And relax …
Sitting on the ‘Diana’ seat at the Taj Mahal. This is a photo of the original photo because we have no way to import them … yet.
The last week or so has been pretty full on. Lots of sightseeing, lots of moving around and lots of information, dates and other stuff to try and remember. In one week, we saw Delhi (new and old) – we visited the largest mosque in India, the Parliament Buildings as President Macron was about to arrive, the India Gate, the place where Gandhi was shot, the Qutb Complex and a plethora of other things – we saw Jaipur, the pink city, – we visited the Amber Fort, the Wind Palace, the City Palace, the famous markets of Jaipur and a whole host of other things and we had dinner with Captain Clarke’s parents … twice! – we drove the 6 hour drive to Agra – we saw theFatehpur Sikri, Agra Fort, the Mehtab Bagh Gardens and, of course, the Taj Mahal. We have some professional photos from the Taj Mahal but they are on a CD and we have no way of getting them off whilst we are here but I took a photo of one photo … the bench will surely be recognised by most people! I know I said it yesterday, but the Taj Mahal really is one of the most beautiful buildings and breathtaking views I have ever seen! Then, of course, we drove the four hours back to Delhi and caught a three hour flight to Kochi. The reason I recap all of this is because, frankly, both Captain Clarke and I are knackered! We arrived at our hotel at around 20:00 last night, I had some work to do which I got out of the way pretty quickly, we didn’t have time to write many words to describe our day except to say that we are privileged and humbled to have been able to visit the Taj Majal in person. There is some talk of it being closed to the public completely and, whilst I wouldn’t wish to deprive others of this amazing experience, if they do I will be eternally glad that I saw it before they did!
A team of 8 men operate the Chinese Fishing Nets and their combined efforts is magical to watch.
We are staying, on this occasion, at the Old Harbour Hotel which is just around the corner from my beloved Brunton Boad Yard. This hotel was designed by the same architect as the Brunton Boat Yard and has many similar features. It is a little more quirky than the Brunton Boat Yard and a little more relaxed in atmosphere. That said, it is very comfortable and our suite is lovely. We don’t directly overlook the harbour from our room which is shame, but it takes 30 seconds to walk to the beach where there are comfortable seats for one to while away the time. No visit to Kochi would be complete without a photograph of the Chinese Fishing Nets. I already have a sunset view of the nets and, frankly, I am never going to beat that photo, so today I took one of them actually being operated. It is fascinating to watch the team of around 8 men bringing the nets up, checking for a catch (we watched as a number of nets came up empty this morning and then, finally, in those huge fishing nets, they caught one … yes one … fish!) and then lowering them back into the water. Each man has his job and they all do it at exactly the right time with a precision and timing that is wonderful to watch!
The Ferrari Tuk Tuk we went to ‘Jew Town’ in today.
Some amongst you will remember the Ferrari Tuk Tuk that we got around in last time Captain Clarke and I were here. He doesn’t seem to be around anymore, but we did manage to find a Ferrari Tuk Tuk, so we got him to take us to ‘Jew Town’ where we thought we would have a wander around. We didn’t visit the Jewish Synagogue in Jew Street because it was closed and, in any event, we have been there before. We did however let ourselves get dragged into a couple of the shops down Jew Street that all advertise outside that they are ‘hassle free’ and then, once you’re inside hassle you to death to buy something. Captain Clarke and I had agreed in advance on the only purchases that would be made in Jew Street and, amazingly we stuck to them! When we were leaving one shop that we had been dragged into and where the pressure sales tactics had been put into full force, we were about to leave when a quite aggressive man stood in the doorway and said, “What? Are you telling me there is nothing in here you like?”, I looked around at the array of carpets, jewellery, carved elephants, pashminas, traditional Indian clothes and much more and, as I turned back to him slowly I said, “No, there are lots of things in here I like, there is just nothing I want to buy!”. That stuffed him, he had no answer to that and opened the door for us to leave!
Jew Street! At the end of which is the oldest active synagogue in the Commonwealth of Nations. Down which are many, many shops all saying they sell with ‘No Hassle’!
