“Incredible India” is the modern slogan that can describe this country of over one billion people. The capital of this diverse country is New Delhi in the north, and the main languages spoken are Hindi and English. It is vast with a plethora of cultures and at least two of the world’s great religions. But along with that amount of people, there is over-crowding, poverty, and politics that are everyday challenges. There is a vibrancy with noise combined with frenetic energy in the big cities….it is part of their everyday life. Just walk the streets and you will see what we mean within minutes.
The best time to visit happens to be November through March in the plains, but July to September in the Himalayas. Right now in March, we could say it is steamy and very hot.
There is so much to see in India, but the utmost most popular destination has to be in Agra at the white marble, jewel-studded Taj Mahal. Many find themselves on the path of the pilgrims on the banks of the Ganges River, followed by a trip to Mumbai, and the majestic heights in the Himalayas. Having the privilege of being on a safari adventure in one of their famous national parks to search for Bengal tigers had to be one of the most memorable side trips we ever did. Further south the beaches of Goa attract many visitors, with traveling by train anywhere in the country can be a thrill.
We were introduced to Indian food on that safari with the serving of “thalis”, several small servings of rice, curries, chopatis, fish, chicken, and spicy condiments. We just discovered pappadams, the thin rolled crispy cracker they served us last night.
The favorite drinks are lassi, a sweet or salty yogurt shake or chai, a sweet Indian tea.
Trademarks are Maharajas, holy cows, Ghandi, the Taj Mahal, temples, slums, and Bollywood.
Here is an interesting random fact – there is no such thing as “curry” in India, as the southern Indian word “kari” means fried or sauced.
So here we are in Cochin today, located on the southwestern end of India. This city was a major seafaring port that traded cardamom, cinnamon, and cloves, especially to China and Arabia. In 1530, the Portuguese came to Cochin and built a fort. The Dutch eventually attacked and drove them out by 1663. Indian rulers defeated them, but the British had the final stronghold in 1814. Evidence of all of these cultures can be seen in the historical parts of this spread-out city. This area has also been made popular with the unique Chinese fishing nets, a symbol of the city. Some of them are still used today.
We were here in 2009 and took a tour on a very slow boat in Cochin’s lake area. Seeing the famous fishing nets working stayed in our memories, as well as the sighting of some pink dolphins. We also flew from Cochin to see the Taj Mahal with our travel group, and as we said, we also flew from here to New Delhi to begin a Bengal tiger safari out of Jabalpur. So we never did see much of the city on our own.
There were a few tours offered by the ship such as the same harbor boat excursion or a city tour. They were $65 to $75 for 3 to 5 hours. The longer tours took the folks out of town to go on a houseboat in the lakes, rivers, and canals of the backwaters. Some included lunch and they cost from $175 to $210 for 8 or more hours.
An HAL shore excursion group went to a 2 night, 3 day overland to see the Taj Mahal for $3000 (double), although we know of several independent groups that did the same itinerary for much less. They should all come back in Mumbai on day one, March 31st. Sure hope they make it back to the port gate before it is closed. We have heard some mighty bad stories about problems getting back into the port and the ship that time of night. It does not always work.
Many of us were not happy that there was no shuttle bus due to a very strict taxi union. This is something we have been told year after year in some of these Indian ports. Since we are not comfortable being transported in a tuk-tuk or a cramped taxi, we decided to stick close to the ship today. Besides, the predicted heat today was 95 degrees, and we believe it was already that high at 10am.
And there were complications which we did not know until later in the day. Entering the country in Cochin, we were all required to go through for a face-to-face inspection with the Immigration Officials in the terminal. It would be another zero count, where absolutely everyone had to be cleared before anyone was allowed back on the ship. Sounds easy, right? We had been given our letter of instructions, for us it was letter “S”, allowing us to go anytime we wished, as long as we got off before the 10:30am estimated finish time. We all needed four items to get off….our room key, the passports we were handed, the e-visa copy they printed, and the small slips of landing cards. Well, not everyone had the same type of visa we had, which is a ten year one in our passport book. Other folks had shorter time e-visas, but did not bring the letter with them when they went off. So therefore, they were being turned around and set back onboard to find their copies.
