Highlights include:

• Cantilevered Chinese fishing nets along the waterfront promenade
• It’s green! As in parks, trees (reminds me a little of the French side of Pondy)
• Fresh fish catch brought in by the fishermen (which you can buy and take to a resto to have it cooked, although I didn’t actually do that)
• Refilling water bottle from a 5 gallon jug for Rs5/L (less/re-use plastic!)
• Nice sunsets!
• Kathakali Centre (if I hadn’t just seen one a performance at a temple a few nights earlier, this would be the place to go!)
• Traditional sights that didn’t wow me: a church; Santa Cruz Basilica (though on Sun evening they do a procession around the basilica while firecrackers go off)

See also my previous post(s) on Kochi…

Photos: fresh fish for sale (lobster too, in his hand); Sun evening procession around Santa Cruz Basilica

I also bought two India-related books at a bookstore here:

• Are you Experienced? by William Sutcliffe, about a first time backpacker in India (written by a 26 year old Brit, the characters are younger)
• Holy Cow! An Indian Adventure by Sarah MacDonald (written by an Australian woman who returned to India 11 years after hating it the first time)

Restos I recommend:

• Talk of the Town – on the 1st floor (2nd floor north american naming convention)
• Salt ‘n’ Pepper – a sidewalk resto
• New Ananda Bhavan (near the Kathakali Theatre) for a great thali lunch (Rs25/$0.63)
• Ba’Sheer Juice on the waterfront for inexpensive fresh fruit juice (no water/ice/sugar!)

Misc photos: kids playing after school with what looks like a church steeple on the ground;
kid selling Spirograph (I remember having one as a kid!) for Rs60/$1.50 as he demonstrates it on his large paper