COCHIN DAY 2

Sunday, April 14th
     No touring for us today.  We had enough of the heat yesterday.  We went down to the dining room for breakfast as on Sunday's they have caviar and champagne.  We do not care for champagne but I do enjoy the caviar.
     I woke up at 3:30am with a headache and feeling sick to my stomach due to the strong odor of the ship's exhaust fumes coming in the air conditioning system.  This is the 4th time it has happened.  I called down to the reception desk so they would put it on the "log" and will have a meeting later this morning with Conny, the executive concierge, who initially handles problems.
     Here are the photos I took yesterday on our tour of Cochin.  Remember, clicking on the photos will enlarge them.

                                            Passing fishing nets next to coconut trees.

                                                           Our tour for today

                                               Bus passing by some tuk-tuk taxis

 Our tour guide.  Our bus was not fancy, but most importantly, it had air conditioning.  It was 97 degrees that afternoon.

                                                    Interesting looking truck

            Teak logs brought in from Malaysia.  The use them to make wood carvings and furniture.

                                             Driving through the old part of Cochin.

                                       Driving past a laundry.  They hang clothes here to dry.

                   Big tree is a "raintree".  They were brought from Brazil many years ago and planted.

                                    One of the gates to the Indian Southern Naval Command.

                                     Just drove past the museum.  I would have liked to seen it.

                           St Francis church built by Portuguese in Fort Cochin back in 1503.

                                           Note the interesting fans hung over the pews.

    A snake charmer with a cobra in each of the baskets.  When he plays instrument the cobra rises.

  From 1450's, Chinese monguls brought fishing nets like these to India.  Here the net is submerged.

                        After some time, the fishermen pull wooden arm back and net raises.

                                            The caught fish are then removed from the net.

                             We walked past this fish market along the river.  Smell was very bad!

 Two different types of coconuts:  the yellow ones are used for drinking the coconut milk while the green ones are used for oil.  Coconut oil for cooking.

                                           Really nice looking pineapples and other fruit.

    Visiting the old Dutch palace.  It was built by Portuguese in 1555 but the Dutch renovated it in 1660's and was then called "Dutch Palace".  It is where the Indian rajas, kings and families, lived.

 This was a water catchment and storage on the palace grounds.  Not used today obviously.  Caught a couple of men bathing in the yuky water.

                  Walking down "Jew Street" in the spice warehouse district of the old Cochin.

                                         Lots of clothing shops and teak wood carvings shops.

                                   Guide took us in this store (probably gets kick-backs).

                                    Woman is demonstrating old loom used in making saris.

                                     Can you imagine factories full of these looms.

                                                     Spices..  Cashew nuts mostly grown in India.

                                                            our boat for harbor tour

                                             Voyager--our home away from home

                                                          Smaller fishing boats

                                        Fishing nets strung between these poles in the river.

                                        When tide goes down they get fish from the nets.

                         Some larger fishing boats.  There are over 3000 fishing boats in this area.

                                         The "new" Cochin skyline.  We did not tour it.

Our ship was docked on a man made island.  The new building is government house.  Smaller clock tower building to its right is old one used by government before the new one was built.

                                     there are a couple of nice fan palms in this photo.

                               Two families driving by to look at our ship.  Who needs a car???

https://goo.gl/photos/1KLSN6s6DsfeUFMM8

COCHIN, INDIA

Saturday, April 13th

                       

     Kochi, formerly Cochin, with a population of over 600,000, is a major port city on the west side of India.    It is a major of exporter spices.  There are over 250 industries here manufacturing a range of products including chemical and petrochemical products, such as, fertilizers, pesticides, rubber processing chemicals, and has one of the largest oil refineries in south India.  Information technology centers for US companies are also in abundance here due to inexpensive labor costs and a well educated IT work force.  Tourism is also a major driver of the economy.  India's Southern Naval Command is headquartered here.
     It is now noon and we just docked here in Cochin.  Interesting scenery while sailing in.  It is HOT outside!  95 degrees with lots of humidity.

Jane & Jacob

      We have two great suite stewards who are doing a fantastic job keeping our suite clean and neat.  Their picture is above.  Jane is from the Philippines and her husband also works on the ship as a butler for the Penthouse Suites.  They have a 2 year old that her mother is taking care of back in the Philippines.  They make so much more on the cruise ships than they can at home.  They sacrifice now for their family's well-being in future.  Jacob is from India and lives just 30 minutes from where we are docked today.  Our ship's management has let him go home this afternoon and will be with his wife and 6 year old tonight.  He'll be back on board early tomorrow morning.  We just love Jane and Jacob to death.
     It is now 6:30pm and we are back from our 5 hour tour and getting ready for dinner.  It was soooooo hot today on the tour but it was interesting and enjoyable.  I will get those photos on a posting tomorrow.  We are in Cochin over night and all day tomorrow again.  We are not touring tomorrow so will have lots of time to catch up with the photos.  I asked the chef to prepare some deep fried soft shelled crabs for our entree in the dining room this evening.  They are having a barbeque dinner outside up on the pool deck tonight.  They do it once a segment.  We never have and never will dine up there.  We prefer air conditioned comfort with someone waiting on us instead of buffet lines in the heat.
     I poured Rebecca a glass of wine to drink while she is getting ready.  I'm going to go up and get a cocktail now.  Ya'll have a great weekend.