We should have guessed there was a problem when announcements were repeated over and over to bring the correct documents. Our guess is that the info given to us was not explained clearly. The end result was that the line backed up to the point no one could exit the elevators, and most everyone lost their place in line. Greg and Heo informed us at dinner that there were fights between the passengers and the crew as well. They added that the new purser lost her cool, and lost control of the unruly crowd, sending her running back to the ship. The line ended up leaving the passengers standing out in the beating sun for 30 to 40 minutes, which made for some hot tempers. And here we were oblivious to any of this by going to breakfast as always, and taking some morning photos from deck three. To our surprise, there were many flocks of birds flying around the harbor and ship this morning. They were egrets, crows, cormorants, brahminy kites, and what we believe might be the changeable hawk-eagles. At one point later in the afternoon, one of the hawk-eagles actually dive-bombed us, touching the hair on one of our heads….quite a surprise as these birds are aggressive.
When we heard the call for the rest of us to go through the checkpoint, we spotted Barb leaving the ship. We followed her by five minutes, and found the process worked rather quickly. Lucky for us, we had missed the nasty mess. Thinking back now, we wondered why the officers we did see looked as if they had been hit by a truck. And here we thought it was heat stroke or something.
There was a series of tented stalls on the pier, so we took our time checking out their offerings. Not intending to buy anything, we ended up with one of those mosaic-metal purses or box, as the vendor called it. Recalling they cost a lot more in Mumbai, the price was much better here. Their silky tops were over-priced, and if it wasn’t so darn hot outside, we may have stayed and bargained harder. Two for almost the price of one patchwork handbags found a home with one of us as well. Some of the vendors were selling those semi-precious beaded necklaces that we have seen in Oman. The “real” ones cost a lot, so the ones they had on display looked good, but we could tell the way they were strung and the ends not up to par, we knew they were fake. Problem was, they were asking a lot of money. We did not see anyone buying them. We did get some really great photos of all of the Indian treasures though.
Back on the ship, we cooled off in our room, then had lunch in the Lido before the throngs of tour people got back. When we returned to our room, we found a note from the hotel director with an apology and explanation of what went wrong this morning with the immigrations check. Defending the time it took to complete the process (3 hours), he added that the discomfort it caused was regrettable. It was obvious that many well-meaning folks gave advice on how to change this process. One of the complaints was that none of us received a passport receipt like we always do. Local officials would not permit it. He reassured us that all of the passports that were kept by these Indian officials had been brought back onboard later in the day, and their records matched everyone up with the proper documents before they were locked up for safe-keeping. In addition, those overland groups that needed to be at the airport early for flights, must have been quite upset with unexpected delays. So we can see both sides of the story here.
By 5pm, we went up to deck nine and got good pictures of the surrounding areas around the ship. And more photos of the birds soaring and diving all around us. Once again, the actual sail away party was held in the Crow’s Nest, and the Seaview pool area was almost empty for most of the late afternoon. Many did show up when the ship left the port after 6pm. As we sailed out towards the opening to the sea, we passed the historical area where the Chinese fishing nets were located. Lucky for us, there was enough light to get pictures since the sun had unceremoniously set around 6:35pm.
So we did hear the entire story of this morning’s mess, and coming from the guy’s viewpoint, it was almost funny the way they described it. Hope that is not repeated on this cruise, because the “natives” will not stand for it. As one might expect, the dinner menu was heavily “Indian-themed”. One of us ordered the chicken tikka, while the other had the tomato soup….both quite good. Entrees were pineapple-panko crusted chicken breast with forbidden rice, and a chicken Caesar salad with the incorrect dressing. Caesar dressing resembles blue cheese, which is not a favorite of ours. The two dressings had been mixed up in the kitchen. Dessert was a shared chocolate bread pudding sitting in a puddle of vanilla sauce. Good conversation and a deck walk kept us out until after 10pm, so we missed the show of the magician, Peter Methab, who was actually an actor in “The World is not Enough”, a James Bond film.
Looking forward to a day at sea as we sail towards the huge city of Mumbai.
Bill & Mary Ann
Saturday, March 30, 2019
Report #70 Cochin, India March 29, 2019 Friday Sunny & 95 degrees
