Leaving Cochin, and India, after 6 wonderful months

We finally left Cochin on 24th Feb after having spent 6 wonderful months in India. We had enjoyed our short stay in Cochin as it really was a chilled out wee place, especially for India. As we were leaving Heavenly Homestay in the taxi to go to the airport to catch our flight to Malaysia,  Patrick ran into the house and returned with bottles of water so we would not be thirsty on our journey - hospitality right to the end! (we have also since, received an e-mail from him, thanking us for staying in his home).
Because of the problem I had been having with my knee, I had it strapped up. Sounding like an old git, a friend from Agonda had given me a walking stick. Sounds a bit over the top but it helped me to get upstairs, without having to go up one by one,  with a rucksack on my back. When we got into the airport the ground crew immediately approached me and asked me if I needed  a wheelchair. I obviously said no, but Colin was a bit miffed as he thought it would be fun to have him whizzing me around the airport in a wheelchair. It would have been like a comedy sketch from Little Britain with Andy and Lou - me getting out of the wheelchair to get a drink at the airport bar while Colin was in the toilet!
More embarrassment was to come. When we were in the departure lounge I was called to board the plane before the other passengers. Not to be out-done Colin grabbed my hand luggage so that he could board with me. So there we were sitting on the plane. Coiln, myself and two wheelchair-bound passengers and then the other passengers were allowed to board. Just before landing the stewardess approached me and asked if I would like to be carried off the plane by porters, where a wheelchair would be waiting for me to take me through customs. I obviously politely declined. Colin was in stitches.
It was the early hours of the morning when we arrived in Kuala Lumpar (70kms from the centre) so we had pre-booked a cheap, budget airport hotel as, at that time, no buses operated and taxis tend to rip you off because it's late. We got to the hotel and the room was a box, no bigger than the size of our bed! The next morning we got a taxi into the centre. Although we have both travelled throughout Asia, none of us have ever been to Malaysia. We had tried to book a budget hotel in Kuala Lumpur via the internet but none of them had got back to us. So we chose an area on the map and asked the driver to drop us off at a large shopping mall in the centre so that we could find a place to stay. On foot, we managed to find a place which turned out to be really good and central for most things.

Ayurvedic massage

For the last 6 months I have been having trouble with my knee. It was getting a lot worse and I was having difficulty walking and unable to get up and down stairs - having to go baby style, one stair at a time. I had seen 2 orthopaedic doctosr in Goa, had an X-ray, MRI scan and was given medication. There was no improvement so I decided to consult an Ayurvedic Doctor in Cochin. Ayurvedic medicine is traditional medicine native to India. I was prescribed 2 types of tablets which contain many different types of herbs and also a series of Ayurvedic massage. You are massaged with hot medicated oils and then have a steam bath with medicaterd vapours. As we were leaving India the next day I was only able to have one full body massage treatment. I was told to return for the massage in 2 hours. I have often had massage in the UK and really enjoy it so I was looking really forward to it.
Believe me, this was very different. There was no soft lighting and music, privacy to undress and only exposing the part of the body that is being massaged. I was taken into a room by a lady dressed in a sari and a big rubber apron. there was no soft massage table but a bit plastic rectangular table with the sides about 4 inches high - almost like a big shallow plastic bath on a high plinth. She indicated that I remove my clothes while she stood there. I stripped down to my bra and knickers and she pointed at me to take off my bra. A bit red in the face, I did what I was told but there was worse to come. Braless, she then pointed at my knickers. I thought she was having a laugh but she was deadly serious. Horrified, I removed my knickers thinking things couldn't get any worse - wrong. She then got a paper loin cloth and told me to straddle my legs so that she could put the cloth between them and secure it round my waist.
She told me to sit in a chair, and to add insult to injury, it was facing a mirror. So now I can see myself in the mirorr, naked except for a wee tiny piece of cloth, not even covering my pubic bone or buttocks! While I sat there horrified she heated up the medicated oil over a gas burner and I'm thinking 'how hot is that going to be'. Fortunately it was not too hot. She started by massaging my head and also pulling her fingers down through my hair with quite a bit of force - not enough to scalp me but not far off it. She then told me to climb onto the plastic bath. At first she was gentle but soon started getting stuck in. No part of my body was sacred - legs, buttocks, back, tummy, boobs, face and even my ears. Due to the oil and the plastic bath I was sliding all over the place.
Next I had to sit in a steam bath with medicated vapours for 20 minutes. I sat on a small stool, encased in a wooden bath with a small hole at the top where my head was fortunately exposed. It was really weird and I kept thinking that the stool was going to topple and I was going to garrotte myself. I have never sweated as much ever before. She asked me if I was enjoying it and I politely said I was. 'Oh well, I'll give you a bit extra time then' she said. I couldn't believe it!
She finally let me out of prison and told me to have a shower and then it was all over. I must say that when I walked out of there I don't think I have ever felt that relaxed in my life. I went home and slept for hours and for the next 24 hours I felt completely drained. I have now been taking the medication she gave me for 10 days and not only can I walk on flat surfaces but I can walk up and down stairs. The only downside is that one of the herbs in the medication is also used to treat severe loss of appetite so now I can't stop eating. At the rate I'm eating I will eat so much that I'll become obese, put extra strain on my knee and the problem will re-occur!!
On a more serious note maybe we put too much faith in Western medicine and should consider alternative forms of therapy.

