The final day!

Our final day of the trip! And sunshine!!! Wow!! We began by signing up for the early morning yoga session that came complimentary with our hotel. This saw us at 8am on the rooftop of the hotel with the ‘master’, on some spongy mats, doing all kinds of stretches and breathing and contorted poses. Both of us were beginners, and neither of us could touch our toes! There was a 15min relaxation part at the end – we nearly fell asleep. Successfully, we both managed to avoid getting the giggles in the session and the master seemed quite pleased with our efforts.

We spent the remainder of the morning swimming in the SUNSHINE in the pool (we cannot believe this sunshine after a month of clouds and rain – finally felt on holiday!) then off in a tuk tuk to purchase some elegant brass birds we had seen the day before.

Lunch was great – we went to the harbour and selected a nice sized red snapper caught that morning, then walked fast pace (touts swarming around us like flies to poo – ‘I’ll cook it!! I’ll cook it!’) to a local restaurant who grilled it for us in ginger, garlic and lemon. It was absolutely yummy, and we gave all the tit bits to the meowing cats at our feet. We had a laugh at some of the funny English spelling in the menu too – a favourite under the soft drinks list was ‘Diet Cock’, haha! Then a quick whizz around the bazaar shops, to get Gaz a nice stripey shirt, and Rach a pashmina scarf and two pairs of ‘ali-baba’ shorts.

All in the nick of time for our taxi to our hotel by the airport, and we were really pleased when it pulled up and we found it was a Regency cab. We zoomed all the way to Abad Hotel (no laughing) and settled in for the evening. The boys eventually rocked up in a fleet of tuk tuks and hit the buffet, whilst we decided on some room service for our final meal.

A good night's sleep and we were up at 5.30am for breakfast and the quick minibus drive to the airport. Two long flights later and we landed back in the UK. We said a final goodbye to the boys and jumped in the H. Hughes taxi for a zip back along cow and goat-free roads to Radley.

More time on the backwaters...

A break in the monsoon rains today as we awoke to clouds. We decided to head over to Ernakulam to explore further afield, so took a tuk tuk then a ferry across to the mainland. It turned out to be a busy, hot, honking and smelly mess of a city. We paced the busy roadsides a bit, then decided to abandon as we were both getting headaches from all the traffic fumes. We did buy a little travel chess set though, much to Gaz’s delight! Which we played on the ferry on the way back, with a lot of interested locals looking on. A quick lunch back at Dal Roti’s again, with some delicious vegetable kati rolls and very spicy ginger tea, yum!

Then a split decision to go on a backwaters tour, to escape the bustling city. So we booked through our hotel for 500 rupees each for a 3 hour backwater tour, and were picked up in a car. Things didn’t get off to a good start when the car turned up late, and we were then informed that actually the tour finished at 7pm, not the 6pm advertised; this was a problem as we were meant to be meeting the boys later that evening. Then we realised they were cramming 4 tourists into a tiny car, so we sat squidged together for over an hour on the roads, no one seeming particularly pleased with the tour so far. Then we arrived and had to wait around for some more tourists to arrive; we kept informing the guides that we had to be back soon.

Eventually we were on our way on a nice banana leaf barge through the backwaters, with two men, one at the front and one at the back, punting us through the calm waters. It would have been very relaxing had it not been for a screaming baby onboard (who at one point walked straight up to Rach and smacked her SLR camera! Omg!) so we ended up hanging off the end of the boat with one of the boatmen where the crying was muffled a little. The waters were lovely, with dipping birds and palm trees, and we wished we were exploring in a little canoe by ourselves in peace. We stopped off at a village enroute to see women spinning rope out of coconut husks, and we bought some tasty tapioca crisps. The trip became really nice when we turned and headed down tiny little waterways, with the boat only just big enough to make it. We then sped back in the car, another hour being squished with a French man falling asleep on Rach’s shoulder, and were inevitably late back.

Cue a mad rush to get ready and get to the ferry to head over the Casino Hotel on Willingdon Island where we were meeting Jai and the school boys for a final meal together. We just missed a ferry (waa!), so decided to get a tuk tuk the whole way there, bouncing over pot holes and narrowly avoiding crashes! Luckily we arrived before the boys, so had whisky and soda with Jai and his wife in their room, then met everyone for a buffet meal in the hotel. All the boys were in one piece from their travels, apart from Churchy who had narrowly escaped a motorbike accident with just a scrape on his arm, phewf! A band were playing at the hotel, who played any songs we requested, and to our surprise Jai jumped up and started playing the clarinet with them. Quite funny and a nice evening.

We hit the shops!

A day exploring Fort Kochi, in torrential monsoon rain! We loitered about a little in the morning to see if the heavy rain would subside, but in the end decided to just head out with big hotel umbrellas and get soaked! We walked over to see the famous Chinese fishing nets, huge wooden structures made of wood, netting and huge stone weights that have to be operated by four men. Fascinating to see, although the touts were out in force and seemed rather desperate in the off-season! We passed lots of fish stalls by the nets. Then we wandered deeper into the town, which had crumbling Dutch houses and lots of little bazaar shops full of brass ornaments and clothes. We spent the morning browsing around the shops, with Rach buying a nice silver and pearl ring, bumping into the school boys at one point to our surprise (and theirs!), and then walked to Mattancherry where we went to see the palace there (with lots of saucy murals on the walls) and had a spot of lunch to shelter from the rain.

We eventually headed back, passing the harbour again which had now turned into a huge throng of shouting locals. We peered in to see what all the fuss was about, only to see pile upon pile of sharks and huge manta rays that had just been brought in. Quite sad to see! We headed back quickly for hot tea and showers after a day in the soggy monsoon.

In the evening we ventured out in the pouring rain and dark again (Rachel fell in a pothole up to her knees in water in the dark!), and found a nice restaurant called Dal Rotis, with a slightly mad owner, that served up delicious panneer (Indian cottage cheese) in tandoori bread. After we went to a bar, and were the only ones in there, and managed to have a few tipples before they closed at… 10:30pm! Not a party town then...

Flying south

Today was one of those long travel days that have to be endured . Having said that, it got off to a good start, with a non-rainy morning comprised of Gaz’s run along the beach, a tasty breakfast over some travel magazines, and then a stroll along the coast, dodging the incoming tide and taking time to watch the incoming and outgoing waves hit each other.

We checked out at midday and caught a taxi to the airport. No dramas as we got onto our first flight of the day, from Goa to Bangalore. We hit the Coffee Day café on arrival and had samosas and muffins (east meets west) before a bit of shopping and our next flight – Bangalore to Kochi. This flight was a little rougher, with the plane flying through some pretty hefty storm clouds. However, both flights were almost empty, so we got to enjoy the turbulence with some arm space…

We got a taxi from Kochi to Fort Cochin. With the incessant rain, honking horns, tight traffic and neon signs flanking the roadside, it resembled something out of Blade Runner. We were glad to arrive at the Old Harbour Hotel just before 9.00pm. It was a haven of calm and luxury. We dumped the stuff in the huge room, took an outdoor shower (complete with teeny baby frogs), then went for an expensive, but extremely tasty, dinner. We even splashed out on some Indian white wine, resulting in our low tolerances leaving us fairly shedded by the time the concierge showed us the way back to our room with a torch. Overall, a nice end to a taxing day….