Cochin turned out to be a travelling haven for us-- we got to relax, swim (Dad- i swam in the pool 4 times yesterday), walk, ate some non-Indian food and took an Indian cooking class! One of the things that I (Caitlin) really wanted to do while I was in Indian was take a cooking class and since we had some free time in Cochin we thought we would see if there was something available. One of the guides, that took us on a thorough guide of Fort Cochin, set us up with a husband and wife who own a restaurant and want to start teaching cooking classes so Mom and I got to be their first students. Dipu and his wife were so warm and welcoming and taught us how to cook with a wide variety of the Indian spices; we cooked a vegetable curry, fish mollie, Kerala fish curry, and curried prawns. The seafood is in abundance in this town with all the fishermen and Chinese fishing nets (our guide told us these catch more tourists than fish!).
Mom has made an interesting observation over the past couple days.. .hummm.... Our shopping expenditures have significantly declined since the departure of Father John. And it's interesting how he would say that we are the shoppers.. hummm... I think it needs a bit more significant research on this interesting phenomena.
Today (Jan 18th) we started our 135 km drive from Fort Cochin to Munnar which took us a grand total of 4 freakin' hours! (FYI- I can't wait to drive in Alberta where you can go more than 35 km/hour) This adventure started off with our driver, Shiju, wanting us to feel at home with his one English CD. You will never guess what it is... John Denver and the first tune was "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" (all we need to feel more at home was a Ford F150 pickup truck and a pair of tight wranglers). The CD scratch, frequently skipped and was at least 18 songs long. Both Mom and I were relieved when the CD finished for 1st time to which was sure that we would enjoy listening to it AGAIN! So John Denver kept was going for at least 3 1/2 of the 4 hour drive (which was straight up hill for 2000 m, twisty roads, mom holding a barf bag and us switching between front and backseats depending on who felt sicker).
So we finally arrived in Munnar. We're staying on a farm stay which is actually a working spice plantation (they grow pepper and cardamon) that has 8 cabins. While we're here on this plantation they will give us a tour of how the spices are grown. This area is absolutely breath taking (my favorite place in India so far)-- there are mountains covered with rows of tea bushes that look like beautiful manicured hedges. And the rows just keep going and going and going. It's about 10 degrees cooler from the coast so my tan may fade a bit in these next 3 days... heheee. Tomorrow we are going on a tea plantation tour where we will see how tea is grown, prepared and sold. I am really looking forward to seeing how this is all done!
Mom has made an interesting observation over the past couple days.. .hummm.... Our shopping expenditures have significantly declined since the departure of Father John. And it's interesting how he would say that we are the shoppers.. hummm... I think it needs a bit more significant research on this interesting phenomena.
Today (Jan 18th) we started our 135 km drive from Fort Cochin to Munnar which took us a grand total of 4 freakin' hours! (FYI- I can't wait to drive in Alberta where you can go more than 35 km/hour) This adventure started off with our driver, Shiju, wanting us to feel at home with his one English CD. You will never guess what it is... John Denver and the first tune was "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" (all we need to feel more at home was a Ford F150 pickup truck and a pair of tight wranglers). The CD scratch, frequently skipped and was at least 18 songs long. Both Mom and I were relieved when the CD finished for 1st time to which was sure that we would enjoy listening to it AGAIN! So John Denver kept was going for at least 3 1/2 of the 4 hour drive (which was straight up hill for 2000 m, twisty roads, mom holding a barf bag and us switching between front and backseats depending on who felt sicker).
So we finally arrived in Munnar. We're staying on a farm stay which is actually a working spice plantation (they grow pepper and cardamon) that has 8 cabins. While we're here on this plantation they will give us a tour of how the spices are grown. This area is absolutely breath taking (my favorite place in India so far)-- there are mountains covered with rows of tea bushes that look like beautiful manicured hedges. And the rows just keep going and going and going. It's about 10 degrees cooler from the coast so my tan may fade a bit in these next 3 days... heheee. Tomorrow we are going on a tea plantation tour where we will see how tea is grown, prepared and sold. I am really looking forward to seeing how this is all done!
Well we're going to go and drink our fine Indian Shiraz wine (Dad it's a 2006!)
That's all for now,
C & J
That's all for now,
C & J
I'm loving it!!
ReplyDeleteI love it too! Although, I'm very upset to hear that the shopping is on a decline.
ReplyDelete