5/12 – Local village tour in Cochin with Biju

We dock right on time here at the new terminal in Cochin. We can confirm it is new, because we definitely weren’t here 6 years ago. We remember the layout of the place only because we got turned around outside and couldn’t find Lijo our tour guide at the time. No problems here – we can actually see where all the tour guides are parked to the left of the terminal – exactly where Biju, our tour guide today, told us he would meet us.

We aren’t meeting Biju until 8:30 or 8:45, but we want to be out there early to go through immigration – this being India and all. After a 20 minute or so wait for clearance, we are finally let through – first off again! Simon would be so proud (of course I just looked him up again, and he’s with British Airways now, so he probably wouldn’t even care any longer, but still…..it’s a fun memory!). We are first through immigration and while we don’t hit any snag with us personally, I get sent to a window where they first change the officer and then none of his equipment works. Sigh. Ed is done and through the line before I even get sent to another agent. But there still isn’t much of a line coming through so I get somebody right away and I’m done and out really quickly. Wow. That was smooth. No complaints there!

There is nothing in the port besides immigration and nowhere to wait inside, so we just walk outside to hang out for 30 minutes or so until Biju is here. We see a sign with Bijutours on it, wondering if it is the same, but none with our name on it. We’re fine, we knew we’d have to wait. Of course we are descended upon by the taxi and tuk tuk drivers, but we’re used to that and politely shoo them away. Then I look up and see a sign with our name on it. Thinking, wow, he’s here early, we walk over to the guy and say hello and introduce ourselves – although he looks nothing like his picture. I’m think once again, what is with these pictures, until right behind us, there is the real Biju! This is his friend and our driver. Oh. Well. You know! As it turns out, that was a sign for Biju’s tours and he has 2 others going out at the same time. He asks if we mind waiting, which of course we don’t – we hadn’t expected him for 30 minutes yet – and sit in the car with the driver until Biju has his other tours sorted out.

Then we are off on a great tour with Biju, who was born and raised here and just loves his city and country and loves to share it with us. We drive out of the port past all the colorfully decorated trucks lined up, waiting to come in for their loads, then south along the coastline, past the myriad of churches (this is a mostly Christian area of the country), including St. Antony Church – a totally modern and stunningly beautiful stained glass church – toward the local fisherman’s village area.

We are driving slowly because we are so early and none of the businesses Biju wants to visit are open yet. We’re good with that – we are just happy to be here in the car, going to a local area to see the real life here in Kerala without the tourists. We do stop on the side of the road to visit a few fishermen selling their catch by the water. They are all just staring at us, and I’m a little intimidated so, not wanting to appear rude, I don’t take any pictures, but they have a lot of mid-size fish as well as this monstrous crab they’ve caught. It was huge! Biju says it would sell for maybe $15 or $20 US. In the states? That puppy would be over $100. It was that big. We walk out to the water to see where they put their nets out past the little jetty breakfront, then continue on our journey down the coast.

The next place we stop is Chalipuram, which has a little causeway that cuts between a larger waterway and some bays where there are a lot of little fishing boats casting their nets. It is so quiet and peaceful here – beautifully serene. It is easy to just stand here watching the fisherman and enjoying the quiet and solitude. We continue on our walk out to the middle of the causeway, over this rickety plank made little bridge to get a good look at the Chinese fishing nets which aren’t in use at the moment. Biju explains that these nets are rented by fishermen from whoever owns the waterways – they pay for a certain number of uses per week and hope to make their catches during that time. Then slowly reverse course and head back to the car, stopping first in this little hut on the side of the road where a guy shows us this monstrous crab – even bigger than the first one! Crab on steroids! They grow them big here! This guy is a wholesaler who the locals bring their fish to be sold. He’s only got the 1 crab because it isn’t season any longer, but that one crab. Wow!

Next up, we visit the boatbuilder – who is literally building boats on the side of his house. Hand built, all wooden, inside joints sealed with hand woven rope and then sewn into the joints. The work is absolutely amazing. There is a team of maybe 5 guys, including Biju’s friend who owns the operation, working on boats in different stages. It is fascinating to watch them work. Biju points out the new goat shed that he says was just built in the last month or so. It is new since the last time he was here. We also meet the owner’s son, who is crushed his ankle when the prow pieces of the boats fell on him as he was trying to lift one off the pile. He’s on a walker with a huge cast, poor thing, and just stands at the door and sort of shyly waves to us. So sweet.