Photo - Kathakali Theatre

We attended a Kathakali Play in Cochin. It is one of the greatest art forms of Kerala which originated in the 17th century. It is a Play, which tells a story, without the use of words. Instead they use body movements, eye movements, music and acting to tell the story. All the actors and musicians are male therefore some of them play female characters in the play. It takes 6 years to train to be actor or musician. The first hour was taken up with the actors on stage applying their make-up. It was great to watch the transformation of their faces, which took the full hour for them to complete. Their make-up was made from coconut oil, ground into different stones to make the different colours. After their make-up was applied they demonstrated various eye and body movements and explained their meanings. Then they performed the Play. Surprisingly we were able to follow it because they had given us the explanations of the body and eye movements. It really was an enjoyable evening.

Photos - Santa Cruz Basilica Church, Fort Cochin

Fort Cochin, as in Goa, has a large Catholic population. Santa Cruz Basilica Church is one of the oldest Churches in India. It was built by the Portuguese  in 1505 but was destroyed by the British, as was many other beautiful buildings, in 1795. It was re-built in 1905. Click here if you are interested in the full history (especially for Mary). Santa Cruz Basilica

Photos - Sunset at the waterfront in Cochin

Sunset on the waterfront. In the foreground of the picture is old chinese fishing nets. They are not in use now as they take too much time and manpower to pull in the catch. You still see them in operation in Vietnam though.

                                The boat fishermen brining in their catch.

Large squid still wriggling around. You can buy live fish from the fishermen and take it to a local resaurant who will cook it for you.

Photos - Heavenly Homestay

                                The welcoming entrance to Heavenly Homestay

                               Patrick in his lovely garden. Or room was to the far right of this picture, up a set of stairs,                                            on the roof of the original house

