Munnar – Kochi
Thursday, 6th April 2023
I wake up automatically in the morning, even before the music starts playing. We still don’t know where we’re heading next, so I turn on the laptop, and we try to figure out a plan for the upcoming days. We originally wanted to go to Ooty, another town in the mountains with tea plantations, but since it’s Easter, everything is booked. We decide to head to Kochi instead and plan to go to Ooty on Saturday night. We go for a late breakfast, and since we don’t feel like going into town, we pick a restaurant across from our accommodation. The food wasn’t very good. After that, we make some coffee and tea that we bought yesterday. We quickly pack up and head to the bus station. The bus is due to leave in 15 minutes. We ask for a ticket to Aluva, which costs 155 INR. We’re at an elevation of 1,600 meters and need to descend to sea level.
On the way up, the bus ride was fine because it barely managed to climb, but now that we’re going downhill, it’s a crazy ride with constant honking (especially around the bends). Both of us start feeling sick, and after half an hour, the child in front of us throws up. Since the bus has no windows, it almost hits us. We manage to hold it together, but I feel nauseous for the next two hours until we reach flat ground.
At the bottom, the temperature feels like 40°C. In Aluva, we transfer to an air-conditioned metro and then walk 1.5 kilometers to the ferry. Halfway there, we stop for a refreshing cold mango juice. The ferry ride to Fort Kochi takes 15 minutes.
From the ferry terminal, it’s about two kilometers to our accommodation, but the temperature is gradually dropping, so we decide to walk. We pass through a less pleasant area with lots of trash and goats.
Once we turn onto the main street, things look better. Our accommodation is a small but nice room. There’s a liquor store nearby, so we grab a beer and then head to the beach to get something to eat since we skipped lunch. We take the bus for a short ride, and as soon as we get off, it starts raining.
We try to find a restaurant we saw online, but it seems to no longer exist. So, we take shelter under a roof and keep looking. Once the rain stops, we head towards the beach and come across a fish stall. We buy a tuna fish (1kg) for 300 INR, which is cooked for us in a nearby restaurant. The mosquitoes are relentless, but the fish is really good.
An Indian family sits next to us. After we finish eating and I’m waiting for Jozef, I smile at one of the women, and she then asks to take a picture with me.
We walk back to the accommodation along the beach, where there’s a breeze, but once we turn into the streets, it’s still pretty hot. We wanted to sit on the balcony for a while, but the mosquitoes are unbearable, so we retreat to the room and turn on the fan. Inside, it’s 33.8°C.
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