Kerala Part I – Churches & Chinese Fishing Nets

Cochin or Kochi as its now known – Kerala (Southern India)

11 of us from the original tour group are now 'down South' and have been joined by 4 other people who flew in yesterday via Dubai. Mum and Daughter and Husband & wife so we are now 15.

Wow … very hot (and steamy) and very different from Delhi/Agra/Jaipur etc. First impressions are that this area is much wealthier than the Northern States. Quieter – still some horn blowing on the roads but road users do seem to follow some rules. The hawkers (touts) are far less aggressive and actually take NO for an answer LOL. Cochin also seems to have lots and lots of churches, mosques, convents and also cemeteries/graveyards – something we saw little of in the North. Many of the lorries and boats are named after Saints or have Religious quotes signpainted on them.

We took a coach ride today to visit St Francis Church which is supposed to be the first European Church to be built in India c1500AD. Built originally by the Portuguese, taken over by the Dutch and finally the Brits. It has been rebuilt/remodelled a few times and has lots of handpainted pictures on the walls and ceilings. I won't post photos here. Except to say that there is a plaque on the wall dedicated to Queen Elizabeth II who visited the church in October 1997 … so we are following in her footsteps.

We also visited a Jewish Synagogue and the Dutch Palace which has some of India's most beautiful murals – we weren't allowed to photograph them but it was so hot and crowded inside that I gravitated towards the windows and photographed two birds in the grounds that I've subsequently identified from our 'birds of India' book

This is a Paddy Bird

This is a Coucal (known as a Crow-Pheasant). There were two of them hidden in the densest part of a mango tree … this one came out of deep cover for a while but still is partly hidden. You can see his red eye and fancy tail, and apparently it is a member of the cuckoo family but unique for having a long straight claw on the hind toe which you can just see in the pics I hope

This elderly couple were resting in the grounds of the Palace. This squatting position is a very common sight in India – groups of men and women simply squatting down to have a chat/meal in the same way that we'd sit on a chair. I guess if you've grown up resting in this way it seems perfectly normal and achievable – must help that they are so slim/fit as well.

We then went to see the cantilevered Chinese fishing nets in operation. Followers of Rick Stein's tour of India on TV will have seen these before. They were introduced by the Chinese who came to India in search of spices and basically they are large nets on poles which are lowered into the water and counterbalanced with large rocks. They stay in the water for about 20 minutes before being hauled out by gangs of fishermen. Mainly they catch Mullet here but we were told that the haul is poor at the moment – better in May/June.

Me on the Chinese Fishing Net 'structure' with Carol (one of the 4 who joined our Group in the South)

Checking the nets

And a walk round the fishmarket – basically a row of stands alongside the water where the day's catch is auctioned.

Such hard work

Then a 'comfort break' at a convenient store selling souvenirs and jewellery (expensive). I rather liked this elephant … only joking: