Kerala – day 9
Kochi
Friday, 7th April 2023
We set our alarm for 5:30 AM this morning to go and see the fishermen. I don’t think I’ve ever been so glad to hear the alarm go off. It was a hell of a night. The room couldn’t be ventilated, and there were mosquitoes everywhere, even though there was a net on the window. I spent half the night killing mosquitoes and the other half trying to sleep. The morning was still somewhat pleasant. By that, I mean it was warm, but bearable.
The fishermen weren’t out today; just a few men with small nets who didn’t catch anything. So, we took a little walk and then headed back to our accommodation. We sat on the terrace, waiting for the kitchen to open. When it finally opened and we went to make coffee, the owner informed us that it was charged separately. So, no coffee, and we went straight for breakfast. After breakfast, we took a nap. Sleeping during the day was better than at night. At 1 PM, we headed to Cherai Beach. We hadn’t had lunch yet, so we looked for something to eat along the way. We didn’t find anything in Kochi, so we took a ferry, hoping to find something on the other side. Still nothing, so we caught a bus that took us to Cherai in an hour. When we got off the bus, I scanned the area and spotted a large sign saying “hotel” in the distance. We headed there. As expected, it was a restaurant. We had one of the best meals we’ve had in India. I ordered green pea curry, and Jozef had chicken curry. Afterward, we bought a watermelon, had it cut in half, and headed to the beach. The beach was 2.2 km away, so we took a tuk-tuk. I asked the driver how much it would cost. We thought he said “six euro,” and both of us were shocked—6 euros??? But after asking him two more times, we realized he was saying “six zero,” meaning around 70 cents.
What we saw on the beach really surprised us. There were as many people as ants. We found a slightly quieter spot, ate our melon, and went for a swim.
The water was so warm, it’s the kind you’d happily fill your bathtub with. After a while, we walked back along the backwaters, took the bus, and again the ferry. I’m not sure if we’re just lucky with perfect timing or if it’s always like this here.
Along the way, we passed many churches and processions. In the state of Kerala, 10% of the population is Christian, which is more than in Slovakia. Here, you can see religious symbols of Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam everywhere. Often in the same place—in a restaurant or on a bus, you can see representations of multiple religions. They even incorporate it into business names; we came across “My Grace Mobiles” with a picture of Jesus. Today, we had only one thing planned. There’s a top-notch barbershop on the corner of our street. Jozef didn’t want to break his tradition of getting a haircut and shave during his trips to Asia, so he went in for one. Judge the result for yourself.
We weren’t very hungry, so we grabbed some flatbreads from a stall and some fruit. Then we returned to our sauna. It does have one advantage: all our clothes dry in just a few hours, so it feels like we came here just to do laundry. Tomorrow, we’re heading back to the mountains.
