked back and relaxed!