Tag: Malabar House

Nepal, Tibet & Kerala Day Thirteen: At Large In Cochin, 19 April 2002

There is a placeholder with links to the itinerary and all the photos from this trip – click here or below:

After breakfast (same except for hot pineapple jam) go into New City (Ernakulam) shopping. Success with shalwar kameez and sandals and skeeter beaters, but not so with cutlery and crockery.

Into Fort Cochin & Jewtown to one or two Emporia. Brought bronze man and silver pillbox for Daisy. Looked at and booked Brunton Boat Yard for dinner.

Returned lunchtime with purchases.

Snacked on beer and cashews – then relaxed on our balcony in the afternoon until the rains came.

Later had Keralan massage (not quite Ayervedic). Two onto one – Daisy in our room, me in the therapy room. Amazing.

One thing I particularly remember about the massage was how incredibly knowledgeable my masseurs were about cricket. When they found out I liked cricket they wanted to discuss England cricket with me, but seemed to know more about it than I did.

Watched sunset again and took took took to Brunton boat yard for a good meal with the first wine of the holiday – £50 price tag high for these parts. Prawns in coconut milk soup (both) plus spicy grilled mullet plus prawns Tandoori style (Daisy).

Returned on foot, dodging savage dogs watched a little more test match [West Indies v India] and slept.

Nepal, Tibet & Kerala Day Twelve: Cochin, 18 April 2002

There is a placeholder with links to the itinerary and all the photos from this trip – click here or below:

Sleep brilliantly – lovely breakfast of toast, home made jam and muffins, eggs for Daisy, fresh fruit and squeezed orange juice.

Tour in the morning – first stop St Francis Church…

…then on to Chinese fishing nets…

…then Jew Town (antiques and spices) including the synagogue…

Then the Mattancherry Palace (known as the Dutch Palace despite being Portugese), one or two emporia/shops for bearings and then home.

Light lunch – prawns on sticks and mini dosas on hotel terrace.

Delightful Sheila provides us with ideas for shopping and agrees to come in early to advise Sharji.

We rest by pool, swim a little and enjoy late today sun on our terrace.

Then I spot cricketers on the parade ground and watch for a while. Get dressed to go out and play with “the other children”, by which time they were gone.

Consolation dinner – tangy grilled prawns – Daisy – and mixed seafood platter – me. Chocolate roulade – all delightful.

We were serenaded by Antony and Benny while we ate that evening. We still sometimes listen to the CD of their gentle, simple flute and strings music and strangely, at the time of writing, in February 2020, are there to be seen as one of the three images up front on the Malabar House website.

Nepal, Tibet & Kerala Day Eleven: Kathmandu To Cochin Via Bangalore, Trivandrum & Mr Sharma, 17 April 2002

There is a placeholder with links to the itinerary and all the photos from this trip – click here or below:

Rose 4 o’clock-ish because flight has been brought forward 1 1/2 hours. I get irritated when we see the old flight time still on the board but Mangal gets the obsequious and ubiquitous Mr Sharma to explain that we really do have to leave at 7:15, not 8:45.

Mr Sharma pops up everywhere to make sure we are happy – including, hilariously, even on the plane.

That really is not an exaggeration. Mr Sharma came over to ask if we were OK and if we wanted anything so many times. When he disappeared from the boarding lounge, I said to Daisy, as a joke, “I bet he even pops onto the plane to make sure we are OK”…which he did! We had trouble containing our laughter, while telling him that we were still OK and didn’t need anything else.

We arrived at Bangalore and I sniff a chance of accelerating at arrival in Cochin by switching to the Cochin flight, but I’m 10 minutes too late. Dejected, will retire to the dreariest to business class lounge for Pepsis and waiting.

Arrived [Trivandrum] early (20 minutes) and even set off 10 minutes before we were due to land.

Sharji our driver is a pleasure, but the route seems so hazardous we cannot rest. I invent mosques and cricket matches game. From 3- 3 to 8-3 [in favour of] mosques, to 21-11 [in favour of] cricket matches, when we declared the winner.

Arrive [at Malabar House] late and knackered but switch rooms to a better suite and have dinner in room. I had seerfish in a delightful sauce, Daisy had a chicken dish.