Exploring Kochi

Day 17 - 20th February 2019

A day to explore the town

Breakfast was served in a communal upstairs room, with a European style content. I should have asked for Indian!  They were pleased when we did the following morning..

Following advice, we went to a stand to get a tuk tuk to ensure we went to places that we wanted to go to.  But the driver had other ideas. However, he was accommodating in that when we spotted elephant droppings, he set off to find the festival that they would have been at, and probably were, because everything was being taken down as it had been the previous day.

I had a visiting a dhobi khana on my list, hoping to see brightly coloured sarees drying in the sun.  I had seen some on bushes near Munnar, and was hopeful of seeing more here. 

The first sight that greets you inside the gate of Vannar Sangham Dhobi Khama is an array of men and women ironing clothes.  Most of them are old and grey haired. Pass through into the next portion of the three-acre compound of the Khana, and there are 40 wash pens lined up in a row.  The origins of the dhobi khana lie in the colonial period, when British officers brought many Tamil villagers to Kochi to work as washermen. Today, it is mostly hotels and government establishments that use the facility.  We had used the 'dhobi' on a daily basis during our holiday, but whether they disappeared into a big washing machine, or were beaten on stones, we had no idea.


Women from the family hang these washed and starched clothes in the sun. Interestingly, no one here ever uses clips to keep clothes from falling off the line; instead they all use a technique of tucking clothes between the ropes in such a way that they are never disturbed by the wind.

Our tuk tuk driver took us to a temple to watch the pigeons arrive for feeding.  I was asked to cover up with a lungi, the only time I was asked in India. When you have seen pigeons in George Square, or Trafalgar Square, these were a poor alternative, but clearly it was an important local custom.  By then both the palace and Jewish temple were closed, so we abandoned the tuk tuk, paying well in excess of the agreed amount, and found a cafe for lunch, sharing a thali.

We had booked a 'Gully Walking Tour' for the early evening.  Another couple had been due to join us, but cancelled, so we set off for a three hour walk, visiting many places of interest.  It was still hot, and stops were not held in the shade, so we started walking quite early on, but as the day drew to a close and it cooled down, we began to enjoy it more.

Once we had returned to our start point, and by then it was quite dark, we went to 'Seagull' restaurant.  More upmarket than we had become used to, this was overlooking the harbour with distant views of container ships on the other side of the waterway - and they sold beer!

Having failed to get to Kodanad elephant rescue and training centre on our way to Kochi, we made inquiries.  There was a marked lack of enthusiasm for this with the people we spoke to, but after a phone call, we discovered that it had moved anyway. With only one day left, we decided to make the most of this lovely place, and remain in Fort Kochi.

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