COCHIN, INDIA
The mysterious sub continent of India …. Our first impression was not the best.
We found it to be hot, dirty, crowded, smelly and poor, with beggars and vendors swarming all over us every time we stepped out of our cab! Very depressing!
At the southwest tip on the Arabian Sea, it is one of the most densely populated areas of India. It has a very good port, has
a naval base and shipbuilding industry and is the primary training center for the Indian Navy.
After being greeted at the gangway by a band and group of male dancers, we hired a taxi for four hours and had him drive us to the various places of interest (the air conditioning, of course, didn't work!). His English was not very good but he seemed to know exactly where he should take us. T
he trip, however, was quite exciting, as they drive on “the proper side of the street” and there don’t appear to be many rules of the road -- lots of motorbikes, cars, buses, pedestrians and goats! We saw several churches (St. Francis Church and Santa Cruz Basilica and small local churches) which were having services because it was Sunday morning, the ancient 
Chinese fishing nets 
which date back to the days of Kublai Khan, a filthy beach where only men and one small girl about 6 years old were bathing, the old Dutch cemetery, the Children’s Park, the old Jewish quarter, goats freely roaming the streets and overgrown lots, and lots and lots of handicrafts shops … the merchandise was all the same and we thought it was pretty high priced for the quality. We 
enjoyed browsing through a spice shop, trying to identify all the unusual herbs and spices on display.
We returned to the ship to cool off and have a late lunch, after which Stela and I ventured off in a ‘tuk tuk’ (a 3-wheeled mini car seating 2 passengers) to a lovely hotel on the ocean, the Taj Malabar where we relaxed in the gardens, admired a beautiful Mumbai registered private yacht moored there and enjoyed a local beer and gin and tonic made with local gin (no ice cubes, thank you!!).
Although we didn’t get to the nearest city, we could see high rise buildings on the distant skyline. We also saw many western style hotels along the shore as we sailed away on our way to Mumbai/Bombay. So much for our introduction to India!
The mysterious sub continent of India …. Our first impression was not the best.
We found it to be hot, dirty, crowded, smelly and poor, with beggars and vendors swarming all over us every time we stepped out of our cab! Very depressing!
At the southwest tip on the Arabian Sea, it is one of the most densely populated areas of India. It has a very good port, has
a naval base and shipbuilding industry and is the primary training center for the Indian Navy.After being greeted at the gangway by a band and group of male dancers, we hired a taxi for four hours and had him drive us to the various places of interest (the air conditioning, of course, didn't work!). His English was not very good but he seemed to know exactly where he should take us. T
he trip, however, was quite exciting, as they drive on “the proper side of the street” and there don’t appear to be many rules of the road -- lots of motorbikes, cars, buses, pedestrians and goats! We saw several churches (St. Francis Church and Santa Cruz Basilica and small local churches) which were having services because it was Sunday morning, the ancient 
Chinese fishing nets 
which date back to the days of Kublai Khan, a filthy beach where only men and one small girl about 6 years old were bathing, the old Dutch cemetery, the Children’s Park, the old Jewish quarter, goats freely roaming the streets and overgrown lots, and lots and lots of handicrafts shops … the merchandise was all the same and we thought it was pretty high priced for the quality. We 
enjoyed browsing through a spice shop, trying to identify all the unusual herbs and spices on display.
We returned to the ship to cool off and have a late lunch, after which Stela and I ventured off in a ‘tuk tuk’ (a 3-wheeled mini car seating 2 passengers) to a lovely hotel on the ocean, the Taj Malabar where we relaxed in the gardens, admired a beautiful Mumbai registered private yacht moored there and enjoyed a local beer and gin and tonic made with local gin (no ice cubes, thank you!!).
Although we didn’t get to the nearest city, we could see high rise buildings on the distant skyline. We also saw many western style hotels along the shore as we sailed away on our way to Mumbai/Bombay. So much for our introduction to India!
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