My last full weekend in Kochi

My last full weekend in Kochi has come to an end - and what a great weekend it was.

Saturday morning I caught up with my family via facetime and then had a lazy morning in my hotel room. In the afternoon I joined with Jana, Cat, Christophe, Hugo and Rafael to travel to Fort Kochi from some shopping and a late lunch. Thanks to Christophe for taking this great photo of me with my mates Cat and Rafael. 

We met up with the rest of the team to see a local cultural show. Jana and Anne have captured this perfectly in the team blog here http://ibmindia16.blogspot.in/2012/03/back-to-classics-kathakali-traditional.html

On Sunday, Rick, Elke and I explored Kochi in some more detail as we went on a photo safari to try to capture the colour and life of the city. Jennifer joined us for the walk along the water front, before heading off to meet up with a local colleague. We did some shopping along the way, and stopped for an unusual drink break - I had a peanut shake, which was pretty weird but I liked it. 

We caught the local ferry across to Fort Kochi. There were two queues for tickets – a men’s queue with over 100 people in it and a women’s queue with maybe 2 people.

Approx. a third of the men's ferry queue

Rick and I joined the end of the men’s queue, but fortunately Elke managed to get three tickets and we were straight on to the next ferry. We spent some time at a shop I had visited the day before with the others. Rick, Elke and I all enjoyed the complimentary tea, chatting with the sales people and making some purchases. We got an autorick back across to the main part of town and Rick, Elke and I toasted a great day with cold beer and a lovely dinner at the Grand Hotel.

It was then back home to the hotel for a night time swim in the pool to fresh after a long day of walking around in the heat.

P.S my Canadian buddy Rick has a great write up of Sunday in Kochi, India. http://rickpower.blogspot.in/2012/03/do-not-spit-here.html

 #ibmcsc india