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Mark Moxon's Travel Writing

India: Kochi

Cricket on the green in front of St Francis' Church
Cricket on the green in front of St Francis' Church

Now that I come to think of it, the last time I was in Kochi I spent a day wandering around the sights of Fort Cochin on the northern end of Kochi island, and another day killing time in Ernakulam, eating in the Indian Coffee House and enjoying a James Bond movie in the company of the locals. I didn't hang around, and two days was probably one too many. I'm glad to say that, nine years later, Kochi is still the kind of place that forces you to kick back and relax.

The Beach Front

Fort Cochin Beach
Fort Cochin Beach

Instead of trying to brave the daytime, we decided to wait until the sun had dipped before venturing out into Fort Cochin. It appeared that we weren't alone, for Sunday night is clearly promenade night in Kochi.

Top-end Kochi

Fort Cochin Beach
Fort Cochin Beach

For our first evening meal in Kochi, we decided that eating fish plucked from a quagmire was perhaps a treat best saved for another night, and decided instead to follow a recommendation we'd been given to try an evening meal at the Brunton Boatyard, the poshest hotel in Fort Cochin. We've thus far been happily staying in mid-range homestays and guest houses – a serious step up from my budget level travelling of nine years ago, but still a long way off the standard of international western hotel chains – and I've been delighted at what you get for your money. From something in the region of Rs1000 to Rs1500, you get lovely double rooms in period houses, with en suite bathrooms, comfortable beds and a complete lack of cockroaches. However, you also bump into the lower end of the travelling class that gives us all a bad name. I'm talking about those who still seem to think there's a British Empire, and treat the natives like subjects.

Fort Cochin Beach
Fort Cochin Beach is not the tidiest beach in the world

Exploring Kochi

Dal Roti restaurant in Fort Cochin
Dal Roti restaurant in Fort Cochin

The following day we visited the same tourist attractions that I'd seen nine years before, braving the heat to visit Jewtown and Mattancherry Palace, as well as the area round Princess Street, which has blossomed into a completely backpacker-oriented part of town. There are loads of tourists in Kochi, and they continue to pile in in their air-conditioned coaches, looking slightly worn out and rather oppressed by it all; one wonders if Coachy would be a better name for this part of town, as yet another dark-windowed coach empties its pale occupants into the sun, blinking and looking rather dazed. Luckily the backpacker scene has its advantages, and one of them is that there in the middle of Burgher Street is a little piece of Hampstead, perfectly preserved in every detail. I'm talking about the Kashi Art Café, which the Lonely Planet calls 'something of an institution.'