Day 130: Exploring Kochi

Beth and the girls wanted to try "authentic" yoga (from the country it was invented in), so the guy that runs our apartment building set up a yogi to come for 7:30 in the morning. I tried to sleep in, but that was wishful thinking.

I looked out on the patio one time and saw the dude with his legs so high in the air behind him it seemed like someone had broken him in half. I think they said it was the "downward dude" pose or something....

I think I chose the right option...

Our bags and packing/unpacking style probably says a lot about us... We range from very organized (Abby, who completely empties her bag and repacks at least every couple of weeks, and occasionally orders updated ziplock bags for the various clothes "sections" in her bag), to pretty organized (Beth, though she's still managed to lose some stuff....), to organized (I'm actually very organized, but Beth will guffaw because wherever we go I empty my daypack of all the cords and charging stuff, which tends to annoy her... Sorry) to oddly organized (that's Robin... It seems to work for her, but Ganeesha love her, it looks very disorganized from a third party observer!).

When we went out of the apartment, there were two Tuk Tuk drivers arguing about who was going to take us.... One that we had used last night and that I'd casually mentioned to that we might need someone the next day, and one arranged by the hotel manager.... Not to worry, we opted to take both!

Kochi is a nice looking, pretty interesting little town. On a couple of occasions already, we've driven by Tuk Tuk through streets that were full of spice, herb, rice, onion and garlic wholesalers... The place was very busy. The main shopping area is in the so called "Jew town", or the little area near the Jewish Synagogue.

Mid-shopping, we were stopped by a nice couple from the nearby state of Tamil Nadu who wanted to get a Gaijinzilla picture for a souvenir.... We obliged of course.

We stopped for ginger tea and lassis - I had my first ginger lassi and the first lassi in India since the last time we were here. Yum!

The waterfront area near the Jewish Quarter is nice. It's a bit of a mix - the background is the core industrial and port area, but the inlet full of floating greenery is kind of cool.

The Synagogue was closed for the day (you know, Saturday is their day of rest :-)) which made for a nice and quiet shopping experience for us. Before we knew it, we were having a shop we'd made some good purchases at prepare a box for shipping. Get ready Gram and Banka :-)

Right near the synagogue were a bunch of shops that were run from people largely out of state. We went to one shop run by a friendly guy from the state of Kashmir who was selling cashmere scarves and pashminas - Abby remarked that it was pretty funny (or was it a scam, she asked) that the guy was from Kashmir and sold cashmere... Oh dear... That's because that's where cashmere is from Abbs!

I noticed a sight that brought back a lot of memories. When we travelled in Rajasthan for three or four weeks in '97, we had a driver that drove the famous Ambassador cars. Yuo still see them here occasionally and I half wondered if it was still a "thing" in the north.

We were ready for lunch, so we grabbed the same two Tuk tuks and headed for Dal Roti for a repeat performance from last night. When we go there, I asked the friendly owner we'd gotten to know last night if the post office was open, near and whether I should go and come back while the other three ordered. He said I should as it was closing within a couple of hours. Oh oh.... That didn't bode well for how long this would take.

Here is a quick list of things in order that I remember from the 75 minutes of my life sending a box to Canada that I will never get back....

- go to post office

- asked clerk 1 how I could ship my box to Canada

- clerk 1, 2 and 3 proceeded to unstick the wrapping around the box, remove the bubble wrap and cut open the box to inspect the items

- clerk 4 came over with a box twice as big and said it would be 125 rupees for a bigger box

- clerk 4 meticulously wrapped the box while clerk 2 and 3 returned to work and clerk 1 opened a study book for an extra business course she was taking (I spied on her to pass the time)

- clerk 1 informed me that I would need a copy of my ID... I asked to use one of a bank of nearby copiers... She said they were not copiers.... Hmmm

- Tuk Tuk driver drives me five minute away for a photocopy. Drives me back

- clerk 2 now in charge. Gives me 4 duplicate forms, 1 declaration sticker and 1 giant shipping label to fill in

- clerk 4 returns with wrapped and weighed box with a friendly head waggle

- clerk 2 waits while rat runs on wheel inside computer

- clerk 2 issues bill, tapes all 4 duplicate forms to the box, in different spots.

- clerk 2 takes money

That's skipping a lot of in between communication issues and waiting for every step to finish. An hour and fifteen minutes and that's with no other customers in the post office. I would have asked to use the "complaint and suggestions book" but I only had another hour.....

We tried relaxing in the apartment in the late afternoon. The girls were all happy to lay down for a nap.... Until a parade broke out across the street! It was so loud. Robin did a little jig on the back deck....

I'd arranged an in-home cooking class a while back. The woman's name was Meera, and she offerred cheap, short, well reviewed cooking courses right out of her home. We were greeted by Meera, her husband and teenage son, and were later joined by his eight year old son (who was a dead ringer for Robin's friend Phin) and the husband's father. When I say it was "in-home", it was literally in their kitchen in their house that was right in the main area of the old town near the basilica.

The prices and dishes were all lined up and ready to go....

Abby loves getting in there, as long as it's not when there's oil in the pan....

We took notes which we added to the recipes she gave us. The curries were simple and easy to make. I'm constantly impressed, as I was in Southeast Asia, with how simple and healthy the home cooking is. There was actually very little oil used in preparing the three veggie curries, one shrimp curry and the chapattis that Robin rolled and Abby cooked up.

After about an hour of prep and cooking, we were ready to dig in...

The class was fun and it was pretty interesting getting to know Meera and her husband. They were very open and didn't seem to mind our nosy questions. They also seemed to learn a lot from us, as they were just as inquisitive.

We have a very early day tomorrow, so as soon as we got back it was time to hit the sack. We will miss Kochi - it's definitely a place you could easily spend many more days at.