"A Three Hour Cruise"

Our Kochi sightseeing guide was very knowledgeable with a great sense of humour. Between Doris, who is a walking search engine, and our guide, we were in very good hands.

We visited a Jewish synagogue built in 1568 with a clock tower that is still working. I felt the energy of many people as I walked barefoot on the cool, worn, handpainted tiles which had come from China. When the State of Israel was formed after WW2, many of the Jewish families left to return to Israel after having lived in India for over 600 years, proving once again the irresistible urge of homeland. There are only seven Jews left in Kochi and the only woman of marriageable age refuses to get married just to continue this Jewish community. She has come to terms with the end of the Jewish era in Kochi.

Our favourite stop was the World's Largest Laundry. Kochi is known for its intricate network of laundry operations...a work of extreme precision without any technological support. The locals pick up laundry all over the city, deliver it to an outdoor laundry facility where it is scrubbed on rocks, rinsed, beaten on rocks to remove the water, and hung to dry on a web of bamboo poles and ropes. Later it is meticulously pressed with heavy metal irons, filled with burning embers. The workers beamed with pride as we admired their crisp piles of freshly-pressed garments. The exciting part for us was that OUR clothes were in this primitive yet very sophisticated well-greased machine! Not surprisingly, our clothes magically appeared in our room; in all the years of operating, not a single garment has been lost!

The highlight of the day for me was walking though the antique stores and listening to Doris' stories about the artifacts. Of particular interest to me was the representation of Kali where the male and female traits are morphed into one being. This figure, where the ultimate is the absolute equality of the sexes working together is worshipped and revered by the Indian people, yet their society reflects male domination, with problems of domestic violence and honour killings. The day to day reality of inequality sets in for us when we have to find men to buy our beer and wine as we cannot enter a liquor store.

"Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, 
A tale of a fateful trip.
That started in a tropic port
Aboard a tiny ship"

Our day concluded with a harbour cruise where we saw Chinese fishing nets on their cantilevered stands against the backdrop of a beautiful, colourful sunset.

Everything was very peaceful until a police boat showed up and we had to scramble to put on life jackets and sit in chairs before they spotted us. The jackets were totally cumbersome and we all were complaining about wearing them.

"The weather started getting rough,
The tiny ship was tossed,
If not for the couraged of the fearless crew,
The Minnow would be lost"

All was very tranquil with the sunset, waterbirds, Chinese fishing nets etc. until we suddenly crashed into a pier with the back of the boat. Donni yelled out, "GET DOWN", just as the bow of a large boat hit the top of our boat ripping the canopy and bending the steel frame. As everyone hit the deck and lunged to the opposite side, the boat leaned heavily, but thankfully righted.

Once we had recovered, we relieved our stress by laughing and taking pictures of the carnage. It was then that I noticed we were heading directly into the path of an oncoming full-sized ocean cargo ship. I stated, rather loudly, that there was no way that huge cargo ship would be able to stop and our guide quickly ran into the cabin to inform our frazzled driver, who immediately shoved our boat into reverse. Somehow he had missed seeing the HUGE oceanliner...let's just say we kept our lifejackets on for the rest of the cruise.

WTF???