It is wonderful to be back in Kochi. We had a leisurely breakfast this morning and, when we did venture out, it was lovely to just walk around the harbour side looking at the stalls setting up – the street market has grown in size considerably since we were last here – watch the fishermen with the Chinese Fishing Nets and have no timetable to work to. Having had a good walk around we came back to the hotel for a couple of lime sodas which were delicious. Captain Clarke went ‘off piste’ on his second one and had a ginger and lime soda … I think he’ll be back on lime soda tomorrow! Dinner last night was in the hotel and relatively uneventful – except for Captain Clarke launching his glass full of wine across the room when he reached for his mobile phone! Captain Clarke had seared tuna and I had steamed sea bass – both meals were OK, but neither would be described as memorable. Tonight we are going to the Cochin Fort for dinner where the ginger and chilli prawns are memorable, as is the butter naan and the wine served out of a teapot! We are both looking forward to it. We have to be a little careful as Captain Clarke has had similar problems to mine which, if I’m honest, are not over yet. We now have the Indian version of Immodium and they are starting to take effect (I hope!). This has been an extremely effective method of weight loss in a very short space of time but it has also been uncomfortable and, at times, painful. Having completed a 6 hour car journey (and a 4 hour car journey) without the benefit of facilities, I now completely understand the predicament of others who had a similar problem on the way to India and spent several hours in the desert in Qatar! Never again will I take the Mickey (probably) on this particular event. Neither Captain Clarke nor I have felt unwell, but this has been one of the worst ‘doses’ I have ever experienced!
This package will turn up in the next few weeks! Can’t wait!!
Enough of that now, I did mention that we made only some planned and relatively insignificant purchases in Jew Street. That is true. What I may not have mentioned is that we might have made a slightly more significant purchase elsewhere! Some may know that, on our last visit to Kochi, we bought a hand knotted silk rug made out of pure Kashmiri silk. Well, we might possibly have bought another one! I swear we were only looking for a spice box (which we may have purchased too) and I did have an idea that I would like to buy another elephant to go with the ones we bought here last time, so we bought that too (actually make that two!), but the rug just said “buy me”, so after some consultation with my personal fashion advisor back in England, we did! Like the last time, it will be shipped back to England on our behalf so, here we go … fingers crossed! No, truthfully I know that it will arrive sometime in the next 3-4 weeks! It was a bit of shame I couldn’t persuade them to ship the spice box too because it is flaming heavy, but as their shipping costs are by weight and fragility, they were none too keen on the idea. We shall just have to carry it as hand luggage instead. It won’t be a problem when we get back to Delhi as there is no weight limit or number of packages limit on our flight back to London, but the two internal flights that we have left both have weight limits and limits on the number of bags one can take as hand luggage. It seems though, that it is just a matter of paying rather than not being able to fly! (See the gallery below if you want to see what’s inside it!)
That’s three Tuk Tuks … or Tuk Tuk, Tuk Tuk, Tuk Tuk!
That’s it, we need make no more purchases now, we are done. OK, so we did buy some paintings were weren’t planning on buying in Jaipur … and we did buy some marble inlaid with semi-precious stones in Agra … but we did intend to buy the spice box in Kochi and we did rather want the elephants, so really the only credit card accident as such is the rug! And I justify that with the fact that first seen by our friends, and then by us, a rug which is pretty much the same as the one we already have was seen on sale in Liberties in London some years ago for the sum of £17,500 … and I promise we didn’t pay anything like that kind of money then or now! It’s a stunning rug and I know just where it will go! I had some concerns over Monty the dog and if he would destroy it, but the chap in the shop demonstrated with a very sharp pair of scissors that it can’t be scratched or damaged by an animal and that it washes really easily too. He even demonstrated with a cigarette lighter that it wouldn’t easily burn either. Not that Captain Clarke or I smoke anymore and I really can’t see anyone moving that fast in our household to cause a fire! All in all, a very satisfactory day of retail therapy!
A goat outside the Brunton Boat Yard – there’s always a goat outside the Brunton Boat Yard! I took a photo last time but Captain Clarke says it won’t be the same one!
Actually, on reflection, there might be a couple of other small purchases – we thought we’d have a wander around the street market this evening but other than that we should be pretty free of further purchases. In truth there isn’t that much time left – it is flying by at a rate of knots! It is Wednesday evening already, we have one more day in Kochi before we fly to Mumbai on Friday and then back to Delhi on Sunday ready to fly home on Monday. There is just one drawback to our hotel here in Kochi – the WiFi doesn’t get through the walls to our room. If you stand just inside the door and hold your laptop up, you can just about get a WiFi signal but it is jolly difficult to type in that position so today, I am writing this missive offline and will upload it shortly when I have access to WiFi outside our suite. It isn’t exactly a major problem, it just presents me with some new challenges! Actually, there is a very comfortable arm chair right outside our suite and the WiFi signal there is excellent, so that’s that problem solved! Now, it is time to shower and change in readiness for dinner. For us it is already evening and we are both quite hungry having not really been eating for a few days. Food is important, it is, after all, RudyMenTerry!
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