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Day 30 - Arriving in Ernakulam we had more rickshaw luck as our driver actually asked locals for directions and drove us around until he found our destination without demanding a single rupee extra. We had a warm welcome at Costa Gama Homestay and enjoyed a cool shower in our immaculate room before heading out to explore Fort Cochin. Having received recommendations from everyone we mentioned Kerala to we booked a backwater cruise for the following day before walking past the Chinese fishing nets to the brightly decorated Solar Cafe which served up a delicious organic pasta and refreshing and highly missed tea for two. Wandering through spice shops we found Jew Town's Mattancherry Palace with Hindu murals covering the walls and a gallery of maharajas' portraits. With a hot afternoon we enjoyed our real vanilla shakes before visiting the small but elaborate Pardesi Synagogue with its fancy chandeliers. Also in Jew Town was the tiny Police Museum showing a bizarre mix of uniform and weaponry. Passing St Peter and Paul Church and Kochi jail we had an early dinner before heading back to the Homestay where we met Benson and his lovely family and chatted with him and fellow guest Alaisdair once the boys had done their homework.
Day 31 - Our minibus arrived early for the tour and soon we were joined by Orla, Will and others. After a drive we met our house boat and had some early morning chai as we cruised through the waters seeing Alleppey (the Venice of India!) and numerous small uninhabited and inhabited islands en route; learning about the island communities, watching men at work in the water, women doing washing and finding more fishing nets. Stopping off at an island we decided not to try the local mussels in sauce (sorry Catherine's Mum) but witnessed first hand toddy tapping (David maybe you should get a friend for Yucca?!) with a man scrambling up the tree to get the liquid which is a "delicious" alcohol in 6 hours and vinegar soon after that! Olivia didn't fancy the wobbly bridge but Catherine crossed over to taste and learn about the powers of plants like cashews, aloe vera, curry plant and pineapple. A very delicious veg thali followed by yummy rice, cashew and raisin pudding was our lunch on the trip. Next were the tiny country boats where we were steered by hand through the canals, meeting snakes, kingfishers and cormorant. A quick stop brought us women hand making coir (like rope) before a chai break at a pretty island house. Back on dry land, Teapot's Death by Chocolate Cake and matching shake rounded off a lovely relaxing day. Back at Costa Gama we chatted with Benson's sons before meeting another guest Michael Beck, a very talented musician and together with Benson listened to Jerry Amaldev before promises of a music concert the next night.
Day 32 - Day 32 was to be our last day in India. We began it by visiting Santa Cruz Basilica with its famous ceiling paintings before following Michael's suggestion of breakfast at Kashi Art Cafe where we enjoyed Michael's company and the french toast with refreshing fresh fruit. A trip to the water followed where fishermen showed us their catch from the cantilevered nets. The pretty St Francis Church contained the tomb of Vasco de Gama and we visited the nearby beach and Dutch Cemetery. After seeing goats guarding bonfires we reached the Indo-Portugese Museum where we saw various church relics and were guided round to view certain items in extra detail. We had heard good things about Dal Roti but the ice tea and delicious paneer wraps made from Indian bread were exceptionally good. We returned to Costa Gama to pack before one last shopping trip, dinner and a little more Death by Chocolate (they refused to give Olivia the recipe!). That night we listened to Michael sing and play guitar before saying our goodbyes. We had enjoyed Cochin, particularly its backwaters, and it allowed a quiet few days before we moved onto Thailand.
Day 33 - Up at 3.30am, Benson kindly awoke to see us off as we taxied to Cochin Airport where we ended up with several hours to kill. Finally we checked in and after convincing the stewardess we DID NOT want our bags shipped to Heathrow we proceeded through security. Noticing several well armed men and a man in red we did a double take before realising the Dalai Lama was in front of us! With that excitement over we caught a bus literally all of ten metres to our plane and had a smooth flight involving masala dosa and Orlando Bloom in Extras! Back in Mumbai we bused between terminals - having deja vu with the opening scenes of Slumdog Millionnaire with the views and slum directly by the runway (no cricket being played though). Spending our last rupees on chai, our next flight went well despite the broken inflight entertainment disrupting Catherine's watching of Sex and the City 2, luckily Olivia managed to watch Shrek while inflight turbulence later left Catherine stranded from her seat for 30minutes!
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