Back at the car, we’ve lost the driver – he went up the street for tea! Biju talks to one of the locals in a little stall next to the car and then we get in and he asks if we want to see the harbor? Sure! We’ve got no plans – we keep telling Biju, whatever he wants to do and show us we are fine! Off we go to Chellanam Harbor, which is like nothing you have ever seen. First of all, we have to drive down this narrow little lane – no more than single car wide with a huge white concrete wall on one side and little shops on the other – very Crete reminiscent! You’d think it was one way, but oh no, it is not, and we almost get stuck when a tuk tuk tries to get past us going the other way. Fortunately we are not doing the driving, so we just sit quietly in the back having flashbacks! Through the bottleneck, we get to a point where we can really go no further, so we hop out of the car and walk the rest of the way to the most fun and crazy scene ever! Here in this huge harbor are hundreds upon hundreds of boats hauling in their catch for the day, accompanied by hundreds of birds flying around – and eagle flew right past our faces as we approached – and tons of people huddling around auctioneers on the land selling the catch. It is a cacophony of sounds and sights and smells. And utterly captivating. We have no idea what they are saying – we are most absolutely definitely the only foreigners here – but it is so interesting we could stand here watching forever.

Most of the catch is already in baskets on the ground, but one boat has just come in and people are actually out in the water grabbing the fish right off the boat. Maybe that way they avoid the middleman? Don’t know – but it is amazing. And they do this everyday! Some people are here to buy for themselves and their families – those are the guys with the little bags of fish, but the majority are buying for the factories and wholesale operations that will sell to the restaurants and export overseas. The catch ranges from small fish – sardines and spotted pomfret, I think is what Biju called the little fish – and shrimp of every size imaginable.

Heading back toward the city, we stop at a local coconut oil maker. They are repairing their machines, so we don’t see them in action, but Biju points out how they crush the coconut and extract the oils by heat, then send the oil through piping that comes out in a spigot on the side wall. We really wanted to buy some to take home, but unfortunately it is all bottled in recycled plastic water bottles. Not a chance in hell we are putting one of those in our suitcase, even in double zip locked bags. That is too much of a chance to take with 4 flights ahead of us. Bummer! And it is so cheap too. ½ liter is only $1 USD. Oh well.

Moving on, we drive out of the local village area past gorgeous bay type areas and lots and lots of rice fields, both harvested and not, and into the Kochi proper. Now we’re doing the tourist thing! (But now is a good time to discuss Cochin vs. Kochi – both the same here in India. Different variations of the name for a variation of languages and dialects, but totally confusing with Kochi in Japan. Ed has on his Japan Kochi family shirt just for the occasion, which Biju remarks upon, and also tells us that he has had guests who have booked his tour, and when he shows up at the pier, they are nowhere to be found. He called them and they are actually in Kochi Japan! We can understand that completely! Since were just in the Japanese Kochi twice, we are calling this stop Cochin to avoid confusion, but since I dropped the Kochi in above, thought it was a good time to point out the confusion.)

On with the touring! Our first stop is the Dhobi Khana laundry – the only public laundry facility here in Cochin. It is very small compared to Mumbai – of course! – but essentially the same with the washing stalls – where Biju points out his on personal laundry he brings here! And, as Biju puts it, the biggest dryer in the world – all the clothes lines stretched out in the adjacent field. The clothes are all hung on the clothes lines which are braided ropes, and the clothing item is threaded up through the rope – no clothes pins necessary. Brilliant.

The interesting thing we get to see here is the ironing room though. We’ve not seen that on our Mumbai touring. First of all, they use a natural starch made from tapioca flour for pressing and the finished shirts look like they are brand new and coming straight out of the package. The irons they use are wild too – the “new” electric ones are 8 kilos! I get a laugh out of the guy doing the ironing when I lift it and tell him I’m going to use it for my weight lifting! The old fashioned irons are the best though – they are filled with burning coconut husks! And as Biju keeps repeating, very hot! Oh yeah, I can see that. I get to try one out from the sweetest little old lady – she has the best smile and a sparkle in her eyes (even with the glaucoma you can see in them). So sweet. And the iron is sweet as well – it is heavy, but glides so smoothly over the material. I want one! (That would go over big in the neighborhood!) On the way out, we pass an excellent mural of the man who started the laundry and then hit the car for our next stop.

Which turns out to the be the liquor store! We told Biju we only had 3 things we really wanted to buy today – wine, beer and food for the lovely Indian security guide who can’t go outside today. Our first 2 requirements are being met here. Which is the Kerala State Beverages Corporation or some such place – and looks like a sketchy lotto or money lending place. It is literally a door cut out of what looks like an old shipping container where you step up into this little space and tell the proprietors what you want. Crazy weird. No wonder the assistant on our Gate 1 tour always went and bought the wine and beer for us! No way would we have even approached some place like this! Oh, and there is another place right next door, which just a window opening cut out of it and this big huge metal wall placed right in front, creating an alleyway like area to get to the window. Just freaky and bizarre and thank God Biju is doing all this for us! I get to go to the shipping container place because they have the Sula wine, Ed has to go to the alleyway place because they have the Kingfisher in cans. We can pay for the beer – I have 700 rupees for that – as well as a Nepalese 50 that got stuck in there – but that’s neither here nor there! Biju has to pay for my wine because they don’t accept foreign credit cards or USD. So…but I pay him back in USD and all is well. Drinks complete.

