Ft. Cochin

This is a different place. Getting out of the city was messy after the heavy rains. You would think there would be men all over to carry the luggage of old men - not so - even taxi drivers point to the trunk and lift nothing. This morning it was hard as there was a lot of construction at the jetty docks and 100's of feet of puddles and so much red mud. Once on the primitive ferry, it all was easier. I had grabbed three guesthouse (homestays) rec'd by Travel adviser and went by tuk-tuk to two which I did not like and a 3rd that was full before the driver took me to one inn he said I would surely like. He was right. The open lobby has a Rajastan granite floor, but everything else in the place is 225 yr old mahogany - the front desk, stairs, plank floors, double room doors, bed, etc. Really pretty. The bed is a giant king sized carved deal which is a good meter off the floor (36"), includes about 6 mirrors set in moveable frames, 12 ceramic tiles, and a lot of decorative knobs and rails. It doesn't sound nice, but it is India 100%. The room is large with AC and a ceilign fan and also has a gaint armoire which is so beautiful. It has a chair I have never seen anywhere - a low slung almost "U" shaped with very extended arms that shoot out so you can put your legs up and read your paper. The seat-back material is open weave for coolness. It is such a prize room for $50 a night. It is the ballard bungalows and maybe they show the rooms on cochinballard.com. It is right across the st. from the v. expensive (most expensive here I think) Brunton boatyard - which the status minded overspenders adore. I walked thru there to look and there were fat brits covered in tatoos by the pool. Much rather be at the Ballard.
The owner sat with me about an hour this a.m. trying to figure out a route for me to travel in Kerala and the depart. It appears that I can leave for Dubai on Emirates right from Cochin and avoid the expense of Mumbai - he says it is just another noisy and overpriced ugly city with no known reason for going there. But Kerala has some considerable charm and the country is very nice and attractive for much visiting. Trouble is as usual that I need 2 people to make it work with a car and driver etc. So this a.m. I decided to walk along the "beach" and talk to all likely humans who might want to go inland overnight. 1st I met some sniffy Germans who didn't want to talk, but sometimes I like to force them to as a game. Turned out they were very nice and like so many Canadians have trouble being nice, but secretly are capable of same. They are East Berliners just old enough to have survived in both regimes and so thrilled they can travel as they wish. They were horrified at the challenges of my own trip as all but the very young seem to be.
I met some other people, but too many were from a large cruise ship doing a 21 day "Singapore sling" trip out of Dubai, which had docked here in the morning as my ferry was driving by. One guy was interesting. He was blonde, in his 20's, and had that bright, athletic look of one of those famous swimmers or runners or cyclists. It was obvious he was gay and with his partner, but the handsome althletic one had the big personality and talked freely and was interesting. he turned out to be a Croat, educated in London, with excellent English and ever so much to say about the cruise and how much fun he was having.
It is sunday here and on the ferry over and along the beach, the women were in beautiful saris - really so nice to see. The men wear a kind of short skirt that was somebody's tablecloth until recently, and they are v. dark is So. india. At the jetty ticket office, there is a line for "ladies' and another for "gents." This morning two gents were standing in the wrong place and a v. grand lady in the finest head-to-foot sari deal walked up and pointed to the ground and the men moved immediately. It is so nice to be back in a place where people have manners. Although this was my best ever trip to china and I loved it (and don't need to go back), it would be wrong to say that the Chinese have bad manners, when in fact, they have no manners.
I walked over to the St. Francis church, so old that Vasco da Gama was buried there when he died and his body later taken back to Portugal. It started as a Catholic church, and burned now and then until they rebuit it in masonary, and since about 1779 it has remained Anglican. There was a rehearsal of the choir with the organist and listened a while and it was thrilling. Such great organ playing and singing from such a humble crowd. There is a church in zip 55337 that ought to fly over some of its musicians to learn from these people - of course they would learn Anglican hymns, but the congregation back home would never know. I was attracted to listen because they fine organ in that small church sounded so much like a Wurlitzer - unbelievable.
The richest people on this island were Jews, and it may seem unlikely they bought a wurlitzer for an Anglican church. I had lunch today in a beautiflu restaurant called The menorah." It is the Koder house. This place is said to have many religions, but the basics are 45% Hindu, 20% Muslim, and 20% Christian, but I mainly see Christian schools and churches. There is no mention of how many Jews are here (well, except for Queenie Hallegua, who I will get to) and I have failed to see any good candidates, but there are synagogues, and there is a Jew Street and other things named that, so there must be some somewhere.
The Koders came here penniless hundreds of years ago and eventually they were the richest people here and controlled everything (includng booze imports of course). They were a celebrated family through generations and now their original house is a higher end restaurant
(the only thing I could id as Jewish was something listed as a local Jewish dessert). The menu story said that one of the only descendants of the original Koder family is Queenie Hallegua ("oh, that Queenie Hallegua - of course we know her") who now lives in Jew town on the next island over. Imagine saying that in North America.
One of the curious things travelling like this is what people read along the way. There are surplus books all over because people drop them off as they travel. Because so many on these routes are educated and students the level tends to be high, and I was amazed in hostels that I saw Chas. Dickens works in so many languages. By far the most popular was Bleak house, which everybody must read at sometime and esp. as there are so many lawyers underfoot today. But here in India and cochin, it is Coehello that is everywhere. Perfect fit.
I think I will be home about nine days from now. It could be 11, or 13, or even 45 if I can figure out how to keep going, but probably 9-10 seems likely. My apologies for such a long winded entry. Oh, before I go, I must say it is hot, steamy humid hot. There are so many monster trees, some must by 8' around. there are not many cows underfoot here, but a lot of goats and they are cute and funny. There are quite a lot of cats and men are generally nasty to them. It is nice to be here.