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...