Cochin (Kochi), India - December 2, 2014
Our next port was Cochin in the southwestern
part of India. Cochin is a major port
city on the West Coast of India with a population of ~600,000. It was an important spice-trading city from
the 14th century and was occupied by the Portuguese in 1503 and has
the distinction of being the first of the European colonies in India and was
subsequently occupied by the Dutch and British.
This area also has a tropical monsoon climate.
The literacy rate is 97.5% with women lagging
men by only 1.1%...better than most places in India. 47% of the people are Hindus but
Christianity is 35%, which is one of the largest Christian populations in
India. The government has plans to make
the city slum-free by 2016. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kochi
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| Our boat for the canal trip |
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| Houseboat |
At this port we chose a tour called “Tranquil
Backwaters.” This took us about an hour
out of the city to cruise on the canals that dominant in the area of Alappuzha. We boarded a riverboat and had a fascinating
tour in what is referred to as the “Venice of the East.” This was a fascinating trip. Although roads reach many of the houses that
dot the bank and narrow byways, the predominant form of transportation is boats
of all sorts. We saw “houseboats” which
can be rented for an overnight cruise (~$300) with coconut palms serving as one
of the building materials…they look almost like thatched huts or Asian in design. We also passed a lot of day boats with chairs
and lounges, where passengers can relax and view the sites. We also passed a “grocery store” boat filled
with shelves of groceries, a medical clinic boat, a “peddler” type boat
filled with miscellaneous ware, restaurants and churches.
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| Peddler Boat |
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| Ice Cream Parlor |
In addition to a variety of boats, general
household activities abound on the banks of the canals including clothes
washing (beating the clothes on rocks), a woman drinking from the water (these
people must have incredible immune systems) and men peeing into the canal as we
passed. Chris said when he used the
bathroom on the boat; it was just a hold that emptied directly into the
canal. I can’t even begin to imagine how
dirty the water is….
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| Washing along the canal |
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| Life along the canal |
Many of the people living along the canals are
rice farmers and we passed many rice paddies as well as numerous temples. We also stopped and visited one of the homes
along the canals. It was very modern and
had TV and internet and was nicely decorated.
I am not sure how “typical’ it is but am guessing it was a bit more
prosperous than most…can’t imagine this family washing their clothes in the
canals.
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| Rice Paddies |
Another important commodity of this area is
“coir” which is a natural fiber extracted from coconut husks and used to make
floor mats, doormats, etc. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coir
They are also famous for the Vallam Kali (Snake
Boat Festival) and we passed the odd-looking boats (paddled war canoes) during
our cruise. The festival is held in the
autumn. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vallam_Kali
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| Lunch along the canal |
We stopped at the Punnamada Resort for lunch and
had a delicious Indian food buffet of local Kerala food outside on the lawn
overlooking the canals. They also had
one of the “Chinese” fishing net that are unique to this area of India although
common in Southeast Asia. These nets
have fixed land installations and have a fixed operating depth and thus can
only be used during certain tides.
This concluded our time in India, so some final
comments. I certainly would return at
some point as I feel we only got a small look at the country and I am sure
there is much more to see. However, I
would never travel independently here…would always want a driver and guide but
a small group rather than a large tour would be perfect.
And, I can’t conclude my time in India without
a comment on their bureaucracy! They win
the prize!!! India was the only place we were visiting that required obtaining
a visa before we left the U.S. All of
the others the ship is able to obtain for us.
The application process and forms to fill out for the visa were
extensive. The ship normally retains our
passports but in two of the ports in India, they had to return them to us so we
could go through face-to-face interviews with customs officials – our first and
last ports. In addition we were issued
landing cards that we had to show, entering and leaving the port. We decided due to the size of the population,
this endless bureaucracy created much-needed jobs.
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