We stow everything in the car and off we go to the Colonial area, the site of the old fort. The whole city originated as a fort when the Portuguese came here, thus the name. The Dutch came next and then of course the British. There are still remnants of the fort area, such as the parade grounds, which are now playing fields, and there are lots of old colonial buildings in Portuguese and Dutch styles, which we drive past on our jaunt through town. We go past Ft. Kochi Beach – which is neither a fort or a beach any longer! Of course no fort, but the beach itself actually used to be 300 meters wide, but with erosion over the years, now it isn’t even 20 meters wide. You can only just see a little sand, and then the waves are breaking over the shore. We do a quick little photo stop at the old Dutch cemetery, then continue on our city tour stopping at the Chinese fishing nets.

Here we actually do see working fishing nets. We get a fantastic view from this beach area, watching one of the two mechanical nets being lifted – with unfortunately no fish. The main attraction though is the old style manual operating net, which we are in the perfect position to watch as the team of 6 fisherman heave on the ropes to lever up the net. The whole mechanism is great- there are huge rocks to counterbalance the next and the rope system allows the weights and balances to glide what seems like effortlessly up and down raising the net. Sadly, there is no catch in this one either. Biju tells us that these guys do this all day when the tide is right. They lower and raise the net every 5 minutes or so, looking for a catch. What a job, what a life!

Driving out of the main city area, we pass church after church, stopping at the beautiful limestone Santa Cruz Cathedral, for a couple of photos. Then we stop at a local market for coconut water – which is so nice and refreshing! I love watching the guy hack the top off the coconuts to open up a little area for us to sip from – damn! Do you see how close his thumb is to that machete looking thing? Knife skills!

From here we take a meandering tour through local streets, past the old lady and her husband making papadom and drying it on the street – oh, I’m so glad those things are deep fried before you eat them!

Then to the spice factory, where there is no more ginger. Apparently this is the big draw, when ginger is in season and here, it is spread out in the front courtyard area here – where the lighter color cement is located – to dry. It must be a big deal, because a tourist already here looks at us as we walk in and says – there’s no more ginger! Okie dokie. We go inside the storage bay where the spices are being screened and bagged – but there isn’t a lot here either. It must not be the season – although we do get to smell some peppercorn and a lovely masala mixture. Then we go upstairs to the spice store, but you know, we have so much Indian spice still left from our last visit, that there is no reason to buy more. (I think we are totally disappointing Biju because we are just not buying anything! But booze! But hey, we’ve told him, we aren’t shoppers – we don’t want or need anything – so it shouldn’t come as a surprise we aren’t buying!)

Biju keeps asking us if we have a plan – but we have nothing we specifically want to do and were relying on him to tour us around as we chose his tour description specifically for the local fishing village. Asking us if we want to go to any of the shopping areas, we say no. But we do sort of want to go to the “Jew area” – what they call it and see the synagogue. Which sort of surprises him, but he takes us there and as we are walking down this long tourist souvenir street to the synagogue, he explains that there are only 2 Jews left here. Well, that’s news to us. Everyone really left after Independence, and only on old lady stayed because she loved it so much and wanted to take care of the heritage of the synagogue. She was a weaver and had a shop until she became ill and passed away. Now the place is just a big touristy shopping area – which now explains Biju’s perplexed look when we said we wanted to go. We had no idea it was just a shopping area and had visions of the Jewish quarter in Seville or other places we have visited.

The synagogue though ends up being well worth the visit. Built in 1568, it is the oldest operating synagogue in the commonwealth countries. Built in traditional Jewish style with the balcony for the women, the one incredibly unique feature are the 1100 hand painted tiles that serve as the flooring. All original and all unique in their own way. The same scene painted over and over, but with minor differences in each. When we entered, we had to take off our shoes, which I thought was totally odd, but now we understand, it was to protect these tiles. They are fabulous. I could stand here all day and just look at each to spot the differences.

Outside in the courtyard is a 3 sided clock. The side facing the synagogue is in Hebrew for the Jews, the side facing the street is in Roman for the traders and the side facing the city is in Hindi for the locals. It is said it was created this way so that no one would have an excuse for being late to services. Smart.

With nothing left on our agenda besides food for Preeti, we hit a restaurant with Biju buying some Biryani – which he says is the best – and adding in a little sweet he says she will like, and head back to the port. What was supposed to be an 8-hour tour ends up being a little over 4, but we don’t have anything else we want to do. And while we normally would stay outside and eat, we are both a little leery of eating anything too spicy or heavy at the moment, after our fruit experiment in Sri Lanka. So, back to the ship we go – to the a/c – handing the food off to Preeti, who really didn’t expect us to do that! Even though we told her we would. She was so happily surprised.

Then a nice lunch in Windows, a beauty shot of our purchases on the balcony, and an afternoon relaxing and watching The One and Only Ivan, a really sweet movie about a gorilla in captivity, based on a true story. Afterward, a picturesque sail away passing all those Chinese Fishing nets and some sort of party going on a bandstand on the shore.