Wednesday, 2/17/16 - Delhi to Fort Kochi |
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We woke up at 4 a.m for the 3.5 hour drive to Delhi. At 4:45, Sunita got up to see us off, and she served us tea and cookies.
At exactly 5:00, Bishan knocked on the door, and we drove to the Delhi airport. The streets of Agra were basically deserted. We have never seen them this empty and calm. It was quite different from the usual chaos of the streets, with cars, trucks, cows, dogs, horses, pedestrians, tuk-tuks, and bicycles jockeying for position.Even the monkeys weren't awake yet! We passed the Agra Fort and got onto the Yamuna Expressway which leads straight to Delhi for a $10 toll.
We made one "pit stop", and we were able to explain the origin of the phrase to Mukul. Mukul is a true Renaissance man, and it's not often that we are able to teach something to him instead of the other way around! We hit traffic when we reached Delhi, and we reached the airport at 8:45. We were only allowed one carry-on on IndiGo airlines, so I had rearranged all of my things. When I went through security, they made me consolidate all of my electronics...including every power cord, adapter, and charger. As my things weren't in their normal places, it took me a while to find them all and I was quite frazzled. They scanned my bag three times before deeming me not to be a threat. I think I was profiled, as pretty much everyone else didn't even bother to take their cell phones out of their bags and weren't hassled at all. When I had successfully attained a stamp on my carry-on (Mukul and Craig had been patiently waiting), we found seats in the departure lounge. Mukul bought us capuccinos and we ate Sunita's fenugreek chappathi. Yum! Mukul also broke out a packet of cookies to share. When it was time, we went to our gate. After some slight confusion due to a gate change, we boarded a bus which drove us across the tarmac to our plane. The three of us sat together. The flight took off on time at 10:35. Our ticket included our choice of meal. We opted for the Paprika Chicken Tikka sandwich, which was delicious! IndiGo is a low cost carrier but they pride themselves on being ontime and easy, and they were. Indigo's International Air Transport Association code is "6E", and the marketing team has used its similarity to "sexy" to good advantage. "Hello 6E" is the title of the in-flight magazine, and they kept announcing their "6E Retail Therapy" duty free. We had a brief stop in Mumbai, at which point we stayed on the plane but staff checked our carry-on luggage and tag stamps against the passenger manifest. Our connecting flight was uneventful, and we arrived at Cochin International Airport at 3:30 p.m. In 2015, this airport became the first fully solar powered airport in the world. (The area has alternately over the course of history been known as Cochi, Cochin, and Kochi. The offical name is now Kochi, though the airport retains a prior spelling.) The difference in climate from Agra was immediately noticeable as a wall of 35 degree (95 degrees Fahrenheit) humid air enveloped us. The baggage collection area was stuffy and sweaty. We had been advised to come at this time of year because it is the cooler time. Thank God we didn't come in their "hot" season! After collecting our luggage, we went outside and were met by our driver Sadanandan. He spoke very good English, and was very knowledgeable about his home city. Kerala is a Communist state. There was a strike today because a member of the opposition political party was killed, and they were demanding that the Communist party conduct an official inquiry. This meant there was little traffic and few stores were open. Mukul had to find a place which was willing to sell us bottled water regardless of the strike, since we were rapidly dehydrating due to the heat. With Craig's multiple sclerosis, this is a dangerous situation for him. Luckily, we were able to locate some water. We noticed that the surrrounding vegetation was quite tropical. We were now on the Malabar Coast of the Arabian Sea. Kochi is known as the Queen of the Arabian Sea. The airport is on the mainland, and our destination, Fort Kochi, is actually an island. There is a bridge to get there, which has a stopover on Willington Island, man-made using fill dredged up from the harbor to make it deep enough for shipping lanes. We passed a naval installation and the "old airport", which is now used by the military. The ride was sunny and hot despite the air conditioning, and by the time we reached Fort Kochi, we were overtred, overheated, and a bit carsick. We arrived at the lovely Eighth Bastion Hotel at Fort Kochi at around 5 o'clock. The hotel is an historic British colonial house, and as such, no alterations can be made to the exterior. It had a nice courtyard with a crystal clear infinity pool. As we were checking in, we were greeted warmly by Jagdishji, Mukul's dear friend. He is a very kind and cultured man, and it was so nice to see him again. He was in town guiding a group of tourists, and had come to the hotel especially to see us, and we are quite grateful that he did! We would have loved to have chatted with him longer, but at this point neither of us was feeling particularly good. We needed to cool down and take a short rest. We got settled into beautiful room #206, enjoying the air conditioning. I took a short nap to get rid of my headache. The comforter was like a marshmallow and I had a good rest. Refreshed and feeling better, we met Mukul in the lobby and walked to the nearby Mahatma Gandhi Beach. This is the only opening from the sea to the harbor. Swimming is not recommended here because of the currents. But it was still a popular gathering spot. People watched the ocean from stone jetties and played volleyball on the sand. We stuck our toes into the Arabian Sea. The water was quite warm, but the waves were big and ended up splashing us more than we had intended. Since it was still quite warm out, the sea breeze on our wet pants felt like air conditioning. The sun was setting and the sky was streaked with pink. It was beautiful. We walked the concrete "boardwalk", surrounded by family and friends enjoying a seaside holiday. Most tourists were Indian (both Hindus and Muslims), and the western tourists were few and far between. A baby cow crossed in front of us. We stopped at a tuk tuk with a pink tent over the back to buy some ice cream. The small scoops of ice cream were served in little conatiners that resembled tiny terra cotta pots, but were actually made of plastic. We watched huge container ships pass by. The area was dredged in order to facilitate large ships in this busy shipping and naval area. By this time it was too dark to get good photographs. We walked out onto a jetty and could see the famous Chinese fishing nets, which we would explore in depth tomorrow. The wooden supports dangled over the shore like daddy longlegs spiders, with the nets as their webs. I saw a green batik textile depicting an Om symbol for sale in one of the shops around the corner from the hotel. I really liked it; green matches the decor in our bedroom, and I am a yoga enthusiast. I was tempted, but decided against buying it tonight. This was a touristy area and I thought it might be too pricey. But I kept it in the back of my head. The shop was very close to the hotel, so after exploring more of Fort Kochi tomorrow, if I still wanted it, I might buy it. We walked back to the hotel and had dinner at the on-site restaurant, East Indies. We had the option of eating indoors or outdoors next to the pool. It was warm and humid outside, so we opted for the air conditioned dining room. It was a modern, high-end restaurant. Since we were on the coast in a fishing town, we opted for seafood. I ordered fresh and delicious yellow fin tuna and a very tasty curried pasta. Craig ordered the 5-course Ocean Tasting Menu: 7 different appetizer-sized portions of seafood dishes:
The presentation was lovely, and the food was delicious. Craig shared his final course, the creme brulee French toast, with me. It was hot and crispy and delicious! We had great conversation with Mukul, and headed back to our rooms at around 9 o'clock, to unwind from a busy and long day. We took showers and I rinsed out our salty, sea-splashed pants. We went to bed, and Craig was awakened by foghorns overnight. Eighth Bastion Hotel, Fort Kochi |
 Mukul, Craig, and Jagdishji at the Eighth Bastion Hotel  Mahatma Gandhi Beach, Fort Kochi  Mahatma Gandhi Beach, Fort Kochi  Mahatma Gandhi Beach, Fort Kochi  Mahatma Gandhi Beach, Fort Kochi  Mahatma Gandhi Beach, Fort Kochi  Chinese fishing nets  Craig's ocean tasting menu at East Indies 
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