                                Our room. The red door leads into the bathroom

                                Check out the LIPS headboard

                               Our wee balcony, which was almost always in the cool shade

The view from our balcony

Heavenly Homestay is aptly named. Patrick and his wife are a very welcoming friendly couple. You are made to feel at home, in their home. They have 2 rooms in their homestay - one inside the main house and one upstairs that is an extension built on the roof and has its own entrance. Patrick used to work in the hotel trade which is reflected by the decor of the room. The decor is certainly not indicative of a typical Indian family home. Breakfast is served in the dining room in the main house. Here the decor is more in keeping with an Indian family home and is lovely and cosy. The breakfast that he served could have fed 8 people instead of 2. We went down to breakfast on the first morning and the table was laid with a plate full of toast, butter, jams, eggs, various fruits, freshly squeezed pure pineapple juice (no added water, just pure pineapple), tea and coffee. As if that wasn't enough there was also a full Kerelan breakfast , which was different every day - dhal and rice, masala dosa, idly etc. You were also offered tea and coffee throughout the day if you were sitting on their downstairs balcony using the WIFI, despite our room having tea and coffee making facilities and even a fridge stocked with bottled water. Patrick was great at recommending places to see and eat and his recommendations were always spot on. Actually when we first arrived Colin asked Patrick where the nearest barber's was to get a shave. Not only did he take him there on the back of his motorbike but he took the long way there so he could point out places of interest that we could then walk to. It really was 5 star treatment and accommodation at budget travellers prices! click here for the link to Heavenly Homestay website  Heavenly Homestay

Travelling to Cochin

Our last day in Goa was spent saying goodbye to friends and packing our rucksacks. As our train wasn't until 10pm we should have had plenty of time to be orginised but, true to form, everything was a last minute dash. Early evening we went down to the beach for our last sunset, G & T and a bite to eat. Suddenly we realised the time had disappeared, as it so often does in Goa, so it was a mad dash back on the bike to the house for showers and last minute packing. Friends turned up at the house so by the time the taxi arrived we had to stuff what we could see into the rucksacks and hope we hadn't left anything. Nothing changes!
When we had travelled from Dheli to Goa we had booked 3 tier air conditioner seats, but this time we had booked 2 tier. It is the same as 3 tier except that, instead of 6 people sharing a comparment, it is only 4. However as we were on the right side of the train, because of space, it only has room for one bunk at the bottom and one at the top, so we had our own wee private compartment. It was a bit of a restless sleep overnight as it was not a fast direct train but stopped at many stations, with people getting on and off the train and in and out of beds.
These trains are not like the Rajdhani trains that we got from Dheli to Goa, where food is included in the price and served to you. So at  six in the morning you are woken by people walking through the train, one selling tea, one selling coffee, one selling omlette, biryani, tomato soup etc. each of these people hollering about what they are selling. I sleep with ear plugs in India so I slept through some of it but Colin was woken when the hollering started. By the time I woke up Colin had already had breakfast. As you would expect from Colin he had not bought breakfast from the sellers on the train. He had waited until the train stopped at a station, jumped off the train, found a food stall that had the most amount of locals buying from it and bought himself an egg curry and Indian bread. At least he managed to get back on the train before it left the station which meant when I woke up I wasn't on an Indian train with 2 rucksacks and no Colin!
We arrived at Cochin and decided to get a rickshaw, rather than a taxi, for the 14k journey to the homestay, where we would be staying. Cochin is comprised of small Islands conected by brides and ferries. We were staying in Fort Cochin, which is the outermost Island. We chose this place to stay as it is quite tranquil, especially compared to the main town of Ernakulam where the train station is located.
It would have been helpful though if the rickshaw driver had told us that, once he crossed the bridge over into Fort Cochin, he didn't know his way around and certainly no clue as to where Heavenly Homestay was. This resulted in us having an unwanted tour of Fort Cochin, stopping other rickshaw drivers and pedestrians to try and get directions - one saying left, one saying right and one saying straight on! Finally we remembered that we had the telephone number for the homestay which we gave to the rickshaw driver. Then it was time for the white knuckle ride. Not, only was the driver constantly blowing his horn, whizzing around buses, cars, bike, cycles, pedestrian, dogs holes in the road etc, which is the normal way to drive in India (and the way that Colin rides the scooter), but he was doing it while speaking to the homestay on his mobile phone and trying to follow directions!
We surprisingly got there in one piece to a really warm welcom from Patrick the owner and I am sure that the pre-agreed price of the rickshaw couldn't have covered the amount of petrol used to find the homestay.