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06. - 09.02.2013 Fort KochiAfter resting in the yoga ashram, we now plunged back into the hustle and bustle. Rita in Bangalore, as well as other travelers, repeatedly had recommended us to visit the rather cozy and artistic Fort Kochi (peninsula, urban district of Kochi, Kerala) and when we learned that you can wash elephants nearby, one thing was certain for Olli: We do not want to miss that! Thanks to Andrea from Switzerland, whom we had met in Kannur, we had the address of a cute little guesthouse there, and the innkeeper insisted on getting up by 5 o'clock in the morning, so that we could check in immediately upon arrival by train in the early morning.
When we asked for a place, where we could get delicious, vegetarian breakfast, our host sent us to a nearby vegetarian restaurant. As we arrived in front of it, we admittedly were not quite sure, whether we should really enter. From the outside it looked rather run down and not very clean, from the inside the view wasn't welcoming either. Olli wanted to leave straight away and seek out a more expensive tourist restaurant, but I wasn't discouraged. Our innkeeper doesn't send his paying guests to a salmonella-contaminated restaurant ... at least, that was my theory. And it should prove right. We enjoyed one of our best meals in India outside of the ashram and only for 50 euro cents per person including extremely sweet coffee. How deceiving the exterior appearance can be sometimes. Apart from that, I found the whole situation to be quite funny, because we were the only non-locals in this restaurant and we were looked at like aliens. On our next visit however, the waiter immediately recognized us, beamed at us, greeted us and wiped our table. From then on we felt very comfortable in this little "shack".
As much art as we discovered here, we hadn't expected to find in an Indian city. To marvel at it, you don't have to visit a museum, however. You can spend hours strolling through the streets and admire beautifully painted walls and houses or visit one of the many art galleries. We also arrived just in time for India's first Biennale, which took place in Fort Kochi. Furthermore, we visited the theater several times to gaze at Kathakali (Indian dance drama), classical Indian dance performances and the endangered Kalarippayat martial arts, which are typical of Kerala. Aside from that, we didn't miss out on other attractions such as Dutch Palace, Paradesi Synagogue, Santa Cruz Basilica and St. Francis Church.
Fort Kochi is also particularly famous for its Chinese fishing nets, which are supposed to have their origin in the 13th century. The coastline teems with fishermen and fish stalls and it smells accordingly, which naturally attracts hordes of stray cats, some of them even sitting directly on the stalls right next to the fish. Yummy! And of course, there's garbage everywhere in between. In addition to the cats you can also find herds of stray goats all over the peninsula, and we had the impression, that there are uncharacteristically more cats and goats than dogs and cows.
Of course, we also implemented Olli's big dream of washing elephants. It was real fun, getting so close to those large and heavy pachyderms and to scrub them all over in the river. They have pretty thick skin and long bristles.
And another highlight for Olli: He got a pedicure in a beauty salon. His toenails had been permanently stained by the red-brown earth (or sand?) in the ashram (mine not at all) and that should be removed. The beauticians looked at him quite puzzled. A male wandering into their shop, probably doesn't happen very often.
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