Fort Kochi (Cochin, or Cochi, as you wish)

We were sad to leave Laos and all our new friends at both Big Brother Mouse (the place where young Lao children practice their English), and at the beautiful Villa Maly.Our multi-flight journey from Luang Prabang, which started at four in the afternoon and lasted until four the next afternoon. It was fairly uneventful until the last leg between Mumbai and Cochi, when we were seated in front of the posessed-by-the-devil toddler from hell who began by slamming his toy hammer into the back of David's seat while manically chanting the ABC song in Hindi. When his parents tried to corral him into a seat belt for take off all hell broke loose. The screaming continued and people around him jumped at first the first possible chance to switch seats - except for David who had fallen asleep. I hung in there figuring the kid would fall asleep before too long. And fall asleep he did - five minutes before we landed. Since I once had a child of mine scream all the way from Boston to LA, I hardly felt I was in a position to judge - but still...The heat and humidity assaulted us as we left the plane. It was like wrapping your head and face in a steaming hot towel. The sun glared through a thick fog. We were grateful that we weren't getting it full blast.The brother-in-law of our landlord met us at the airport and drove us through the city of Cochin for a forty five minute trip to our rented bungalow. We had to drive through the main (relatively new) city of Kochi, called Ernakulam, and it was dirty and depressing - even by India standards, but without any of the charm and personality that typically makes up for the chaos and trash. We finally reached the old city of Fort Kochi, on the tip of a long peninsula separated from the main city by two bridges. It's a popular seaside tourist area that was praised by all the guidebooks.I was glad I had already experienced crazed Indian drivers, so I wasn't too shocked. Also, I was so sleep-deprived by this time that I didn't give a damn.Upon arriving, we found this apartment to be a good life lesson on what can happen when you find an unbelievably affordable rental in the Internet. While the neighborhood was lovely - quiet streets lined with lovely homes - this place was not one of them. The photos posted on the website had shown spacious rooms full of light, a shaded front porch and roof top deck. But the reality was a rather shabby, not terribly clean, dark place with very little to recommend it. The roof top deck was criss-crossed by clothes lines full of wash, and the kitchen didn't get me excited about whipping up a home cooked meal. Maybe it was the dirty rag that the owner had left on the countertop. The wifi absolutely refused to work and the suspiciously dingy sheets made me happy that I had brought sleep sacks for both of us. However, the landlord was such a nice guy and so exceedingly helpful that David and I just looked at each other and shrugged. It wasn't until after he'd left that the reality of staying there for a whole month set in. At first I felt guilty admitting that I didn't want to stay - it certainly was tolerable, but it was also certainly not pleasant. As it was clear that David felt the same way, we decided to look for a better living situation and just write off the money we'd prepaid on the apartment.So we commenced a tour of Fort Kochi hotels. At the very first one we tried the owner sat David down and told him we were nuts to think about spending more than a few days in Kochi. He didn't have any rooms, but gave us a list of places we might try. It got sort of depressing when the first four or five places were fully booked, but we sighed with great relief when, at last, we found a charming, clean and spacious room in a homestay on a quiet street not too far from the apartment. We took it for a week while we decided where to go next. We were relieved to have access to the Internet to get updates about the two feet (and more) of snow back home:(Thanks to Laura Wulf who sent me that photo).I have to say, that I still love India as much as ever. It is, however, a shock coming here after spending a length of time in Buddhist countries. This town has its charms (the trash-strewn beach isn't one of them) and the people are as wonderful as I remember people in India to be. People you pass greet you with a smile and wave. Kids passing by on their bikes and call, "Hello, how are you?" The man at the corner store knows we are from the US and sings out, "Obama!" when we ride by on our bicycles.This is sort of India 'light'. While people do try to sell you stuff, there's usually not any hassle and a single, "No thanks," is enough to dissuade them. We didn't see any obvious abject poverty; people aren't living in the streets, at least in the places we saw. The children are marvelous. The women are gorgeous in their butterfly colored silk saris, and the men flash smiles showing off dazzling white teeth.It took a while (and a lot horns tooting at us) to remember to ride on the left side of the road while dodging tuk-tuks, motor scooters, cars, other bikers and pedestrians. In many ways Fort Kochi reminds me of Provincetown - a seaside resort town full of shops and tourists, small hotels and home stays, restaurants, used bookstores and coffeehouses. Almost no place to get an alcoholic drink, however. There's one bar, but the black lights and pumping disco music wasn't our scene. Other than that, there were only the lounges in the fancy hotels.The festival of Saint Anthony was going on at the church on our corner. Drums and singing and the mass in Hindi broadcast from loudspeakers onto the street. Folks in their holiday finest crowded around the doorway, blocking the intersection.As with most festivals in India chrysanthemums were on hand for throwing and making offerings:The final procession this morning was led by men in long white robes, wearing garlands of flowers in their heads and carrying long yellow candles. Each intersection had its own shrine and super loud fireworks display.The neighborhood goats seemed to take the commotion in stride.Our hotel faces the parade ground where starting at 6, boys and men gather to play cricket and soccer. After 10 it really gets too hot for running around in the sun. I've spent some time watching cricket but it remains a mystery to me:One of the big tourist attractions in Fort Kochi are the Chinese fishing nets. Huge nets affixed to stationary platforms at the water's edge are raised and lowered by a Byzantine system of counterbalances that are basically large rocks attached to a rope. The nets are quite picturesque and seem to accomplish the job as there are stalls lining the beach selling marvelously fresh fish. You can pick your own and the restaurant associated with each stall will cook it for you.I was at the beach to watch the sun - a blazing orange disk - sink below the hazy horizon. It promises another scorching hot day tomorrow. I'll take it over snow any day.