What a beautiful hot day it was in Cochin, India when we docked today to visit our 4th city in India.
What we have found out is that each of the 4 cities we
visited has almost totally different ways of life and culture. The reason is that different countries like
the Dutch, the English and the Portuguese have settled the different
areas. Some are more Hindu that others
while some have a lot of Catholics as an example. While we wanted to visit India and we are
glad we did, we have no desire to go back.
There is just nothing to draw us back like Barcelona, London, Singapore,
Rome, etc.
Last night our dinner partners had told us that they were
going on a tour with a small group and we thought that we might like to go on
it also.
So, we were the first off the ship and found the company
that was putting on the tour and asked if they had room, which they did. So we joined the tour but our friends were
on another bus with the same tour.
We had a mini bus for 14 people and there were only 8 of us
plus the driver and the guide. The guide
was a really good guide; however, the people who were there from the ship made
this a trip from H**L at the end.
We started out by driving for about ½ hour and then first visited
huge market selling everything from fruits, to nuts to fish, etc. It was both retail and a wholesale
market.
Then we went to a Jewish Synagogue that was being restored
by one man. This city once had a very
large Jewish population because the Dutch settled here first. There are now only 5 people left who are
Jewish as everyone has moved away.
Next we drove or about an hour to a river to take a boat
ride that lasted an hour. We had a few minutes
before we boarded the boat so Ed & Barb went off the bus into a local
“restaurant” and had a meal with the guide.
The boat trip showed us how the fishing people lived and they had
amazing net structures that they would use at night to catch fish. This was very primitive area.
After the boat ride, we went to another Synagogue and then
to a huge street market before heading back to the ship. Then one of the major problems happened as a 6
of the 8 on the bus insisted that the guide take us all back to the shopping
area because they did not have enough time to buy things. The guide agreed and when they finally
arrived back at the bus after shopping we were very concerned that we wouldn’t
make if back to the ship on time, but we did – thanks goodness. This group of people, all from the US were
the most rude group of people we have every run into, on any cruise. Oh well, we have some interesting memories.
The show was a combination of a hand shadow puppet show and
the sax player from the other night. The hand shadow puppet show was ok and the
sax play was tremendous.
We had an excellent dinner with our new friends from London,
Brian and Sandy and then went to the casino where Barb broke even and Ed
lost. We are now negative with Barb
ahead and Ed behind. 10 gambling
sessions left in the cruise – wish us luck.
We are finally done with India and tomorrow is a day at sea
before arriving in Sri Lanka.
Night
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| Delivery Man in the market |
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| Cleaning fish outside their fish stand |
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| The kitchen where we had lunch before the boat tour |
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| Regular fishermen |
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| The catch of the day on Celebrity |
