So Long Kochi

Our last morning in Ft Cochin. Another beautiful breakfast by Sudi then we packed up. We decided to head out for one last wander and some lunch. At some point we had our first big problem of the trip. Tommy's flip flop failed him. He was sporting some nice flops we got last summer at REI, not the $80 ones but more the on sale for $25 ones. He's been lugging the kid all around in that backpack which we think put extra stress on the flop and mid stride it happened. He was dead in the water. He hobbled around looking for a shop that sold sandals for almost a block and as fortune would have it, a Tuk Tuk driver we had befriended earlier in the day saw the situation. He took us to a friends shoe shop where tommy was able to purchase a lovely pair of very Indian style sandals. Crisis thwarted. The Tuk Tuk driver also took us to his favorite lunch spot that was easily some of the best food yet! The place was run by men who couldn't wait to serve our thali so they could hold the baby. 

Our time was up in Kochi, we packed into a cab and drove off. What a great week! 

Our cab driver had to call the place we were staying three times for directions. We drove down small back streets, through semi rural neighborhoods, near some railroad tracks and finally we were there. Now where there is is a mystery still. I'm leaning towards the middle of nowhere. I had found this place online so you never really know...

The property sits right on the water of one of the inland canals. The room was clean and cool and the staff great. I was a little worried about what we could do out here. We could wander the backroads I guess. We planned on a boat trip but with no where else to really go we were worried about keeping Lee entertained. We decided to stay here only 2 nights and emailed the next place to see if they could take us early. 

Back to where we are. It's extremely peaceful. There is a garden and water with a million types of birds circling, hammocks and a lovely Austrian couple staying here also. Over at least two seperate loud speakers somewhere in the neighborhood are booming prayers.  They fill the air with constant drone of prayer. The two seem to battling each other over who can out pray who, it's really quite beautiful. One is defiantly Hindu, the other is unknown and I think there is the Muslim call to prayer thrown in there at times also. I'll take a video tomorrow so you can hear it. We had a great dinner of fish that was just caught and the owner told us about a Hindu festival that we could go see after dinner. I was hesitant because Lee usually passes out after dinner but we said yes, that we'd love to go. Most Hindu things are only for Hindus so this was a rare opportunity. Our tuktuk showed up and after 5 minutes on the road Lee fell asleep. We were dropped off at the entrance to a massive outdoor arena type space teeming with people. No shoes in temples so we were barefoot for this outing. There was really loud banging of drums and as we got closer to the crowd(after watching some people brush what appeared to be 10 gallons of water but smelled like pee out of the walkway) we saw 4 huge Asian elephants adorned with massive gold head pieces with dancers on their backs. Glad we avoided the puddles we watched. Children kept coming up to us wanting to know about Lee who was out cold! They wanted to touch his hair and know his name then they would run off to tell their parents and come back 5 minutes later with more questions. One little boy was mad I wouldn't speak his language so he could talk to me, it was really cute. I didn't take any pictures, not the right space for that sort of thing but I assure you we will never forget it! It was a great tuktuk ride home, we got to see all the things that happen at night. Lots of people out and about.