Kochi/Ernakulam

Monday, Dec. 12, Kochi/Ernakulam

I'm sitting in the park at Ft. Kochi. It's 2:30 p.m., and I've been casually busy all day. Unfortunately, it's a VERY humid day, so even going slowly, I'm warm and sweaty. Everyone else is, too!

I went to the train station and bought a ticket for tomorrow night to Mangalore with a sleeper berth. The train leaves at 11:15 p.m., so I'll be here all day tomorrow, too.

My hotel had a very nice buffet breakfast with idly (noodle pancakes), dosa (flat pancakes), another flat bread, 3 kinds of vegetable curries, toast, jam, butter, tea, and eggs either scrambled or fried. I had some scrambled eggs, toast and jam which were really my first 100% western foods in 3 months! But I also had some of the other Indian dishes, too.

I checked out and moved to another place (where I stayed two years ago). It has the same facilities (nice bed, cable TV, private bath) other than breakfast and is half the price of where I left. Breakfast can be had anywhere for less than 50 cents U.S.

I went to a good bookstore and found the cookbook I had read about. I didn't buy it, because I'm uncertain. My suitcase is stuffed and too heavy already. Also, I'm not sure if I can buy all the ingredients in Texas. Furthermore, similar recipes are probably on the Internet. I'll think about it until I'm in Goa or Mumbai, then I'll buy it if I can squeeze it into my bag. It's The Art of Cooking, 2nd edition, 2005.

I'm in Ft. Kochi this afternoon. It's necessary to take a ferry here from Ernakulam where I am staying. I'd forgotten how nice Ft. Kochi is. I would suggest it to anyone coming to India. It's quaint with a seaside feel--an Indian Galveston. And it's very old. There are many small guest houses that look very interesting and rent for $18-30 per night U.S. I just walked by the waterfront where it's possible to buy your own seafood from the fish stands and then have it cooked at a sidewalk restaurant nearby. There are several of these places, and the food looked so good. Unforunately, I've already had lunch--vegetable biriyani with two fresh lime sodas. It was good, too.

Several people have approached me as I've been writing. Some men from Mumbai who are also tourists here talked for a while and took a photo with me. Another man who operates a souvenir stand also visited. Unfortunately, I'm afraid he expects something from me. I'll be happy if I can get away from the area without having a bad experience with him, I think.
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Of course the guy started pushing me to buy as I walked by his stand. He wasn't the only one to bother me. Off and on, trishaw drivers tried to convince me they should give me tours. Most were not pushy, but it's too bad they wouldn't stop with a simple, "No, thanks," from me.

My return ferry went to a different dock in Ernakulam. I was confused at first and had to figure out how to get back to my part of town. After a false start, I retraced my steps and went another direction that worked.

I returned to the same restaurant where I had dinner last night. The food there is just so good that I didn't want to take a chance eating elsewhere. I had paneer butter masala with naan. Again, it was rich and delicious. And HOT. The first taste was so hot my throat pinched shut so that I temporarily lost my voice. But I must have happened to get a chunk of pepper in that bite. The rest was still spicy, but wonderful. Two lime juices helped, too.

Vegetarian food in India is so tasty, varied, and filling that it's easy to be a vegetarian here. I'm not missing or craving meat. I imagine I'll order a meat dish one day soon, but there are plenty of vegetarian choices that sound just as good or better.

Tuesday, Dec. 13, Kochi (Part 1)

I checked out of my hotel at 11:00. I had hoped to extend my stay by 8-9 hours, but they wanted a whole night's fee. I left my luggage and am wandering.

I just spent two hours seeing a very good contemporary art exhibit at Durbar Hall here in Ernakulam. The artists are from all over India, but most are originally from Kerala. The quality was uite good. I kept thinking about how much better it was than what the local artists at Blue Star in San Antonio tend to produce. There were several documentary films in the exhibition. My favorite was one about a man who realized he was losing his memory. It showed him making pictures of friends and putting them on a bulletin board with attached notes with their names and details for him to study each day before leaving home; creating maps to help him find his way to work and back; posting signs to help him get to the local market and back; etc.; until even none of those worked. It was sad, but I liked the efforts he was making to prolong the approach of total disability. Outside the hall, I visited with a film maker who is the friend of one of the artists with work in the exhibition. We talked about art here versus art in America, compared qualities of such art, discussed artists in America who came to my mind as I saw this exhibit, and talked about the non-art topics that come up in almost every personal conversation with local people in coutries outside America--Bush and Iraq.

If the people I meet are any indication, about 95% of non-Americans dislike Bush and think that the war in Iraq was wrong. They are perplexed over the fact that the U.S. re-elected Bush and they want to know why. The only reason I can give them is that his backers are more than likely scared of the changing demographics (the increasing percentages of non-white ethnic groups and of people believing in non-Christian religions) in America and hope to stop change from occurring.