Day 3 - Kochi

I had quite a restless night's sleep – still winding down from the long flight and still processing what we'd seen on the drive into Kochi. To be honest, I was beginning to wonder whether we'd made the right decision to come to India. Was India the right sort of country for us? Was this going to be a really long and un-enjoyable holiday? One thing is for sure. We had thought we wanted a trip very different to those we'd done in the past. Well everything was pointing to that certianly being the case. We just have to give ourselves a little time to adjust, I reckon.

Having no plans at all, we stayed in our room until 9:30am. The hotel is quite an oasis in the middle of the Kochi urban jungle. Our room is very, very large with a wooden floor, a very high wooden ceiling with exposed beams, thick white-washed walls, a huge corner bathroom/toilet, a very large high bed and air-conditioning!! The room is on the second floor accessed by a wide corridor, exposed to the elements in some places. The whole hotel has a very "colonial" feel to it. The large common/dining room sports a lot of teak in the ceiling, walls and furniture. There's even a pool outside the patio.

We dressed and headed off into the wilds of Kochi. Even though the breakfast bar had finished more than an hour ago the lovely girl at reception (nothing more than a table and chair next to the front door!) offered to make us some toast and tea which really hit the spot! She gave a bottle of water too.

Our one mission for the day was to get some cash in our pocket. I have an app which claims to know where every ATM in the world is. The app said there was one 800m down the road – State Bank of India. We haven't bought any Indian rupee with us, planning to just get it from ATMs on an as-needs basis. I'd changed AUD$20.00 at the airport early this morning just to get us started. So off we went to find the ATM.

By 10:30am our little road was jam-packed with people, scooters, tuk-tuks, trucks, buses and the occasional car. It was nothing short of chaotic. Tiny little shop fronts selling or sorts things, buildings in various states or repair and disrepair, construction or deconstruction, rubble and rubbish strewn everywhere, goats, dogs and cats. The street was abuzz with action and excitement. It was hot and hazy and noisy. But, despite how we felt last night, all of this actually helped our anxiety and trepidation wash away in just 800m! It was fantastic!

Well we found the ATM, but it was broken, so we retraced our steps and then headed down Bazar Rd. We stopped at a very nice looking hotel, thinking they might have an ATM inside. They didn't but directed us to a bank further down the road. Our Commbank travel card failed in the ATM so I tried my normal CBA MasterCard. That one worked and I got out 5000 rupees (about AUD$100). We passed by the Dutch Palace (we're going there tomorrow) and headed to the old Jewish section. As is the case in many places across the world a congregation of Jews had grown in Kochi over the last few centuries, fleeing persecution in their homelands. There aren't any Jews left anymore, having left when the state of Israel was formed.

Like a bee to a honey pot, Kerry was attracted by all the colour and light in the clothing shops so in we went. She emerged with a couple of pairs of very bright trousers, tried on a few tops and also bought a couple of pairs of nice silver earrings. Synagogue Lane is the tourist precinct of this part of Kochi (called Mattancherry, incidentally). It's been HEAVILY sanitised. Not a single piece of rubbish or rubble, dog, cat or tuk-tuk in sight. Everything is nice and clean and orderly. It could be any other similar tourist place anywhere in the world. Outside of Synagogue Lane, you could only be in India!

After a few hours we headed back to the hotel, feeling much happier about our decision to travel here. Now we had the parameters set in our brains it's going to be a great trip. At 6:00pm we have an appointment at the hotel to meet the tour leader and the rest of the group so we took the opportunity for a bit of a rest beforehand.

6:00pm came by so we ventured into the hotel dining room. There we met the rest of the group, some of whom I recognised from our wanderings earlier in the day – white folks tend to stand out in India! For the record they are Dodie and Chris from San Luis Obispo, Alan and Chris also from San Luis Obispo, Mark and Tracy from Oxford, Trudy from Belfast, Maggie from Dublin (via Durban), Carol from Virginia, Carla from Chile (via Brunswick East) and Kerry and Greg from Bendigo. Twelve people in all, a really good sized group and a good cross section of age, life stories. I reckon we'll all get on very well. Our Tour Leader is Pooja, a young and enthusiastic girl who was once a corporate lawyer but had a change of direction.

After the meeting we all headed out in a convoy of tuk-tuks to a nearby restaurant for dinner and a chance to get to know each other a little more. It's gonna be a great trip!