Cochin - part 2. - more local scenes.

Weaving at the loom.

A lady working at the weaving centre.

Vaikom Mahadeva Temple

Tuk Tuk driver.

Tour coaches.

Sisterly love!

A local shop.

A musical welcome.

Man on his bike.

A fresh flower welcome.

Election broadcasts by bicycle.

The welcome drummers on the quayside.

River people.

Mother and daughter.

Local children.

Local bus stop.

The bus driver.

Chinese fishing nets.

Bobbin winding.

Arcadia approaching the berth.

Area adjacent to the berth.

Coconut harvesting.

Good Day Everyone,

All went well with our cruise to Cochin and today we are enjoying a smooth sea passage towards Muscat in Oman. Thank you for your many lovely and encouraging messages on my blog! They are always my first port of call in the mornings! I wish I had time to reply to them all - but you can't do everything.

I bumped into Hazel last evening and she wishes to say Hi to Andy and Jean Meikle in Falkirk in Scotland - greetings from Arcadia - having a great time - Hazel and John Johnson!!

It's my birthday today so Happy Birthday to my twin sister Joyce! I am having a wonderful day and I received lots of cards and gifts which is much appreciated, including a very nice and unusual geo - political world globe and money box from dear friends Ron and Jill who left us in Mumbai and will be rejoining us again in Dubai - so best wishes to you both and thank you for the surprise. See you soon!

I am looking forward to a party this evening and dinner with friends which is all organised - I just have to turn up!

Here is Grahams report on Cochin...........

We arrived in Cochin and the sun was already high in the sky. Everyone was out and about on the decks as we cruised past the Chinese fishing nets a trade mark of Cochin of course. My thoughts went back to years ago when this port would have been a major calling place for P&O on their regular voyages to the Indian sub continent. Indeed the whole port area looks like it could have been a setting for a episode in The Jewel in the Crown, it must have seen great times in the past.

The wonderfully green surroundings of this part of India is refreshing after visiting the hustle and bustle of Mumbai earlier in the voyage. The welcome here is always good and a small band of local lads had taken the time to come down to the quayside to give us a musical greeting.
With the words of Noel Coward sounding a warning in our ears – ‘mad dogs and Englishmen’ we went ashore at noon to go out into the country on our selected tour ‘Local Lifestyles’.
The tour coaches here are somewhat unique as the seating area is separated from the driver by a small door and with that closed the air conditioning is reasonably efficient. Biju our guide for the duration was as always with Indian guides helpful and aware that the heat is not always appreciated by the English.

As we made our way along we would cross the river several times and it was noticeable that there were several groups of people eking an existence on the river bank. Living standards here are in sharp contrast, as in all parts of the worlds there are those who have and those who do not have.
First stop on the tour was the weaving centre close by the little town of Viakom. It was somewhat strange to see ladies seated at their respective bobbin spinners and looms that are still powered here by human effort, no electricity to these machines. Eight hours of endurance and all for $2.5 per day. Conditions though were clean and they all appeared to be happy to be working there. They even worked part of their lunch break to show us their jobs.

One thing that we all spotted was the chap riding his bicycle through the streets complete with loud speaker and canvassing for the local elections. Take a hint Gordon and David!!
Next we moved onto the Mahadeva Temple, one that dates back some 4,000 years. The courtyard is very typical of Kerala and the practises of worship to the God Vishnu was explained to us, all so different to our own religions in the established churches at home. If there is one aspect of this voyage that I would like our passengers to appreciate it would be the appreciation of other religions. The workmanship of the temple was fine and testament to the skills of the men who created this.

Without doubt one of the highlights of the tour was the visit to the local village we passengers were able to see the conditions that the people live in and experience the day to day skills of basket weaving and pottery making. To start with we saw a section of the local market where they buy their fresh vegetables and fish, fish that forms the main part of their diets here.
As a surprise we all hopped into a Tuk Tuk for a ride down into the main part of the village, our friendly driver smiling as always. Presented with a fragrant flower garland by one of the youngest members of the village we saw first hand the traditional weaving of plant leaves to make shades and in some cases crude fencing.

The faces of the people here are very striking and the children in particular brought many smiles to the passengers and lots of ooh’s and aah’s especially from the ladies. We saw one of the men climbing a coconut tree to retrieve some of the juice and harvest the pods, all of which we enjoyed immensely, the cooling and refreshing juice was most welcome in the searing heat of the early afternoon sun.

They grow delicious bananas here, small with thin skins that had so much taste that we all wanted more and more of them, so different to the large South American varieties that we tend to buy back home. All too soon we needed to walk back to our coach and motor back to Arcadia passing small roadside stalls and the general hubbub of life here in Kerala. For many this was a first time visit to this part of India and no matter how much I tried to demonstrate during my port talk how beautiful this area is it can never make up for the shear joy of coming here and experiencing it all first hand. Well done to the people of Kerala for showing us their lovely nature and generosity and hopefully many of us will go away with a new understanding of India.
Onwards now to Oman and our call at Muscat, now that will be another story!

Many thanks for that Graham.

To sign off here is a snap of Graham, Cynthia and James taken on the aft end of Arcadia by the Aquarius pool.......

What a great life - visiting all these different countries and working at the same time.

Bye for now,

James.

You cannot enjoy life it you spend the entire journey fretting about the bumps and potholes.