Day 36 - Monday 21st of July - Fort Cochin

Went for a walk. Used the Internet. Myself and Ian walked around the island. I showed him the spectacular Chinese Fishing nets. Ian got called over and had us pulling up one of the nets with locals. The nice gentleman explained the whole process and then asked for a small donation after taking our pictures. I had only whispered to Ian that this would happen just as we were called over. It had happened to me the first day I did the tour of the nets by myself. We stopped and watched one net as it raised up numerous times, just to see what they got. As we were about to walk away, there was a call of successs. They caught one very large fish. One of the fishermen headed of straight away to sell it, to the market stalls, with the fish still alive, swinging away in his hand. All that sightseeing built a bit of a hunger so we headed to the Brunton Boatyard for a tasty and expensive lunch. 1085Rps for the two of us. Wasn't worth it.

When we got back to the lads Peter was ready to see a dentist. He was suffering too much and was now willing to see a local dentist. He was pretty nervous not knowing what the standard of dentistry was like in India. We had seen a couple the day before, near the chemist, so we headed to them. The surgery looked like any you would see in Dublin. Half an later Peter was out and seemed a million times better. An X-ray and checkup had cost him 150rps. Yes, remember the price of Ian and my lunch. We are talking about just over €2. He got all the medicine he needed for another 200rps. Myself and Ian decided we'd hire bikes so we left the rest of them to it. It took a while although we found them back near where we were staying for only 20rps each. Can't beat that. Well they looked the part. Shining racing green and polished chrome. The seats had suspension although they felt like they were filled with small rocks.

We went on quite an adventure down the far coast of the peninsula. We found one of the biggest naval bases I had ever seen. I didn't have any idea what it was when we got to the gate and they were having none of it. It was pretty much, “Move away from the gate sir.” A younger gentleman in full army camouflage stood brandishing a rather impressive and powerful looking weapon. He smiled back at me. A man came out in Naval uniform and spoke good english and explained to me what it was and no entry was allowed. We continued on our original path. The naval base went on for around 2km. We went another kilometer further until we found a way down to the coast. It was lined with a man made barrier of rocks. We sat for a bit looking out at the sea before heading across the width of the peninsula. The Fort Cochin area is enormous. I say by the time we got to Jew town we did a 4 to 5km round trip. We had being told of the Pepper Exchange and this was our next stop. Sadly it was closed for the day. I found one of the large and famous racing boats that is used in a big festival that happens in mid-August. Ian got chatted up by a young Indian gentleman that told him he was very handsome. True. Next I came across a gentleman that actually owns a business in exporting spices and pepper. He told me that on that day pepper was being traded at 14,600rps per 100kg. Ian joined me and he showed us large bags of cardamon, ginger and other mixed spices. He offered me a small bag of the famous and delicious masala tea mixture. For 50rps it would make 600 cups of tea. After our alls these aromas we headed up to the synagogue. It was closed although I ended up getting my silver chains cleaned in return for visiting one of the local shops. The local shops strive hard to do business especially in the off season month of July. Rickshaw drivers will bring you around Fort Cochin for free for the day if you visit a few of their shops. Supposedly they get a free litre of fuel if you just walk into a shop.

We stopped for cakes and coffee on our return. Delicious. Dropped the bikes back and met up with the rest of the gang. We had dinner on the roof garden of the Elite. Headed to listen to classical music in the same location that Aidan had being. It was a journey in itself. I sat there with my eyes closed and allowed my mind to travel with the sounds. A flute player accompanied by two drummers. The performance was A1. For some reason Ian kept sniggering and was finding it very hard to hold it together. I couldn't see what was so funny. He ended up leaving before the performance was over. As we walked home we noticed Greg sittting with Ian outside our Special Tea restaurant at the end of our road. It would be rude not to. More special tea. Sorry, just realised I never explain this to you. No, its not mushrooms, just plain old beer. Drink licenses are expensive and therefore some places will take the chance, few rupees on the side to the local police, and serve beer in tea pots. You ask for special tea. They know what you mean. After catching up on Greg's adventure in Munnar he headed off to bed. Shortly afterwards we were joint by a writer from Canada. His parents were Jewish and Scottish and it came across in his personality. I liked him a lot. He seemed to be going through a bit of an internal battle and was trying to drown it with this fine tea. He came across as quite lonely and a little self-destructive. We've all being there. Sometimes you come to India to do it I suppose, rather than doing it infront of people you know. We didn't stop long although there was a genuine sense of sadness as we told him we were leaving. He was doing himself no favours in attracting people in how he was coming across. Quite intense. We headed back to bed. Once again asleep in minutes.