As I came up on deck in the morning, we were cruising up the river into Cochin on the south-west coast of India. Doing a very neat one point turn this giant ship eased its way into a parking spot, nose to nose with an aircraft carrier.
We had a good look around Cochin, a city vibrantly overflowing with benevolent humanity. Although there is a great mix of cultures and religions, these people appear to accept and even rejoice in their diversity. 30% are Christian and the rest are mostly Hindu with a scattering of Muslim. There is even a handful of Jewish people (with their synagogue), a remnant of the first diaspora from Nebuchadnezzar's sacking of Jerusalem around ?600BC!
Our guide said that to have the best of all worlds one should have an Indian wife, an American salary, a German car and Chinese food. The worst? An American wife, an Indian salary, a Chinese car with German food!
We saw the iconic Kerala fishing nets which are lowered into the water on long poles, left for ten minutes and then raised, trapping the fish, and there was quite a lot of fish on sale on the banks.
We visited the waterways and delighted in the house boats, thinking what a hit they would be on the Thames!
Kerala was altogether a great experience, but now we are on our way to Malaysia across the Bay of Bengal. More anon!
3 comments:
Loved your guides advice on the good, or not so good life!
What an incredible way to experience the world!
Your photos are great!
Love the photos! What a varied experience you are having. Nothing so exciting to report here!
Wow! How bizarre is this: reading about the Indian Jews on here and in another, completely unrelated, source, both in the last hour - and before that I had no idea!
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