What we did: Travelled back to Kochi
Budget: 3500R/$75; Spent: 3310R/$62
For the fourth day in a row, we packed our bags this morning
because we were headed back into Kochi for one night before our flight to
Kolkatta. We grabbed breakfast at SN Restaurant before walking to the nearby
government bus depot to pick up our bus to Kochi. We didn’t wait long, and soon
enough we were on a much more comfortable bus than the one that had brought us
here to begin with.
Both Patty and I listened to music much of the ride. I
thought of any number of different things, but mostly about what we will do
when we get back. I’m no longer interested in having a typical 9-5 job. Patty
and I have been thinking about how we might be able to set up a business in
Winnipeg, perhaps connecting Aman Collections, the store where I bought my
suit, with other businesses in the city, and/or setting up a website. The owner
of Aman Collection had told us they did business with a woman in Vancouver, so
perhaps a first step would be to talk with her. It’s exciting to think that our
lives might lead down a very different path than what I had foreseen my entire
life. But it’s not just exciting in the sense that it’s a pipe dream. I believe
that we could do something that works. In any case, a lot of thought and
research will be required before we set anything up and I’m looking forward to
it.
As a result of us sitting in silence though, we actually
missed our stop at Kochi. We got off at the next stop, which was several
kilometres down the road. The driver told us to just pick up a bus back into
town, since this would be our cheapest option. So we crossed the road, found
the bus stop, and asked a security guard if buses stopping there would take us
into town. He said yes, and then when a couple buses stopped there, he told us
to get onto one of them. Unfortunately, once the bus was already moving, we
discovered this was the wrong bus. Once again, at the next stop, we jumped off
the bus. I was pretty annoyed at this point, and Patty and I didn’t say much to
each other as we wandered back to the main road we had been initially dropped
off at. Before we got there though we flagged down an auto-rickshaw and the
driver thankfully could speak well enough to understand where we wanted to go.
The drive to the hotel we were hoping to stay at took about
30 minutes. It was quite a nice drive. It was nearing dusk so the temperature
had fallen to a pleasant level. When we arrived at the hotel we had planned to
stay at, we found it booked, so on to Plant B. The driver let us use his cell
phone to call up another hotel recommended by Lonely Planet. The hotel didn’t
have a standard room, but did have a deluxe room, so we agreed to a slightly
higher price than we had initially intended. It was the first time we haven’t
booked a hotel in advance…looks like we won’t be doing that again.
When we arrived at the hotel, we thought we’d ask whether
they had any standard rooms. We got a somewhat ambiguous response about them
having a room, but there would be an early check-in the next morning. We
explained several times that we had a flight at 8am, and would therefore be
checking-out around 6am, and finally they understood. To both of us, it felt
like they were just trying to squeeze as much money out of us as possible, but
who knows. So anyway, we were given the ‘superior’ room that was more in the
price range we were looking for.
Our hotel room turned out to be decent, though certainly
nothing to write home about. We didn’t waste too much time in there though: we
were starving and Patty also wanted to check out a nearby bazaar before the
shops closed.
We caught an auto-rickshaw just outside our hotel to a
restaurant called Frys Family Restaurant. We noticed in our book, however, that
it wouldn’t be open for the next hour or so, so we asked the drive to instead
take us to a street called Broadway where the Lonely Planet suggested we do
some shopping. We entered into a couple of jewelry shops, because Patty has
been wanting to buy some simple good hoop earrings, but she didn’t find
anything. We wandered around the street for about half an hour before we sort
of gave up and simply wondered why this place was recommended in the first
place.
We wandered away from Broadway and checked out a couple
other stores, until it was clear that many of the smaller stores were closing.
It was then that we decided to catch another auto-rickshaw to the restaurant.
We arrived less than 10 minutes later. At first the restaurant looked like it
was closed, but we walked to the back and found some people sitting at tables.
That was a relief. We were starving! It was 7pm and we hadn’t eaten since 10am,
which is abnormally large amount of time between meals for us.
We picked out a couple things on the menu to order, but
hilariously the waiter gave several reasons why they weren’t offered at this
time: “only in the afternoon”, “only on Sundays”, “we are out”. It seemed like
everything they wanted they wouldn’t serve us. We ended up ordering dishes that
sounded tasty any, and it’s not like we cared that much, but we would have
liked to have tried crab before we left Kerala!
Our dishes came and they were pretty tasty. I ordered a fish
and unfortunately that meant I got the whole fish, bones and all. There wasn’t
a lot of meat on this little fishy and it was hard work getting at what little
there was. Patty got a mutton dish that was very tasty and we also ordered a
rice dish called biryani, which we have come to love. It’s excellent except
that it has some very potent spices/herbs mixed in, and if you eat those,
you’re in for one heck of a surprise. It’s odd the rice tastes so good
considering these things are in there!
After dinner, we walked back to a main road and Patty looked
in two shops for some kurtas and tunics. She went into a smaller shop and
didn’t have much luck, and then went into one of the larger shops we’ve been to
in India so far. When we entered, it was clear that a couple employees were
somewhat playfully fighting to serve Patty. I never really figured out what
that was all about, since by the end about five different people were all
serving us. It was a very nice store and Patty found a couple things she really
like, but in the end she decided to hold off for Kolkata, which is supposed to
be great for shopping. She even said ‘no’ to a kurta/tunic she said she loved
in the hopes that she would come across something even better in Kolkata! I
couldn’t believe it.
Our ride home was uneventful. When we arrived back at the
hotel we wandered down a couple nearby streets looking for a vendor that sold
cashews, a specialty in Kerala, but we didn’t find anything. Most of the shops
had closed by now. We did, however, pick up some bananas and baked goods for
tomorrow morning. We were happy with this.
We went back to our rooms and pretty much went straight to
bed. Alarm was set for 5am. Ugh!
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